A question regarding future pricing of the 3770K

Astralogic

Gawd
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
581
Hi.

The reason I ask this question is because I'm buying a CPU, motherboard, ram, and case. The thing is I'm buying them all one month apart, CPU first, then mobo, then ram, then case. The motherboard I'm getting is the MSI Big Bang MPower.

So could someone tell me if for the price of a 3770K, in three months is it likely that I will be able to buy a better processor for the same price as the 370K is being sold for now? And if so is it worth waiting for?

Thanks
Astralogic
 
3770k price won't be lowered by intel, and nothing new from intel will be released either in 3mo. Go for it.

Haswell isn't coming out until June (4770k being released). That would require a different motherboard & socket.
 
I doubt the price will drop in 3 months, but why not buy the CPU last if you're worried that it may?
 
I'm close to upgrading my Q6600 SLACR G0 @ 3.2ghz, but have decided to wait until Haswell. I didn't do much research about socket changes before I bought my S775, so I was kicking myself in the ass after realizing I bought a "dead" platform about six months after I bought everything (late 2007ish I think).

If I were you, I would wait until Haswell and start buying parts then. Not being able to upgrade to anything "new" after finishing your build would be a mistake IMO.

I will probably not be buying a new platform until the fall, when I'm hoping there will be news about whether DDR4 will be used soon (again....no research other than skimming Wikipedia as of now since I'm not buying anything for at least eight months) and I'm not buying another "dead" platform.

Something to consider.
 
DDR4 will not make it into mainstream until possibly Broadwell at the earliest in 2014-2015 (very unlikely), or most likely Skylake in 2015-2016. DDR4 will be on Haswell-E in 2014. On AMD's side, there is no mention of DDR4, and there probably won't be any DDR4 platforms from AMD until Excavator.

Anyways, Intel generally does not lower prices on CPUs when they're EOL. The only way to get lower prices is to wait and see if retailers run promotions, which happens randomly anyways.
 
I'm close to upgrading my Q6600 SLACR G0 @ 3.2ghz, but have decided to wait until Haswell. I didn't do much research about socket changes before I bought my S775, so I was kicking myself in the ass after realizing I bought a "dead" platform about six months after I bought everything (late 2007ish I think).

If I were you, I would wait until Haswell and start buying parts then. Not being able to upgrade to anything "new" after finishing your build would be a mistake IMO.

I will probably not be buying a new platform until the fall, when I'm hoping there will be news about whether DDR4 will be used soon (again....no research other than skimming Wikipedia as of now since I'm not buying anything for at least eight months) and I'm not buying another "dead" platform.

Something to consider.

Except one size does not fit all. First, it would totally depend on what he has now and weather or not it's adequate for him. If he's running an Athlon X2 for example and is looking to play some current games, waiting 6 months could be a very painful proposition. Then there is weather or not, not being able to upgrade to haswell even matters much. When I upgraded, I knew haswell was coming after IB, but I analyzed my needs and I needed something more powerful, and I also knew I wouldn't need anything more powerful than my 3770k for quite sometime.
 
If all you do is wait, you'll never be happy.

That depends on what is being waited for vs what's available.

3770K is one hell of a capable processor and has a long life ahead of it.
 
Its hardly ever a good idea to piece together a pc in such a long time frame. Let's say you get a 1155 motherboard next month, then start saving for a processor. You don't get those funds until june and intel releases new platform that's not compatible with the motherboard you bought months earlier. So you're spending the same money for a processor that's slower than another processor that wont work in your current motherboard. Now when you put everything together you then realize the board has issues maybe its doa, you just wasted the normal 30 day return for exchange policy and now have to deal with warranty, which usually takes a lot longer.

If you just saved your money and bought everything in June, you would have a faster platform and not lost a few months on your warranty.
 
im in the same spot, no PC right now because i moved, so should i just wait? i dont want to get a soon to be dead platform either. im pondering getting something really cheap to kill time until haswell gets released. What i have done now is get the essentials like PC case and PSU and probably will get the monitor, keyboard, and CPU cooler soon, but once i gather all those things I will think really hard if i want IB or Haswell. That would be the last thing i get. Now for the GPU, thats also worrisome. GTX 700s is also supposed to make its debut this year. Maybe its revolutionary or not who knows.
 
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im in the same spot, no PC right now because i moved, so should i just wait? i dont want to get a soon to be dead platform either. im pondering getting something really cheap to kill time until haswell gets released. What i have done now is get the essentials like PC case and PSU and probably will get the monitor, keyboard, and CPU cooler soon, but once i gather all those things I will think really hard if i want IB or Haswell. That would be the last thing i get. Now for the GPU, thats also worrisome. GTX 700s is also supposed to make its debut this year. Maybe its revolutionary or not who knows.

Every intel platform released in the past 10+ years has been a "dead" platform within 1-2 generations of chips. I would suggest not considering this as part of your busing requirements.

Honestly, I wouldn't spend a lot of time worrying about what is next. Back in the days that I worked in a computer shop, I watched "regular" customers (well, window shoppers) that would literaly wait 5 years to upgrade because this next "greatest" thing was about to come out. There's always something around the corner, so the best that you can do is to set a budget and buy the best bang for the buck items when you're ready to by them, and then go enjoy them.
 
As a general rule we dont offer price drops on our processors. So while it is possible that a reseller has some sale going on it would be a very rare thing that we offer any type of price drop ona processor like the Intel® Core™ i7-3770K.
 
Except one size does not fit all. First, it would totally depend on what he has now and weather or not it's adequate for him. If he's running an Athlon X2 for example and is looking to play some current games, waiting 6 months could be a very painful proposition. Then there is weather or not, not being able to upgrade to haswell even matters much. When I upgraded, I knew haswell was coming after IB, but I analyzed my needs and I needed something more powerful, and I also knew I wouldn't need anything more powerful than my 3770k for quite sometime.

My point is that he would be buying something that is near top of the line for the current socket. Not being able to have a complete system for at least three months, while knowing that a new socket is coming out two months after is setting himself up for buying all new parts again if he wants to upgrade. I'm not saying "wait five years"...or even one. If Haswell isn't worth the price premium, then start buying IB parts.

I only put my experience there as a reference point for what may happen when you buy a platform that is at the end of it's lifecycle. Just my opinion, and I never said he had to follow what I said, just consider a different perspective.
 
In addition to Intel not offering price drops, they also release processors in the same price range with near or better performance as the CPUs they are replacing.
 
My point is that he would be buying something that is near top of the line for the current socket. Not being able to have a complete system for at least three months, while knowing that a new socket is coming out two months after is setting himself up for buying all new parts again if he wants to upgrade. I'm not saying "wait five years"...or even one. If Haswell isn't worth the price premium, then start buying IB parts.

I only put my experience there as a reference point for what may happen when you buy a platform that is at the end of it's lifecycle. Just my opinion, and I never said he had to follow what I said, just consider a different perspective.

Haswell will offer more performance at the same price points as IB chips. It's just Intel's business strategy, and it seems to work. So price/performance, Haswell will be better than IB when comparing normal retail prices. Of course, promotions will lower IB prices as retailers try to clear stock for Haswell, but that's mostly irrelevant to normal pricing.
 
Haswell will offer more performance at the same price points as IB chips. It's just Intel's business strategy, and it seems to work. So price/performance, Haswell will be better than IB when comparing normal retail prices. Of course, promotions will lower IB prices as retailers try to clear stock for Haswell, but that's mostly irrelevant to normal pricing.

Even then that hardly happens. The prices wont fluctuate much. Take the 2500k vs the 3570k for example. The 2500k used to be ~$220, now the 2500k is only $214 and the 3570k is $224. (Prices based on Amazon pricing)
 
Thanks for all this information guys, I never knew anything about Haswell, but lets face it when that CPU comes out it will no doubt be more expensive than the 3770K, plus it can't be that much better can it?

I still like the idea of a 3770K, at least I can get it on friday and admire the packaging for a month or two :)
 
Thanks for all this information guys, I never knew anything about Haswell, but lets face it when that CPU comes out it will no doubt be more expensive than the 3770K, plus it can't be that much better can it?

I still like the idea of a 3770K, at least I can get it on friday and admire the packaging for a month or two :)

The equivalent Haswell CPU to the 3770k (unlocked quad-core with hyperthreading) will be the same price as the 3770k is right now. Retailers may run promotions to clear 3770k stock, but that will be at the time of Haswell release, not before.
 
May be.. As new technology is coming, there are chances of dropping the prices of many products. After 3 months may be it would not possible but after 6 months, you will be able to buy product in cheaper price than as of today.
 
The reason I ask this question is because I'm buying a CPU, motherboard, ram, and case. The thing is I'm buying them all one month apart, CPU first, then mobo, then ram, then case. The motherboard I'm getting is the MSI Big Bang MPower.


I suggest you buy parts in a different order. Get the case first. Put a good amount of time researching which one to get. I think I see the most regrets with people's case choices. Take your time on this.

RAM. The differences in them are small. I suggest just getting stuff when it hits really good prices.

Do you need a PSU or drives?

I think you should get the cpu/motherboard last. And I suggest you wait for Haswell.



Thanks for all this information guys, I never knew anything about Haswell, but lets face it when that CPU comes out it will no doubt be more expensive than the 3770K, plus it can't be that much better can it?


Like was already posted. It should be the same price or maybe a tiny bit higher (like $5).

It won't be "that much" better but you will be happier waiting for it. Intel doesn't discount products going EOL so ask how many people here were happy paying full price for something that was replaced with a better product/same price a month or two later...
 
For me, personally, I don't worry too much about what's around the corner because I know that whatever I do buy I hang on to for probably at least 4 years. By the time those 4 years go by there may have been 2 or 3 generations of products that have gone by as well, so then you just upgrade to whatever is available and hold on to that for the another 4 years...rinse and repeat.

I guess it depends on how often you upgrade (and when you have the funds) as to when you decide to pull the trigger on something.

In my current build I was able to upgrade the main components (CPU, MB, RAM) at once and then upgrade parts randomly when I had the money. I skipped multiple generations of video cards going from a 9800GTX+ to (finally) a GTX670. Fortunately I had enough games in my Steam backlog that my 9800GTX+ could handle to keep me busy until I could upgrade the vid card. Now my GTX670 should last me about 4 years.
 
I was going to wait and wait and wait for Haswell, then a few benchies leaked (whether they were reliable or not) and didn't show the mind-blowing performance increase I had dreamed of. So yesterday I placed my order for my 3770 and figured that I'd be better off than waiting another X months. Didn't go K as it's for a work system so I'm not OCing it, but the CPU has more than enough grunt to get the job done at standard clocks.

BTW, yesterday I also bought the case and I can safely say it's going to be a mod unlike any you've seen before. Weird and awesome are just the start. I'll post it step by step in the Case Mod section here as I go! :)
 
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