New gen procs vs current gen

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asantesoul

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So, I'm actually going to be building a computer very soon...I pretty much know what I want in it...however, I was doing a good job ignoring all the hype of the new processors, until recently. I hear that the new gen. processors (sandy bridge and bulldozer) will boast about 40-60% better performance than current generation processors. I may be a little off with the performance increase, but it's somewhere there...my question is, for an individual that does quite a bit of gaming, light video/picture editing, and multimedia activities...is it worth waiting for the new generation of processors to come out and build around that? or use current technology thats out there to fulfill my needs? I have been visiting these forums for months now, and there is a wealth of knowledge on here and people are very helpful..I would appreciate some of your input :)...truth is I dont wanna build something great now, then 1 year from now get angry because I didnt use the new tech.
 
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I think it depends on how often you upgrade. Waiting a few months is no big deal for me, since I only change out motherboards every 5 years or so, but if you like to upgrade every couple of years, something new will always be on the horizon.

Even if SB does have some awesome new feature (AVX instruction set) it won't really be utilized for a few years, and the clock for clock and MHz improvement won't (IMO) be less than 10% or more than 20%. As Emperus said, it should bring down prices though.
The best thing about the newer tech launch would be that the current products will go down in prices most probably.. So IMO, waiting now will be worth it.. As for SB being 40% or more faster, it depends on what are you comparing it with.. It is definitely going to be the fastest mainstream processor and will be replacing the LGA 1156 socket..
 

etk

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I think it depends on how often you upgrade. Waiting a few months is no big deal for me, since I only change out motherboards every 5 years or so, but if you like to upgrade every couple of years, something new will always be on the horizon.

Even if SB does have some awesome new feature (AVX instruction set) it won't really be utilized for a few years, and the clock for clock and MHz improvement won't (IMO) be less than 10% or more than 20%. As Emperus said, it should bring down prices though.
 
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asantesoul

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hmm...you both make very good points..so, perhaps waiting for a price drop for current processors and and hardware is the best thing to do right? because I'm somewhat educated on how the new processors will work, however it is something I don't actually need for at least a few years...but if prices for current hardware will drop then I suppose its worth waiting for price drops rather than the new stuff...I'm not a big fan of frequent upgrades...but I don't mind doing upgrades now..but if i get an amd processor, the best one for example (1090t), there wont be anything better than that right? so thats why I wondered if i should wait..but if the price for the 980x comes down then that would be pretty sweet
 
I am not sure if the i7 980X price will ever come down (judging by Intel's history of their top line processors).. However, the i7 970 (again judging by the way the i7 950 got treated) might get some serious price cut sometime down the line..
 
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