Buy i7/X6 now or wait till March?

[mailpranshu]

Hi guys.

I am on the verge of picking up a new rig. I have an old system and want to build my system around the cross fired 6870 or better. Picking up a single card for my old rig now along with a new PSU.

My only concern is...is this a good time to pick up a new rig?? Intel is launching its entire new 22nm line in Feb/March. Will it be a good idea to buy a technology which will be outdated in 3 months? Also, other than the 580(GPU) is there any news on when the Bulldozers(Proc) are coming out?? I have an Athlon based rig now and had picked up an 8600 card at that time. 6 months after it the 9 series cards were launched and prices dropped. I do not want to make that mistake again.

Any view would be appreciated and happily looked into. Please give relevant links.

Thanks guys.

 

[enzo matrix]

The Nvidia 8600 you got went 6 months without a pricedrop? That is impressive. Not a mistake. That's a good deal. 6 months ago the 5870 was $400. Now it is $300 with the 6870 a bit lower priced and looking to be a better alternative with power consumption considerations. Technology moves fast. I've picked up a radeon 3870 from a friend for $40 Jan this year. In sept I got a 4850 off a friend for $20.


Always wait if you can because it will always be worth it. But you can't wait forever.

Also, last I heard bulldozer will be out next summer for client. 2 to 8 cores. I'm hoping the 4 core will come out at a good price myself with competitive performance. If so, I'll upgrade.

 

[mailpranshu]

The Nvidia 8600 you got went 6 months without a pricedrop? That is impressive. Not a mistake. That's a good deal. 6 months ago the 5870 was $400. Now it is $300 with the 6870 a bit lower priced and looking to be a better alternative with power consumption considerations. Technology moves fast. I've picked up a radeon 3870 from a friend for $40 Jan this year. In sept I got a 4850 off a friend for $20.


Always wait if you can because it will always be worth it. But you can't wait forever.

Also, last I heard bulldozer will be out next summer for client. 2 to 8 cores. I'm hoping the 4 core will come out at a good price myself with competitive performance. If so, I'll upgrade.

A 4850 for $20??Wow..Any chance you can arrange a 4870 for $50 or so. That would be a killer deal.

 

[Lutfij]

I too bought a XFX 8600GT Fatal1ty edition DDR3 card and went without a price drop for a lil longer than 6 months.

I agree you can't wait forever and then again you can't stop upgrading otherwise you'd need to wear a caveman's outfit.

In a few months time - Q1 2011 will see what intel has been trying to show off under hush hush mode - sandy bridge CPU's - for both i5's and i7's

1| http://www.anandtech.com/show/3922
2| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_(microarchitecture)

there are two options you can take if you can wait three months from now:
1| Hold onto the cash and wait for a price drop for the rig you have planned now
2| save a lil more until march and hope the money you have will accommodate all your component purchases meaning CPU-RAM-mobo-GPU

the ram and mobo will be an issue as newer chipsets may need finer tuning of DDR3 rams we're using now. IF you remember , DDR3 w/ 1.65V a year ago and then you had 1.35V. and you also have the shift in CPU socket (LGA1156 - LGA1155 - freaking one pin short!!!)

If i were in your shoes, I'd wait until mid Q1 2011 cos of all the hot news about AMD's launch (both GPU and CPU), Intel's CPU/GPU and Nvidias GPU's

 

[mailpranshu]

I too bought a XFX 8600GT Fatal1ty edition DDR3 card and went without a price drop for a lil longer than 6 months.

I agree you can't wait forever and then again you can't stop upgrading otherwise you'd need to wear a caveman's outfit.

In a few months time - Q1 2011 will see what intel has been trying to show off under hush hush mode - sandy bridge CPU's - for both i5's and i7's

1| http://www.anandtech.com/show/3922
2| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_(microarchitecture)

there are two options you can take if you can wait three months from now:
1| Hold onto the cash and wait for a price drop for the rig you have planned now
2| save a lil more until march and hope the money you have will accommodate all your component purchases meaning CPU-RAM-mobo-GPU

the ram and mobo will be an issue as newer chipsets may need finer tuning of DDR3 rams we're using now. IF you remember , DDR3 w/ 1.65V a year ago and then you had 1.35V.

If i were in your shoes, I'd wait until mid Q1 2011 cos of all the hot news about AMD's launch (both GPU and CPU), Intel's CPU/GPU and Nvidias GPU's

Good advice. I guess its the typical upgraders dilema. To upgrade or not to upgrade.

 

[Lutfij]

A lil mroe info on AMD's side
1| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion
2| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat_(processor)
3| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldozer_(processor)

 

[mailpranshu]

Best answer selected by mailpranshu.

 

[mailpranshu]

A lil mroe info on AMD's side
1| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion
2| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat_(processor)
3| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulldozer_(processor)

Thanks man. Good solid advice. The action is going to pick up in the first quarter. Just hope its not a phenom 1 fiasco again. The sad part was that when AMD managed to counter the c2d and c2q the i series was launched. AMD needs to take a bit of advice from ATI which they just bought out.

Seems the same slow AMD trend again. While intel is moving to 22nm the guys at AMD are still raving and ranting about the 32nm. Its worrying. An for all pc gamers sake I hope AMD survives. Or intel will reach a point that they will be able to ask for any price they want if they monopolize the markets. That will be the worst thing to happen to gamers. Intel will reach a point when they wont need to benchmark themselves against any one or innovate on an urgent basis.

 

[mailpranshu]

I too bought a XFX 8600GT Fatal1ty edition DDR3 card and went without a price drop for a lil longer than 6 months.

I agree you can't wait forever and then again you can't stop upgrading otherwise you'd need to wear a caveman's outfit.

In a few months time - Q1 2011 will see what intel has been trying to show off under hush hush mode - sandy bridge CPU's - for both i5's and i7's

1| http://www.anandtech.com/show/3922
2| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_(microarchitecture)

there are two options you can take if you can wait three months from now:
1| Hold onto the cash and wait for a price drop for the rig you have planned now
2| save a lil more until march and hope the money you have will accommodate all your component purchases meaning CPU-RAM-mobo-GPU

the ram and mobo will be an issue as newer chipsets may need finer tuning of DDR3 rams we're using now. IF you remember , DDR3 w/ 1.65V a year ago and then you had 1.35V. and you also have the shift in CPU socket (LGA1156 - LGA1155 - freaking one pin short!!!)

If i were in your shoes, I'd wait until mid Q1 2011 cos of all the hot news about AMD's launch (both GPU and CPU), Intel's CPU/GPU and Nvidias GPU's

Another big issue is that AMD is coming up with an AM3+ socket. The usual rules will come up like with the AM2+/AM3. An immiment AM4 socket within a year is quite possible. Intel is another extreme. They change sockets every season. It gets irritating though.

Do you guys know that a lot of processors( m/cs and others) have had same socket size for the last 15-20 years. Open up any heavy electronic equipment or processing units and compare with new CRO's for example. Processors are faster and custom made but still use the same socket.

Wish PC makers would do the same.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey