Wait or Buy?

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V

Veos

Junior Member
Oct 31, 2007
14
0
0
Current Rig

Dell 8300

Pentium 4 3.0 ghz Hyper Threading
Connect 3d 256MB X850 Pro (upgrade from 2 years ago)
1 GB Corsair Value Select RAM
X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card
Windows XP

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With the 8800 GT released already my patience is being tested, knowing that the new GTS is around the corner also doesn't help.

I've weighed my options, and a upgrade to a X1950GT AGP with a new power supply would cost me around $230. However, I have read complaints of users who have had problems with their CPU possibly bottlenecking the graphics card so I am not too sure now.

As for games that I play, mainly Battlefield 2142 and Call of Duty 4 (soon), and possibly Crysis or Bioshock as well for the nice SP action and eye candy. With the exception of Crysis I also plan on playing these games on max settings on a 1280 x 1024 LCD monitor.

So should I wait it out until January (E8400) or go for a new pc? If you suggest waiting, any idea on whether my pc can run BF 2142 on max settings?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!


 
R

Roguestar

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
6,045
0
0
You'll always have buyer's remorse if you look at the market after purchasing. You can always bite the bullet but choose carefully, though there aren't any huge platform changes visibly around the corner that'll make everything irritatingly unupgradable in the way of S939.

Suggestions: 2GB DDR2, 8800GT, low/mid-range C2D, motherboard and 500W PSU you could get for around $600/$700 or so. Do this in january after the sales have come down. Your current CPU will indeed be a bottleneck for Bioshock and Crysis if you get a higher end graphics card.

Edit: I think Bioshock only runs on Vista, and I know DX10 isn't for XP anyway...
 
J

jkresh

Platinum Member
Jun 18, 2001
2,436
0
71
Depends on your budget, if you wait till january then it might only be a month or two before the new high end ati/nvidia cards are out, so then you will wait for that, then it could be a few months wait till the next big intel chip. So while waiting means better and cheaper (new nvidia boards, the gts, less expensive Penryn) there will always be things to wait for (or at least price changes to wait for). SO you can either upgrade every 6 months, or just buy when you system is too slow and not worry about what comes out after that until the next time you feel the system is too slow.
 
V

Veos

Junior Member
Oct 31, 2007
14
0
0
Originally posted by: jkresh
Depends on your budget, if you wait till january then it might only be a month or two before the new high end ati/nvidia cards are out, so then you will wait for that, then it could be a few months wait till the next big intel chip. So while waiting means better and cheaper (new nvidia boards, the gts, less expensive Penryn) there will always be things to wait for (or at least price changes to wait for). SO you can either upgrade every 6 months, or just buy when you system is too slow and not worry about what comes out after that until the next time you feel the system is too slow.
Click to expand...

Well if I built a pc now, my budget would be around $1200-1300 (without monitor) for a gaming pc at 1280 x 1024 resolution. Parts are all set and chosen already, but just patiently waiting.

But as you said, if I do wait until January, the new Nvidia cards might be released in a few months. Then you have Nehalem being released later in 2008 during the second half. I could find myself in a indefinate waiting game basically O.O

If I do buy now I will not be upgrading my CPU until possibly Nehalem's release, assuming my mobo can even use it. Graphics card will probably be upgraded Summer of next year when prices for the next gen cards goes down.

Being strictly a gamer, does anyone know if waiting for the E8400 in January would be worth it, instead of just buying a Q6600 or E6750 right now? Is the performance increase worth the wait?

Thanks again for the responses :)
 
P

Psymon

Member
Oct 23, 2007
45
0
0
The best advice I can give you is this:

Unless something you already plan to incorporate into your build without-a-doubt is on the horizon, just buy.

If you sit here and wait for "the next good hardware" then you'll simply spend months waiting, and by that time, they'll have announced different hardware that you'll want to wait for. If you wait for that, you'll spend another few months, and the cycle will keep repeating itself.

Your system will be awesome the first year. Your system will be replaced by better ones in the coming years. You will be forced to build a new one or upgrade eventually.

So, just build one. Obviously make sure it's good, but don't play the waiting game. I played that game for a long time and I regret it, but now I made the plunge and I'm very happy.

Yeah, there's next-gen hardware coming out, and yeah, my PC won't have it right away, but I'm perfectly content with this one.
 
S

seemingly random

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2007
5,277
0
0
There's a difference between delaying because of FUD and delaying until you really need it - not getting it just because of advertising or peer pressure. If you really need h/w now then you should by all means get it now. The only question is the "really need" part which is, of course, up to the individual. People that say "Just go for it" are very possibly justifying their own recent purchases or working in the industry.
 
B

bovinda

Senior member
Nov 26, 2004
692
0
0
I'm in the same boat, more or less. I'd be happy with the 8800 GT, but my main concern is Penryn being right around the corner. I'd like to just bite and go for a Q6600 right now...but how much of a performance increase are the Penryn models likely to bring? And how much of a price drop in the Q6600?

*sigh* You can do the waiting game forever, indeed...but I still feel like some times are better or worse than others. Is this one of them?
 
magreen

magreen

Golden Member
Dec 27, 2006
1,309
1
81
This is a very good time to buy. Prices are low on just about everything.
 
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