Alright, so naturally at this point in time, there is a lotta hooplah goin down in the tech world.. AMD is slashing prices, Intel coming out with a new menace of a chip, and Microsoft releasing what I hope to be a great expansion to their companies legacy in Vista.. The question that I'm sure most of the people on this board are thinking is, "when should I build/upgrade my rig?". As I write, I'm sitting in Thailand, very far from an ideal position to build my next rig, but a guy's mind starts to wonder, and with all that is going on, you have to ask yourself when it would be right, both in terms of newness, and price. With all that is goin on in the tech world, should one purchase an AM2 and get a bargain, or should one wait to purchase a conroe and vista and do it up then?.. This is never an easy decision when it comes to computers, which is why I was hoping to get a little talk going around on this issue, since I beleive its equally as important as the parts you buy! What do you all think?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?
I've been an AMD man for the last 5 years, but this time around I think Intel will be top-choice. The Conroe seems to smoke everything out there, demolishing the myth of AMD's super-overclockability in the same stride. The only think AMD has up its sleeve right now is Nvdia's Nforce5 chipset, together with SLI-memory. OCing has never been easier, and the results are very impressive. Still, I'm hoping to get a new system this November, and if I do it will be Conroe all the way.
I'm thinking of upgrading right this minute and I'm going with Conroe and SLi... I don't think we're likely to see the Quad Cores from Intel anytime soon or something from AMD to rival the Conroe's so I think it's quite a future proof idea. The only thing on my mind is waiting for DX10, but so far I think I'm gonna go with a Nvidia 7950GX2 on DX9. This is because in my opinion I think it'll be 12 to 18 months before DX10 is the new standard. Although in all honesty there is never a best time because there is always new technology or a new version of a previous product, so I'd say the best time is whenever you have the money to buy a system that meets your needs...
Yeah. I'm getting my new rig on the 23rd of august. GCSE results will be in and i will have a clear mind. Also conroe will have been out for a month and prices reasonable and there will be no new tech for some time. (although still a small time) I am also worried about the dx10 cards but i dont think they'll be worth the wait since they may not be entirely dx10 compliant and have such a high power consumption. In a year or so dx10 cards will be up and properly running, hopefully on better consuptions as well. But i'd say they has been no better time to upgrade then after conroe comes out, since the first 939 processors were released.
Next year when Vista has been around for a few months, together with DX10 and the second generation DX 10 cards are released, together with either Conroe or maybe K8L, who know's?
The real truth is there is no perfect time to build a new rig. Whenever you build there will always be something better or cheaper within a month. That is the splendor and curse of computer gaming as apposed to consoles.
I'm upgrading as soon as Conroe and the RD600 based DFI board is out. I'm a tad doubtful in regards of graphics card(s), though. Might just get (one) x1900xtx to hold me over to ATi's R600
personally i think buying a conroe system within the next few months and a cheapish card(7600gt or something) too tide over till we see how things play out over the next little bit would be a good way to go.
I really depends on the games I want to run. But I only built my rig last year so I'll be keeping it for some time, and its no slouch. I also want to give M$ and other companies time to try to work the bugs out of their products, especialy Vista.
Really diggin all of the comments in here gurus.. this is why I love posting here! Good thoughts on both the tech and vista.. I agree with what most of you are sayin with regards to waiting until the time is ideal, but equally so with what was said about there really being no ideal time as well.. it really is a balancing act so to speak. Rather than get this thread into some sort of pissing contest, which I'm sure everyone is all too familiar, would you all say that Intel has claimed an astounding lead with this new chip?? Obviously the reviews are pretty imrpessive, but is what we know now enough to sway even the most die hard AMD fans??? I wonder... Me personally, I have been an Intel baby all ma life, and for my next rig I was planning on using an AMD chip.. I had no intention of using an intel chip until I heard of conroe, and now suddenly I have to rethink my WHOLE approach..
I was debating an X2 4200/4400 about a month or two ago. A little bit of research showed the upcoming arrival of Conroe and some price slashes on the horizon from AMD. I thought about it, and have decided I shall be leaving AMD for the time being to jump ship for Intels Conroe. So once it hits the UK, along with a motherboard that grabs me, Ill be buying just that. The x1900xt I plan to get may not be DX10 but it looks pretty futureproof to me none the less, and it should have a decent resell value if I do need to make the switch. As for Vista, Ill do what I did with XP and give them a few months after the official launch to get any major problems sorted.
