Is it better to buy now than later? Will Intel price go down?

[emmanuelxian07]

Hi!
I'm planning to build a computer sometime this year. The specifications will be as follows: (These are not yet very specific, but I'm aiming at compatibility)

Processor: Intel Core = Sandy Bridge series LGA 1155 socket (Best is i7 2600K or most affordable is i5 2500)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7 or GA-P67A-UD3P
Graphics Card: GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series GV-N460SO-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI or GIGABYTE GV-N465MT-1GI GeForce GTX 465 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI
RAM: Corsair or G.Skill or Kingston 8GB to 12 GB

I have quoted the most affordable and the best (most expensive) parts that are compatible with each other. I am planning to but the most basic that I can right now and then upgrade when I am able to save enough money until I get the i7 2600K processor and the best possible graphics card.

The Sandy Bridge processors were recently released and so the prices are really high. In relation to this, I have a few questions that I hope someone could answer. These are the following:

1. Should I wait a few more months and wait for the prices to go down before I buy or will I be waiting for the impossible?
2. Should I wait for Bulldozer to come out, which may force Intel to sell their processors for a better rate?
3. Should I wait for the next batch of processors that Intel will be releasing some time later this year?

For question 1, I asked if it was impossible because I was comparing prices and specs of Intel processors in newegg and I saw some processors that are years old already and compared it with the i7 2600K. The i7 core is better if you compare the specs but the old cores are more expensive. I pasted the links for comparison below. I was wondering why the price of the old cores haven't gone down yet and they're still selling it for a higher rate than the newer core.

Newegg price comparison:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%2050001157&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&CompareItemList=343|19-115-130^19-115-130-S01,19-115-070^19-115-070-TS

Performance comparison:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/49?vs=287&i=2.3.4.5.6.25.26.27.28.29.30.31.32.33.34.35.36.37.38.39.40.41.42.43.45.46.47.48.49.50


I hope someone is kind enough to shed some light to my questions and finally tell me if and why I should build the computer as early as I can or later. To who ever you are who's reading this, thank you. : )

 

[rolli59]

Well if you are building with gaming in mind the I5 2500K beats the I7 2600K in a few benchmarks. On the graphics card I would stay away from the GTX465 and stick with the GTX460. I do not think we will see price reductions anytime soon on the Sandy Bridge platform but we could in a month or two see retailers start to load of old 1156 stock at good discounts, all speculation though.

 

[emmanuelxian07]

Well if you are building with gaming in mind the I5 2500K beats the I7 2600K in a few benchmarks. On the graphics card I would stay away from the GTX465 and stick with the GTX460. I do not think we will see price reductions anytime soon on the Sandy Bridge platform but we could in a month or two see retailers start to load of old 1156 stock at good discounts, all speculation though.

I was also thinking of just sticking with the i5 2500K once I have it because I think the i7 2600K is really expensive. But I may consider getting the i7 2600K if in case this build lasts for 2 years or so.
How many years will this rig last, or how long will it take before I'll have the need to buy a new set of components? Game requirements keep on getting higher and higher and I can't really tell up until when this rig will be good enough to play new games. Can you give me a rough estimate?

 

[rolli59]

Well right now they are at the high end of performance. Looking back there is a reason to belief that in a years time they will still be upper mid range or lower high and in two years a solid mid range. There is of course the possibility in that time a GPU upgrade would be needed to stay with the games but they rig could certainly handle it.

 

[emmanuelxian07]

Well right now they are at the high end of performance. Looking back there is a reason to belief that in a years time they will still be upper mid range or lower high and in two years a solid mid range. There is of course the possibility in that time a GPU upgrade would be needed to stay with the games but they rig could certainly handle it.

That's nice to know. Thanks a lot for your help. I do hope I can build my rig sometime soon. I'm sure I'll have difficulty doing that because I live in Asia, and here in my country, not all products are readily available. It really sucks that I want to get a G. Skill 4GB 1600 RAM but unfortunately, I haven't seen any shop that sell these, not even Corsair RAM. I have only seen Kingston.

 

[rolli59]

Kingston is not bad! Been a reliable brand for decades and their HyperX series have always been solid performance ram although it is not as hyped as G Skill.

 

[lysinger]

Hi!
I'm planning to build a computer sometime this year. The specifications will be as follows: (These are not yet very specific, but I'm aiming at compatibility)


I hope someone is kind enough to shed some light to my questions and finally tell me if and why I should build the computer as early as I can or later. To who ever you are who's reading this, thank you. : )

The price will always drop and the speed will always go up.

I paid $190 for my E8400 CPU in December 2008 and you can get an i5-2500 for the same price now.

If you need more speed now (or your box had a major hardware failure), I recommend buying now. If you can wait 6 months, there will always be something faster.

 

[fyasko]

microcenter has the best deals on SB procs. the i5 2500k is 150$ the i7 is 260$ i got the hookup from a friend who works for intel and got a 120gb ssd and an i7 2600k for 390$ with shipping...

 

[king smp]

Do they have Microcenter in Asia...

 

[JobyX]

Great prices @ microscenter but in store pick up only.. not one within 150 miles of me.