That tears it. No new comp for me.

[The Boston Dangler]

I've just decided NOT to build a new pc. I won't be sucked into dropping big coin for deminishing returns.

First, I had my heart set on a small BTX powerhouse. This would mean switching to a relatively expensive P4, but I was willing, to enjoy a tighter pc package. Over a year after debut, it's still almost entirely vapor. Intel just doesn't want my money.

So now I was about a month away from pulling the trigger on a San Diego based setup. I just read AMD is switching to the M2 socket in a year, maybe with DDR2. So 939 has 1 year or so to live. Thanks for nothing. DDR2 is a total dead end, and a new socket compounds that. Think M2 will last a while? They promised the same about s754. I'm glad I didn't get burned with that.

SLI? GTH. Way over twice the price of a single card setup (more expensive mobo, 2 cards, bigger PS, more juice) for a slight performance boost. And there's no concensus on what arrangement tops what single cards (2 6600GT's top a 6800GT? Ultra? X800 Something?) That, and SLI users can't plug into the PCI-E 1x slots between the vid cards. Not that there's a single PCI-E device thats not a video card.

There's no F'ing way I'm gonna pay $500 to $1100 for a single card either. High performance cards are totally out of whack. I just saw the X800XL 512 announced for $449. That's right, $449. For a mid-level card that gives absolutely minimal gains, if any. And you know you won't see it for less than five bills. If you ever see it at all. Nvidia is exactly the same. With all the money these two make, maybe they could put out some decent drivers. Here's a pair that beat a full house any day.

Why can't manufacturers use their heads? I have not, and never will, need any serial ports, parallel ports, PS/2 ports, ACR, proprietary crap, or for that matter, front panel plugs and VGA. The floppy drive is a curse.

Yeah, I know computers are obsolete by the time you get the thing working. And I know every mega-company's products are simulaneously great and craptacular (MS, SB, etc.) But if I'm spending my paycheck, I demand more value than this.


If anyone else agrees with me, let's hear it.
And not you Apple freaks. Your sh!t is old, for 3x the price.

Maybe this guy has the right idea after all....

 

[sandorski]

Ok.

 

[Raduque]

:thumbsup:

 

[WobbleWobble]

You don't always have to buy the latest and greatest...

 

[imported_Kensai]

Sure.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Moral: buy a new system when you need it, buy the CPU and memory that will last you a couple of years, and don't pay extra for "future proofing" that probably won't make sense when the time comes.

In December 2003 I bought a P4 3.2C socket 478 (back before Prescott ruined P4s). I'm still using it, and I don't care that socket 478 is a dead end. I upgraded the graphics to nv 6800 in December 2004 and that will last me until I'm ready to switch to a new (A64) system next year.

If I'd bought a socket 754 3xxx+ in late 2004 would I be whining now? Again no, I'd have bought the CPU right speed to last me for a couple of years, with probably a video card upgrade somewhere in that time.

 

[ecvs85]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
You don't always have to buy the latest and greatest...

:thumbsup:

 

[Excelsior]

Uh..I'll still be using the system I am on now in 2 years probably..and it is just a socket A system. What do you mean "so 939 has 1 year or so to live"?

 

[Gurck]

You have a point to some degree; now probably isn't the best time to build/buy, but advancement in technology is unavoidable, and a good thing overall...

 

[volrath]

Your computer does not get slower. Everything else gets faster. Moore's law, deal with it.

 

[Aftermath]

I'm with you, for the most part.

My solution: don't buy the latest and greatest.

I got hosed upgrading from a Athlon 2500+/9800np 128MB to an Athlon 3200+/GeForce 6800GT 256MB. It cost me a lot of money and the performance benefits were minimal. I did it because I was all caught up in the hype and rush about Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. People talking about how demanding they were going to be and how the newest and greatest cards were going to give you all the eye candy you could ever dream of. Well, lesson learned. I blew hundreds of dollars upgrading my rig from high end to cutting edge and I probably ended up seeing only moderate performance gains in those two games. All of my older games still ran wonderfully since my old setup was far more than enough to push them at their best settings anyway.

I have always had a much more enjoyable experience just upgrading from upper mid range systems to upper mid range systems once every other year or so. Sometimes sooner if the games demand it. Upgrading that way will bring you a lot more performance for your money, and the upgrades are far more beneficial. Newer games run far better and have far more eye candy than before. Older games can be revisited with maxed out settings and new eye candy. At least for me, it's a far more fun and sensible route to take for computers.

 

[daniel49]

Text

 

[Bar81]

You just have to learn to accept the PC market, no socket has a long life anymore, you can thank competition for that (of course I don't see you complaining about the lower CPU prices you pay now due to AMD's move upmarket) Frankly, if you want a socket that lasts 3-5 years I would suggest a console.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Hindsight is 20-20. I probably should have moved to 939 much earlier, as it has held great performance and value. Is 939 3 years old now? With another 2 years to go, thats a very successful platform.

 

[IEC]

Yes, don't buy the latest and greatest. But if you are going to complain about hardware prices... I remember paying $100 for some USED 4MB sticks of EDO RAM! The prices of some things ARE pretty ridiculous though.

 

[stimpy1]

I don't buy the whole SLI thing either. Not only do they want you to buy one ridiculously high-priced grahpics card, they want you to buy two. I just don't see the point in dropping that kind of coin on something that will be quickly outdated to play games. Now, if you're using it for something other than that, there may be a point. I'll pick up a Playstation before I pay for something like that, and that will suit me just fine.

 

[Thezeroone]

I'm just surprised that Sli has caught on as much as it has. You'd think that most people would see thru the thinly smeared BS on that one. You pay more than twice as much to play a handful of games at a slightly higher FPS? Too much expendable income floating around...

 

[Away]

I'm running a slightly older system and it works just fine. Runs all of my games at high settings and does anything else I throw at it. Try building a new system every two years or so. Computer technology advances very quickly so there is very little point in trying to "future proof" your system.

 

[Raduque]

I'm running a mid-low-end system right now. I'm feeling the upgrade bug, because it's not running everything I want with the eyecandy I want.

Planning on moving from an XP2500, 1gb PC2700, 9700Pro, nForce2 Ultra 400 to iA64 939 3000+, nForce4 Ultra, 1gb PC3200, ATi X800Pro PCI-E. Hopefully, that'll last me till dual core/R520.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Hey. I'm running an Athlon 1400.

I've never REALLY upgraded. I had an Athlon 1100, but my friend fried his motherboard and so gave me his 1400 for free. I changed my burner only because I slammed my knee across the old one and I HAD to get it replaced. Finally, my dad who I've never seen in 13 years decided to give me a Christmas present of an MX500 and a memory module. So here you go. If anyone's in need of an upgrade... it's me. I haven't been able to play a single game except for.... CS (yay).

I'm looking forward to a summer rig.

The only future-proofing there is, is your mind. You tell yourself: Don't buy yet. It's our mind's desire to buy new things. We, like girls, want to shop too. We want to buy our CPUs. We want new memory. We want to bust out $259 for OCZ VX when we can settle for $80 ram. We want SLI when we can buy something cheap and get something 2 years down the road, which will allow us to play any game for a period of 4 years (Assuming 2 years each card) versus SLI which gets us probably 2 - 3 years of fun before it dies.

So just ask yourself the next time you want to get something new... Is it worth it?

Ok, I have a laptop now, but it's only because I can't carry my desktop to school and I need something that I can take to the library or computer lab. That's a warranted purchase. But upgrading my CPU every year and a half? Upgrading my video card every 2 years? Bleh.

 

[imported_X]

Originally posted by: Aftermath
I have always had a much more enjoyable experience just upgrading from upper mid range systems to upper mid range systems once every other year or so.

:thumbsup:

It is common for newbies to think they need the bleeding edge, both for bragging rights and for "future proofing" their investment. In reality, both of those reasons are naive, due to the rapid pace of progress in the computing world.

I fell into that trap myself when I built my first rig, and have decided to take a more common sense approach in the future. Instead of paying a ridiculous premium for a 10% performance increase, I go with a more reasonable solution that meets my needs at the time.

I don't upgrade unless I really need to, and am always glad afterwards that I took that approach. You can always get something faster, for less money, if you simply wait until you really need it instead of jumping on the hype wagon at every new release.

 

[CrispyFried]

Yes, high midrange to high midrange every other year is my stratagy also and reuse as much as possible, at least initially. Most bang for the buck. No matter what you buy there will be a new standard around the corner requiring new mobo, memory, vid or CPU by the time you really need to upgrade.

 

[sourceninja]

So now I was about a month away from pulling the trigger on a San Diego based setup. I just read AMD is switching to the M2 socket in a year, maybe with DDR2. So 939 has 1 year or so to live. Thanks for nothing. DDR2 is a total dead end, and a new socket compounds that. Think M2 will last a while? They promised the same about s754. I'm glad I didn't get burned

I dont see how people got burned with 754's and I dont see how your getting burned if you get a 939 now. I just build a top of the line PC, and in a year or maybe a little longer when dual cores are comming down in price, I'll most likley upgrade my processor. I wont need their new socket for 3 years. As long as pci express doesn't go away and I can do a video card upgrade I'm set for at least 3+ years for gaming. I also dont see how they are wasting money giving you a floppy connector and ps/2 ports. These are items so old they are litterally free. Plus maybe you dont need them, but I would love a serial port on my DFI ultra-D. It would make it a lot easier to do some of the work I do with micro controlers.

it sounds to me like you are just looking for an excuse. Its not the hardware makers that are keeping you from buying a pc. More than likley its that you do not need a new pc. Or maybe you just dont need one that big. Why do you absolutly need dual 6800 ultras with 512 megs of ram? Can you name one game that wont run without that setup? You can get a good video card for 250-350 and a good processor in the amd 3000-3500 range. Then you have room to upgrade as the FX and 4000's come down in price over the next year+. Get a nice semi high end board like the Ultra-D and your set. And you wont even have a parallel port or a serial port.

 

[Chosonman]

I think I've been saying just about the same thing for awhile. I totally agree with the sentiments in this thread. Noobs are giving away their money so prices remain high.
I could buy a top of the line home entertainment system for the price of a high end graphics card or for the price of 1 SLI motherboard if could buy a high end HDMI DVD Player.

 

[eggrole1]

I like the upgrade every 2 years path. Last time I upgraded I saved my change in a jar for about 2 years, and when it was time to upgrade I basically had all the cash I needed without having to spend from my bank account. I think this works out really well, especially for those on a budget.

I personally was running an xp2000+ until about 2 weeks ago when the HDD died. This box was a little over the 2 year mark. I had built a p4 2.4c@3.3 about 6 months ago to use as a HTPC/DVD backup box, and just pieced together a 2800+ to do my daily tasks. After all this looking for a new rig and the hype with x64 coming out.. I went a little crazy and bought a new a64 3000+ winnie, 6600GT, etc.. I am kinda regreting it now that I have everything but a PSU and can't really justify selling it at a loss.

I think if you are in need of a new rig now, a 3000+ winnie or vinnie is right on, or maybe a 3800+SD if you have some more cash to spend. I also dont buy into the 500USD video cards... Just get a 6600GT and be happy, unless you REALLY play a ton of gmaes, maybe get a 6800 of some flavor, but please NO SLI!