"When to buy" advice?

WhiteZero

WhiteZero

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
3,638
So heres my situation:
My current rig is over 4 years old, overall.
Running a P4 @ 3.2ghz, 512KB L2
1.5GB of PC3200 (not Dual Channel)
And a GeForce 6800GT

I've been holding off on a new right for awhile, since I heard about the 45nm's comming. And now I'm getting fairly antsy... So here is what I'm waiting for.

I know that I want PCIe2.0 support for upgradeability. And every newer chipset supports 45nm, so thats not really an issue. I'd prefer to have DDR2 and DDR3 support, so I can get cheap RAM now, and get DDR3 when it's price goes down.

SLI is not terribly important, especially since Nvidia is so nazi about it... =/
Though if we keep getting cheap cards like the 8800GT, it's tempting, but in general I'm against SLI. I'd also prefer to get a gfx card that has DX10.1 for it's optimized performance that it promises.

The upcoming Eaglelake chipsets are tempting.. but I'm not sure if I want to hold out till Q2-2008 unless their really worth it.

So all-in-all, I want to build a new rig that will be: very upgradeable, respectably overclockable, and with a budget of around $1,600.

How long should I keep waiting?
 
Wait until you can no longer wait. Simple as that.

Also, DDR3 won't be worth it, in terms of price and performance till 2009. By then however, there will be newer chipsets that'll actually take advantage of DDR3 speeds. Even the upcoming Yorkfield and Wolfdale CPUs won't benefit that much from DDR3 speeds.

In addition, PCI-E 2.0 is already out with the X38 chipset boards. However, the X38 chipset doesn't really over that much of a performance increase over the P35 chipset . In addition, there aren't any video cards today that actually saturates the bandwidth of PCI-E 1.1.
 
Danny Bui said:
In addition, there aren't any video cards today that actually saturates the bandwidth of PCI-E 1.1.
Click to expand...

Exactly, which is why I want PCIe2.0 for upgradeability. :)

Thanks for the info on DDR3, its pretty much what I've heard so far, that it's really not worth it.
But I hear that X48 and Eaglelake might not even support DDR2...
:(
 
I don't know of any mobo with PCIE 2.0 as of now, so to answer your question, you have to wait at least until one comes out.
 
I think by the time PCI-E 1.1 significantly impacts PCI-E 2.0 cards, it'll be time for a new board... kinda like with AGP4x and when 8x came out.
 
I'd also like to have an opinion on this:
Should I go dual core or quad core? The only thing that will stress my computer is gaming.
Heres why I'm really asking:
Intel_45nm_CPU_prices_01.jpg


I'm looking to spend $300 on my processor, tops. The Q9450 has a 8x multi and the E8500 has a 9.5x multi. So, for overclocking purposes, the 9.5 is obviously better choice.
So, say I can OC the Quad to 3.6Ghz on air or get the E8500 to 4.2 on air, theoretically?
At that point which processor is better for my purposes?
 
Your last system lasted you four years. Go for a fast quad and use it for four more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top