Help when do i take the plunge and buy??

[maverick7]

Ok its brutal... more than brutal actually my pc right now is as follows

2.4 GHz p4
2 gig ram (upgraded from 512 for BF2)
7600 GS 512 MB (had a 6600 gt but that died and BFG sent me this card (i had a geforce ti series before)
asus p4s8x mobo
420 watt ocz psu
80 gig hard drive

anyways yea its brutal... I cant play any new games without severe lag. I really want to play Cod 4 and unreal tournament, along with Crysis. Iv waited for SO long. Waited for the conroe cpu's then waited for the supposed to be good 2900XT... and then from there i wanted to see what else would come out and now iv waited until this moment... Do i hold on a little longer for the the D9E?? (9800GTX) or do i pick up a pc like this?

8800 gts 512mb
780i mobo
700 watt ocz psu
2 gig ram
500 gig hard drive
(maybe a raptor)
Q6600

Please any advice is much appreciated

 

[david__t]

I know what you mean about the "waiting for technology" problem. There are a few posts saying that Intel might have pushed the 45nm CPU launch to March because AMD are not giving them much competition now. Not sure whether this is right or wrong, but if you are going to wait for the 9800 anyway then you may as well wait for the new Quad core CPU as well.
At the end of the day the longer you wait the more annoying it gets when new tech is announced to be coming round the corner. Just remember that the near future will be a bad time to build a new machine of any kind (for Intel CPUs) because they are going to completely change their platform to a new socket type and onboard memory controller (as per AMD hypertransport). If you keep you machine for a while and then completely change it then that is OK, but if you want to buy a cheaper CPU now and then stick in a better one later then this is a problem. Socket 775 has lasted quite well as did socket A and Super socket 7 before it, but we now seem to be on the cusp of another socket change.
In summary I would look out for the following and decide for youself what is important:
PCI Express 2.0 - probably worth it for future GPU upgrades.
DDR III - not cheap now but better in the long run.
FSB1600 and beyond - seems to be where we are heading
X48 chipset - native support for all of the above & the 45nm CPUs.

 

[o1die]

It all depends on your budget and prices. Ram has never been cheaper in history. Never seen 2 gb sticks for $40 with no rebate before. The 8800 GT or new 3850 video cards are a bargain; the gt is getting hard to find at any major vender. If you take the plunge, do it right, not piecemeal.

 

[maverick7]

uhhh god well then what do u guys think about that little pc i put together up top??

8800 gts 512mb
780i mobo
700 watt ocz psu
2 gig ram
500 gig hard drive
(maybe a raptor)
Q6600

nothing spectacular but will play all games on max except crysis