Worth doing a build now?

[silentmemories]

I'm thinking about doing a new (gaming PC) build right now (NCase M1, i7, GTX 780 TI) but I was wondering whether it's actually a good idea, considering the Intel Devil's Canyon update(?), the rumoured nVidia card update as well.

Thanks.

 

[DSF]

Your system is still pretty strong. Unless you have the money to upgrade for upgrading's sake need should drive upgrades, not new tech.

Is your computer handling things too slowly for what you're trying to do? I would have to imagine not with an i7 and a 780Ti.

 

[silentmemories]

Your system is still pretty strong. Unless you have the money to upgrade for upgrading's sake need should drive upgrades, not new tech.

Is your computer handling things too slowly for what you're trying to do? I would have to imagine not with an i7 and a 780Ti.

Apologies for the confusion.

My current build is an i5 2500K and a AMD HD6900 2GB. Not the best build.

I would like to upgrade to an i7 and 780TI with an entirely new build, but there's the upcoming hardware coming so I was wondering whether it's a bad time right now to do a build.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

There is always something better on the horizon. Looks like you are well funded and can afford a top shelf build. I believe the next couple months are going to be great for a gaming rig. GPU prices are starting to come down and there are lots of i7 CPU options available from mild to wild. Devil's canyon looks like a solid "tock" in the Intel tick-tock strategy. 4790k will be available by end of month. As for the nVidia Pascal next gen cards it's looking like fall. I wouldn't wait that long because I don't think there will be anything revolutionary in that GPU.

 

[DSF]

Apologies for the confusion.

My current build is an i5 2500K and a AMD HD6900 2GB. Not the best build.

I would like to upgrade to an i7 and 780TI with an entirely new build, but there's the upcoming hardware coming so I was wondering whether it's a bad time right now to do a build.

Ah, OK. I thought maybe you had an older i7 and the graphics card was a relatively recent addition.

I guess it depends on what kind of price premium you put on having the latest and greatest. The 2500K is still a very capable gaming CPU that can handle any current title. By the way, do you overclock?

 

[Torn Mind]

The first entrants in the GTX 8xx series will be coming this fall. I would definitely suggest you wait until then at the very least. Depending on your patience, you might want to consider waiting for Broadwell-K in quarter 2 of next year while upgrading only the GPU first.

 

[z1ggy]

Your CPU is fine for gaming, esp if you are OCed. Upgrade the GPU to the 780 if you have the funds.

Other additions you could add are SSD(s). I'm personally probably going to wait for broadwell to come out next spring and up my GPU around the holidays when things go on sale or there's free give away of extras.

 

[Torn Mind]

There is always something better on the horizon. Looks like you are well funded and can afford a top shelf build. I believe the next couple months are going to be great for a gaming rig. GPU prices are starting to come down and there are lots of i7 CPU options available from mild to wild. Devil's canyon looks like a solid "tock" in the Intel tick-tock strategy. 4790k will be available by end of month. As for the nVidia Pascal next gen cards it's looking like fall. I wouldn't wait that long because I don't think there will be anything revolutionary in that GPU.

Devil's Canyon is not an architectural tock. It is still mostly Haswell on 22nm, but with better thermal control due to better TIM, binning, and/or improvements in controlling the gap between the integrated heatspreader and actual CPU die. They also changed the power delivery system, but we'll see how much that improves overclocking.

The i7 got the huge clockspeed bump, similar to the FX-9590, but the i5 got a much more miniscule 100 MHz speed bump.

 

[silentmemories]

Ah, OK. I thought maybe you had an older i7 and the graphics card was a relatively recent addition.

I guess it depends on what kind of price premium you put on having the latest and greatest. The 2500K is still a very capable gaming CPU that can handle any current title. By the way, do you overclock?

No I don't overclock.

I can't exactly reuse my CPU (i5-2500K) because I've used it on a ATX board, and I'm hoping to use a m-ITX board for the NCase M1 v2 build.

I was told in another thread that my CPU is rather lacklustre – http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36256963&postcount=12.

The first entrants in the GTX 8xx series will be coming this fall. I would definitely suggest you wait until then at the very least. Depending on your patience, you might want to consider waiting for Broadwell-K in quarter 2 of next year while upgrading only the GPU first.

What's happening for Broadwell-K?

I don't really overclock (I presume the K part means unlockable, for overclocking, although my memory of PC building is quite hazy as the last time I did some research was over 3 years ago.)

Your CPU is fine for gaming, esp if you are OCed. Upgrade the GPU to the 780 if you have the funds.

Other additions you could add are SSD(s). I'm personally probably going to wait for broadwell to come out next spring and up my GPU around the holidays when things go on sale or there's free give away of extras.

I already have an SSD in my old build. I suspect I'll just reuse that if I do get a new build.

 

[Torn Mind]

Broadwell-K chips are basically the only desktop Broadwell chips coming out. You'll get the performance boost from architectural improvements, which can vary but typically are around 5-15% depending on the app, if we extrapolate from past data. I would speculate that Intel wouldn't downgrade the stock specs for those Broadwell-K chips from their Devil's Canyon predecessors.

On the other hand, Intel will be releasing locked Skylake chips at the same time, but no one knows what the pricing for components such as DDR4 will be at the time of release, but rumors are it will initially come at a premium.

I don't think the 2500K is so long in the tooth to warrant an upgrade right now, but the 6900 series of Radeon cards is either in that territory or approaching it. They are approximately equal to a Radeon 7850. It is severely outclassed by even $300 GPUs like the R9 280X(aka 7970) or GTX 770.

Mini-ITX boards have the same exact socket as ATX boards. The matter is finding an older LGA 1155 mini-ITX board

 

[z1ggy]

No I don't overclock.

.....


I already have an SSD in my old build. I suspect I'll just reuse that if I do get a new build.

I suggest then you hold for right now and wait until fall to at least see how the GTX8xx's perform as others have said. If it's not worth the cost, then buy a 780.

Then when Skylake comes out, since you don't ever OC & you have cash on hand, you can pony up the extra $$ for that.

That's what I'm planning except I'd rather grab a K series Broadwell because I do want to OC.