Is it the right time to build my new high performance pc?

Make sure you get "raid edition" drives.

If you're wanting to play games of 2008, then wait until 2008. Anything you buy now will be obsolete by then.

Will directx10 graphics cards be much better in quality or whatever in comparison with the current directx9 cards and how long we will have to wait for the new directx10 cards?

No Wait untill next month

While I hate waiting, I agree, once the GF7900 comes out that's the end of the current generation (just refreshes until the R600/G80 IMO), but most importantly it will give you and idea of new price/performance possibilities if the GF7900 does well, and at the very least it will push down the price of all other cards. And while I don't expect nV to add feature to their G7x architecture other than pipes, who know, they could decide to fix some things they don't like in such a way that they have other benifits.

However C_P do NOT wait for DX10 cards, that's X-mas at best, and they won't be 'needed' until mid-2007 or even 2008 in all likelyhood.

But whenever you build a top of the line rig, always expect major dissapointment as there is always something new only a few months away, but if you worried about that you'd never build anything.

At least the wait for the GF7900 'should' be short enough, but early reports are just annoyingly unfavourable.

There been an offical release date for the 7900s yet?

You should wait cause a lot of new stuff are coming out this year. Like windows vista, 64 bit, DX10.0, ddr2 for amd, 7900 card.

As for your question of playing games of 2008. Im not sure about that, now that it would only take 6 months to change the hardware making its' lifespam shorter as more better and faster things comes out. And game manufacturers are really taking advantage of the latest graphics cards.

So by 2008 gaming requirements for a good game would be a lot higher. I have a fast computer right now but I doubt it would be able to play games in 2008 at a decent quality and resolution with good performance. By then my computer would like the windows 98 to right now.

In a nutshell WAIT heres why in my opinion

First question is how long are you willing to wait? & Second, How long can you live with your current system? Another consideration is AMD is changing over to the 940 socket (M2), do you want the platform of the future or are you willing to have the choices of the current platform. The 940 boards and CPU's will have fewer choices when they first are introduced.

Obsolete is a pretty strong word. The 939 platform is not obsolete because the 940 platform is imminent, that being said what improvements will DX10 give over DX9 how important are they to you. When will you see the effects of that programming in a game? If you are considering an X1900xtx remember that chip is programmable. Is it possible to 'program' the attributes of DX10 into the ATI 580? I don't know!!!

I was in your shoes a few months ago. I wanted SATA, 939, DX9, etc a laundry list I finally got a board when the ASUS A8N-SLI came out. just picked up an ATI X1900XTX I plan on keeting this setup for at least another year. The card, who knows!!! maybe 2 or 3 I can get another (ATI based)board and add CROSSFIRE. Is it possible that the crossfire boards of the future will have the DX10 chip? again who knows. There will always be changes but what can you live with and what can you afford. Lets face it DX10 will be eclipsed by DX11. I make decisions based on the flexibility it gives me. I swore I would never buy a flagship product, but the X1900 series is amazing and I get to use it from day 1 therefore I get the use of its valus over a longer period of time.

The new Nvidia product offering has to be weighed based on what it offers
1. now
2. vs the competition
3. affordability
4. longevity - ( I see the programmability of ATI's chip as part of longevity)

Another thing to look at is why are you buying an NF4 board if you are thinking about an X1900xtx WAIT for the ATI Crossfire boards to become available if you are going to get an X1900xt*. I had no choice, you do. When the time comes I will upgrade to an ATI Crossfire M'board

Let me confuse you some more. The 940's will probably be using DDR2 ram part of the platform of the future. If you buy a system now your RAM will be 'obsolete' to use on the new system

So can you wait for a
1. ATI chipset board that supports crossfire w/
2. AMD 940 socket
3. ATI videocard with DX10
4. DDR2 ram to be cheaper to buy

or if you need to get it sooner
1. NF4 chipset board SLI A8N32-SLI
2. w/ 939 socket
3. New Videocard offering from Nvidia


What you have to look at is the total cost of ownership. Since none of us here know what you currently own it is more difficult to give you proper advice as to how long to wait.

Thanks

I agree with hcforde.

I almost went out and picked out new components for a system, until I read about the new socket 940 and DDR2 RAM for AMD, and figured it would be much better to wait so that I have better upgrade options in the future.

My current pc specs:
mobo: ecs motherboard
cpu: intel p4 2GHz
ram: kingston 512mb (133MHz)
gpu: asus ati radeon 9600xt 128mb
psu: 300w

As you can see i can wait for only 1-2 months. i play the new games in my pc with low quality and aa/anisotropic to "let the application deside".

i think i am going to wait for the new 7900 chip from nvidia!
thank you all for your help!

As official as it gets in these things, and nV has a history of leaking the dates more than ATi.

Expected end of March, the InQ doesn't think they can make it in number (due to time required from tape out to product).

We'll see, but worth a SHORT wait, if necessary. I wouldn't plan on waiting beyond that though.

In the meantime buying something like an X800GTO or GF6800GS will let you game until the new cards arrive, and when you sell it, you'll likely get a large portion of your money back, especially if you buy from eVGA and use their step-up program.

You can already buy M@ capable boards, the best 'multi-purpose' option being the ULi ASRock S939 board with the M2 socket.



Of course not, because it's not. It doesn't support the required element or the shader length, flexability in the core itself (like trying to run 64bit code on a 32bit processor [or 32 on 16/8]). Also it's not as programmable as you would need either. This isn't a question of tweaking, it's a completely new architecture involving things like geometry pipeline (in addition to the current vertex and pixel piplines) all running in parrallel. Any type of emulation running through the R580 would pay a huge performance penalty.



True but unlikely as they wouldn't be able to process in parralel, the DX9 card would be a burden, at best you could hope the DX10 card emulates the X1900, which would probably still be slower than having 2 X1900s.



Sure, if there ever is a DX11, and not something else. There'll probably be alot of DX10.0A/B/C , D10.1 flavours before moving to DX11 or soemthing dramatically new that would 'eclipse' DX10.



Sofar no crossfire boards will support M2 so I'd go with the cheaper ASRock board, save the money and upgrade when needed the new feature, including Crossfire. Buying a Crossfire board with the current RD580 and RS480 chips would be a bad idea IMO compared to the RS600 which will launch in the summer.



Not necessarily, as the ASRock board shows the M@ does not force you to DDR2, you will probably just benifit most from it, and hey upgrade when you need to, the ASRock will let you keep your RAM and then use the M2 with plain DDR.



That's a LONG frickin' wait, the DX10 cards won't be here 'til the end of the year at the earliest. As for DDR2 it's already cheap, often cheaper than plain DDR. The timings just suck, real bad!




No need to get an nVidia card anymore than an ATi card, and there are Xfire boards now, so for S939 that's an option two under your scenario. The best offering now are the best period, regardless of board, but SLi or Crossfire from the start are far less important for long term upgrade, because as you say, the foundation will change by then. Buying something for right now and then upgrading to an old SLi or Crossfire board when you finally do decide to get a second card will likely cost as much overall as buying one of those boards now. The SLi / Xfire premiums now are too much. I'd worry about SLi/Xfire when you feel you NEED it, not before.

To me waiting too long is always a put-off, however the flexability factor is nice to avoid buyer's remorse. The only thing that's a true mystery is the GF71's features/performance, everything else is well roadmapped and easy to plan for. DX10 is not an issue, not for a long time.

All good points. The real issue with the original question is one of timing, choices and financial resources. Without having the benefit of understanding what "COOLER" was currently working with I was giving him things to consider not attempting to tell him what to do. Knowing where to look and what to look for in making a decision gives the purchaser more power in his final buying decision.

Thanks

BTW "TheGreatGrapeApe" what kind of system are you running