Good time to buy?

T

That's_Corporate

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
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Hey guys.
Well my beefed up abacus just died on me this morning (Athlon 3200+, 1GB RAM, X800XT). I'm 90% sure it's just the power supply since when I kill the master power switch at the back and turn it on again, it seems to power up... but it never "bings" and posts, it just dies again. A power supply replacement would be cheap enough... but I'm thinking this would be a great excuse to purchase something a bit less... 18th century.

Now... that said, I was going to wait for Nehalem, but some sources tell me that the desireable mainstream chips won't be out for a long time, and some say it could be in a few months. Anyways, would you guys suggest just getting a new PS and waiting it out longer, or spend under $1000 and get something 1/2 way decent so I can wait even longer till they work out the typical new socket bugs with Nehalem? Feel free to offer up some build suggestions if you think the latter is a better idea.

Cheers, and thanks!
 
New technology = expensive and to a degree unreliable (i.e. mobo revisions, BIOS updates, etc.).
If you want to be on the bleeding edge, wait for Nehalem.
If you want some tried and true system, at a price that really can't be beat, get one step lower than current technology (i.e. P45 chipset, dual core cpu instead of quad core), and you will end up with an inexpensive system that will remain upgradeable in the next couple of years.
 
i think i read somewhere that the new intel stuff will be 20% faster than what we currently have. I said 'i heard' can't remember where i read it but i did and it may or may not be true :p

Anyway, I would build now. Prices seem to have fallen down in the last few weeks on current things, esp cpu's.
 
I concur with everything that has been said so far: Build now if you want, wait if you can.

Before we can start recommending parts or builds, we need a few questions answered:
- What parts do you need for that $1000 budget? Please be as specific as possible like OS, HDD, LCD, GPU, CPU, etc
- Will you be overclocking?
- What features do you need in a motherboard?
- What size is your monitor? Are you planning on getting a bigger one in a year or so?
 
I, too, agree... wait as long as you can, buy when you can't wait any longer. If you choose to "fix" your old system, make sure to buy something that you want to re-use in your new, future system. Don't spend too much on old tech.
 
Danny Bui said:
I concur with everything that has been said so far: Build now if you want, wait if you can.

Before we can start recommending parts or builds, we need a few questions answered:
- What parts do you need for that $1000 budget? Please be as specific as possible like OS, HDD, LCD, GPU, CPU, etc
- Will you be overclocking?
- What features do you need in a motherboard?
- What size is your monitor? Are you planning on getting a bigger one in a year or so?
Click to expand...

Parts needed:
CPU, GPU, RAM, HDD, PSU, MOBO, case

Overclocking:
Never really done it before, but yea I'll probably give it a shot. [H] has taught me a lot :)

Mobo features:
Well, some Crossfire might be nice. Other than that, nothing special really. DDR2 support, I have an X-Fi platinum so i don't need sound.

Monitor size:
24" Dell 2405FPW

Budget:
I don't mind spending more than $1000. Just not $2000.
 
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU - $195
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R Intel P45 Motherboard - $128
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $80
VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $285
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $90
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $98
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $37 & Retention Bracket - $7
----
Total: $920 plus tax and shipping.

Didn't include a case since that's mostly personal preference so choose whatever case you like with reasonable cooling. Some recommendations:
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $50
Cooler Master Mystique RC-632S-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $57
Antec 300 ATX Case - $56
Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $60
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $60
Antec Solo ATX Case - $84
Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case - $90
Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Silver ATX Case - $100
AeroCool Masstige ATX Case - $105
Antec P182 ATX Case - $135
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $125
Lian Li PC-A16A ATX Case - $150
Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $157
 
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reminds me, i need to find a really cheap FULL tower so i can practice modding. i mean like the old FUll tower ones that my company used to use many years ago :p
 
Danny Bui said:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU - $195
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R Intel P45 Motherboard - $128
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $80
VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $285
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $90
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $98
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $37 & Retention Bracket - $7
----
Total: $920 plus tax and shipping.

Didn't include a case since that's mostly personal preference so choose whatever case you like with reasonable cooling. Some recommendations:
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $50
Cooler Master Mystique RC-632S-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $57
Antec 300 ATX Case - $56
Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $60
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $60
Antec Solo ATX Case - $84
Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case - $90
Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Silver ATX Case - $100
AeroCool Masstige ATX Case - $105
Antec P182 ATX Case - $135
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $125
Lian Li PC-A16A ATX Case - $150
Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $157
Click to expand...

Now, I was thinking about splurging on a VelociRaptor drive since I'd use it in my Nehalem build anyways.

So you'd choose P45 over a X48?
I 'might' do crossfire, so is there a big difference between the two once a second card is added? I saw a review of the P5Q-Deluxe asus board and even though it's P45 it still hung with X48 boards... is that the same with most P45 based systems?
 
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Your money not mine but do note that the WD 640GB drive I linked to is almost as fast as the VR drive yet is 1/3rd of the costs. The VR is priced 3x as much as the WD 640GB but definitely won't give you 3x the performance.

There's a very very small performance difference between P45 CF and X38/X48 CF. Certainly not worth spending the extra cash for if you're on a budget.
 
I was thinking about maybe getting a 4870...
It's only $100 more and it seems to be quite a jump in performance.

Is there anything out there, besides Crysis, that the rig you spec'd for me couldn't handle if it had a 4870?
 
That's_Corporate said:
Oh, and would spending the $150 to get a Q9450 be worth it over the Q6600?
Click to expand...

No, not in my opinion. However, if you're near a Microcenter, the Q9450 is only $280, but I still don't think its worth the price premium. At $250 it starts becoming appealing, but still, not really worth it, lol.
 
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