Do I upgrade now? Wait for Conroe? Help...

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fusionrs

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2004
Messages
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What I have now:

2.4c P4 Northwood 800mhz FSB

2GB 4x512 MushkinPC-3200

Asus P4P800 MB

Radeon 9800 Pro

80GB IDE Drive

160GB IDE Drive

Many other IDE Externals

Antec Trupower 430w

Mediocre Case

Dell 2005fpw

Logitech Keyboard and Mouse as well as Z2300 speakers

I do a lot of photoshop, webdesign the occasional gaming, websurfing etc. I would like to get a pretty kick ass machine. Dual core of course SATA II drives not really worried about doing RAID most info is backed up on the Externals.

When would be a good time to upgrade? Should I wait till Conroe comes out? How much are we talking for Conroe? Will the prices of the current Pentium D processors drop that much when conroe comes out?

http://indigo.intel.com/compare_cpu/default.aspx?familyid=1&culture=en-US

I was looking there trying to compare processors...

I did a ton of research on my old machine and want to make sure I get the best bang for my buck.
 
I have a very similar system as yours and I am waiting for Conroe (not sure if that helps or not).

I don't think you'd be really gaining much by just "upgrading now" as no other processor will be worthy of Conroes performance. I know if I just upgraded now I would kick myself in a few months watching everyone else kick my ass in just about everything, games , video editing etc....

Hope that helps.
 
I have a similar setup (but with 3 GB RAM, a 9600XT, Abit IC7-G, 600 GB drive space, overclocked 2.4C to 3.x) and have been using it for the last 3 years, not really in a rush to upgrade (mostly use it for development and RAW photo editing now), but I was waiting for the Conroe anyway.

It's really not that far off (4-5 weeks?) and the initial processors are supposed to be priced in the range of $250(?) up to twice as much or more. The big problem will be having to buy all new RAM, new vid card, new motherboard. Plus, I doubt your system is hurting you enough for a premature upgrade when Conroe's release date is actually tangible.

Pentium D prices will probably drop further, but Intel already had significant price cuts on a couple D processors a couple months back. But I would still rather get Conroe uber alles after I read the final reviews on it.

Good thing I have the job and money for such a big jump (I basically am not taking anything from the current box except the 300 GB drive), and my current box will join my Linux machine army (new box will become a dual booter).

That's my advice.
 
I would wait on the Conroe. Even if you don't go with the Conroe, the price drops across the board, Intel and AMD, should make for good bargain hunting.
 
I have a very similar system too (sub 512 megs of RAM and 9500pro to make the difference) and I would recommend waiting too, that is what I am doing.

Actually, I might end up waiting for quad-core Kentsfield, but either way it's better than dropping the coin for a soon to be humiliated P4, P D, or A64 machine now.
 
i have a p4 2.4ghz and 256megs of ram, onboard video card. I know Pentium D will drop 20 bucks in a month and a half and cheapest conroe will be about what i want to pay now, but I don't want to loose summer gaming time because I'm waiting for conroe... still not really sure. Looking at D 805 because of its insane overclocking ability. Should I wait just for the conroe? It's worth the 20 buck price drop for me to have it now heh.
 
IoloShamino said:
i have a p4 2.4ghz and 256megs of ram, onboard video card. I know Pentium D will drop 20 bucks in a month and a half and cheapest conroe will be about what i want to pay now, but I don't want to loose summer gaming time because I'm waiting for conroe... still not really sure. Looking at D 805 because of its insane overclocking ability. Should I wait just for the conroe? It's worth the 20 buck price drop for me to have it now heh.
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I think more RAM would be the biggest boost an upgrade could give. Other than that if you want to upgrade the Proc get a Bad Axe mobo rev 304 and be ready for the future.
 
Yeah looks like I will be waiting for Conroe it does suck having to buy whole new everything.

PCI-E x16
DDR2
SATA II

:p

I'm excited should be cool
 
Same boat here, see sig. :) My 3.2.GHz P4 handles everything I throw at it, and check out the CPU scaling article at [H] if you don't believe me. I wouldn't have gained any speed by upgrading to an X2, and quite frankly Intel is higher quality. The only thing I do really wish I had right now is dual-core, but July 23 will change all that. :D

Even if you do insist on going AMD, I agree that you should wait until after Conroe. This chart shows huge cuts on the way for AMD (read: they are finally getting realistic on the X2's price). There's still no reason to buy old tech, but whatever floats your boat. :)
 
InorganicMatter said:
Same boat here, see sig. :) My 3.2.GHz P4 handles everything I throw at it, and check out the CPU scaling article at [H] if you don't believe me. I wouldn't have gained any speed by upgrading to an X2, and quite frankly Intel is higher quality. The only thing I do really wish I had right now is dual-core, but July 23 will change all that. :D

Even if you do insist on going AMD, I agree that you should wait until after Conroe. This chart shows huge cuts on the way for AMD (read: they are finally getting realistic on the X2's price). There's still no reason to buy old tech, but whatever floats your boat. :)
Click to expand...


Just curious about your statement of "Intel is higher quality" Have anything to back that up? or is it just what you feel? Is there any charts of "reliability" in failure of chips? Ive heard many things on both sides of the AMD/Intel Fence about one being faster.. cheaper.. blah blah blah.. but never really about quality(perhaps 8+ years ago). Higher price doesnt always mean higher quality..
 
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