Updates on R600?

[foolfromhell]

Budget is $2500.
Conroe E6600 w/ tons of other stuff. Bad cooling experiences with current computer forces me to get very good cooling. so I have $1900 before a Videocard. This is a predominantly gaming machine and I wanted to know if the R600 is going to be below $600. And, if RAM prices will ever come down before the R600. Thanks

EDIT: I forgot, whats with PCI-E 2.0? Will it come soon and if it doesnt, will it be a "must have" upgrade?

 

[oddity21]

R600: Nobody knows anything, although I can't see a brand-new high-end part debuting at less that $600.
RAM prices: Maybe, but don't expect a drastic drop in price.
PCI-E 2.0: Q3 2007 is the ETA, IIRC.

 

[foolfromhell]

Thanks. i forgot bout a monitor and now i have a budget for $350 for a videocard. I need RAM prices to drop...

 

[Zstream]

Originally posted by: foolfromhell
Thanks. i forgot bout a monitor and now i have a budget for $350 for a videocard. I need RAM prices to drop...

Well I would suggest you buy a cheaper monitor because 350$ video card will not get you the best gaming machine. Possibly go for a 6400 instead and get a faster card, the cards will be around the 450-550$ dollar mark for the R600 or the new Geforce.

 

[Skott]

RAM price predictions is going to be tricky. AM2 and Conroe now both use DDR2 RAM for their mobos so demand is up. Supply has been there but not enough to keep prices from going up. There's a rumor going around only one manufacturer is actually making DDR2 RAM. Dunno if thats true or not. I'm thinking they have more or less stabalized prices but an increase in demand could force them up again. A good example is all the new mobos coming out in November, plus QuadCore chips, plus newer video cards. All this will entice more people to upgrade and there have already been alot of people holding off for these better components. Ontop of all that comes the Holidays which is fast approaching. Personally, I think at best, prices RAM prices will stabalize. I dont see them coming down much before January 1st. Hopefully I'm wrong about all this but I got a feeling we wont see low RAM prices again for some time. At least not as low as before the demand drove DDR2 prices up.

Edited for spelling corrections.

 

[AndrewL]

Originally posted by: Skott
RAM price predictions is going to be tricky. AM2 and Conroe now both use DDR2 RAM for their mobos so demand is up. Supply has been there but not enough to keep prices from going up. There's a rumor going around only one manufacturer is actually making DDR2 RAM. Dunno if thats true or not. I'm thinking they have more or less stabalized prices but an increase in demand could force them up again. A good example is all the new mobos coming out in November, plus QuadCore chips, plus newer video cards. All this will entice more people to upgrade and there have already been alot of people holding off for these better components. Ontop of all that comes the Holidays which is fast approaching. Personally, I think at best, prices RAM prices will stabalize. I dont see them coming down much before January 1st. Hopefully I'm wrong about all this but I got a feeling we wont see low RAM prices again for some time. At least not as low as before the demand drove DDR2 prices up.

Edited for spelling corrections.

Ive actually heard the ram prices had to do with the fact that they are transitioning to new ram fab's. Supossedly the transition and closing of the old fabs was predicted to drive prices up. Although with the prices as high as they are this probably isnt the whole story.

Also demand will come down eventually. Who do you know lately that has rushed out to buy 2 gigs of ram. Even from oem's like dell and hp ram upgrades for their systems are very costly. If both end users and midrange buyers wont pay for the ram it will come down.

 

[xitshsif]

Originally posted by: foolfromhell
Budget is $2500.
Conroe E6600 w/ tons of other stuff. Bad cooling experiences with current computer forces me to get very good cooling. so I have $1900 before a Videocard. This is a predominantly gaming machine and I wanted to know if the R600 is going to be below $600. And, if RAM prices will ever come down before the R600. Thanks

EDIT: I forgot, whats with PCI-E 2.0? Will it come soon and if it doesnt, will it be a "must have" upgrade?

$1900 - $300 for E6600 = $1600 spent before cpu, video card, and monitor...

What the hell are you putting in there?

 

[theprodigalrebel]

RAM prices already seem to be falling (I'm just basing this on Newegg's pricing)

The vast majority of DDR2 800 kits are now offering $40 Mail-in Rebates and other kits that were selling for $300+ are now approaching ~$275. I think things will get much better in 2-3 weeks if this trend continues into the New Year - there will be more choices then on the GPU landscape too, with nVidia's G80 mid-range offerings and some news on R600.

I remember reading in a thread just yesterday (linked to a Chinese website) about a January 18th 2007 NDA-deadline for R600. If this goes like the X1950Pro/X1650XT launch, expect 4-6 weeks for actual delivery of products maybe.

 

[razor2025]

What cooling are you using that costs $600?!

 

[Pugnate]

Dude if this is for gaming then I strongly suggest ditching the E6600 for a E6400. I was in a similar boat.

Check this thread out:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1958830