To build or not to build...

[Fnerb]

...that is the question.

So I'm basically on the fence about building a system right now. My budget is ~$800 and that would need to include a monitor (preferably 22" or larger, HD). I can build both an AMD X2 or i5 Clarkdale for about that price. However, Black Friday / Cyber Monday come to mind. Think at this point it's worth waiting to see if there is a big price drop? I don't think the Intel road-map has their next line coming out till next year and I'm not planning on waiting that long. I know that no matter when you buy, 6 months down the road you will more than likely be able to build the same system for cheaper; it's the name of the game.

The primary goal here is gaming, video streaming to my tv and then just basic browsing / word processing stuff.

Thoughts?

 

[jasonw223]

Well the answer is always build... what else would you expect us to say here? I'd either go with an Athlon x3 system, or else make the jump to the i5 quad cores if I were you. Black Friday sales are good, but I wouldn't wait.

 

[Fnerb]

Yeah from what I can tell for gaming, the two will be pretty identical (looking at the Phenom II x4 965be vs. i5 Clarkdale Dual-Core) but there would be a difference (in Intel's favor) for video editing / encoding, etc.

I'm just trying to decide if I'll save enough by waiting for a couple months rather than just pulling the trigger...

...SC2 is calling.

 

[NeoElemental]

I think certain components are worth getting now, and certain components are worth waiting for.

I don't see 460's dropping in price anytime soon, and they are already an outrageous value buy @ 230ish (in terms of the performance you get from them). I think that paired with the i5 760 is a solid purchase at this point in time. Sure sandy bridge is looming and all that, but who knows how long it'll be til the actual i5 equivalent chip comes to market.

I don't think you'll see this midmarket segment shift downwards in prices for a little bit.

 

[Fnerb]

I think certain components are worth getting now, and certain components are worth waiting for.

I don't see 460's dropping in price anytime soon, and they are already an outrageous value buy @ 230ish (in terms of the performance you get from them). I think that paired with the i5 760 is a solid purchase at this point in time. Sure sandy bridge is looming and all that, but who knows how long it'll be til the actual i5 equivalent chip comes to market.

I don't think you'll see this midmarket segment shift downwards in prices for a little bit.

Yeah, I'm thinking less in a market price shift and more just what kind of deals will be rolled out in a few months with BF / CM.

I've noticed there are 3 million discussion on getting the x4 965 vs the i5 760...

 

[NeoElemental]

I rarely see deals on BF that make me drool that aren't

a) hdd/storage related
b) monitor related

The highest quality components are always left out. I wouldn't hold out on the mobo, chip, gfx card, or ram. Maybe the other pieces can wait. At that point, that's the core of your system anyways.