Is it time to build?

appsdba · Oct 15, 2003

I have read about Prescott's problems. Is Intel still releasing faster CPUs end of this month accompanied by price drops on current ones?

Here is the configuration I am looking to build.

P4 2.4 GHz 800 FSB
Asus P4P800 Deluxe Motherboard
Antec Sonata Case
2 x Corsair CMX512-3500C2 512MB DDR433 PC3500
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y120M0 120GB Serial ATA 7200RPM
Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 ATLANTIS PRO ULTIMATE 128MB DDR 8X
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Sony DW-U10A-10 DVD Writer
Liteon LTR-52246S 52x24x52 E-IDE CD-RW Drive w/Nero Software
19" LCD Flat Panel
Windows XP Professional
Floppy Drive

I am hoping this PC won't become obselete in January 2004. Are any new sockets coming out soon? Would I be able to upgrade this PC with a new motherboard if new sockets are on the way, while keeping the rest of the components? Are any of the components already bettered by others? Please help me. Thanks.

jurians · Oct 15, 2003

if you are going to build i would suggest something that you are making... only other option in my mind is to wait for the new 64s coming out next year.(wouldnt buy the current ones). I really doubt the 2.4c is gonna be obsolete any time this year because prescott doesnt seem to be coming out and if it did it would be hella expensive anyway and also because the current 64s arent really good for the general consumers. oh well time to hit the books.

hope that helps

HardWareBoss · Oct 15, 2003

I bought my 2.4C in July. IS7 Mobo. This will keep me until my next upgrade. I'm waiting till end of 2004 or 1st qtr 2005.

HardWareBoss · Oct 15, 2003

Price drop on Intel 26 Oct. 2.4c will stay maybe a buck or two cheaper. New chipset from Intel sometime 1st qtr 2004 or 2nd.

pitsi · Oct 15, 2003

If I am not mistaken, after the price drop on Oct 26, the 2.6c will cost about the same money as the 2.4c. So it might be wise to wait and get a 2.6c instead.

JavaLawyer · Oct 15, 2003

The "time to build" is always NOW. New and better products are always on the horizon, "upcoming" price reductions are always forthcoming.

If you wait for the next generation CPU or motherboard, by the time you start building your new box, an even better CPU/motherboard will be close to release.

ChipDeath · Oct 15, 2003

First off, JavaLawyer is completely correct...

The only thing I've got to add is that you don't mention if you intend to overclock or not. if you don't, then you don't need PC3500 RAM, PC3200 will do just fine.

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The preceding text is assembled from information stored in an unreliable organic storage medium. As such it may be innacurate, incomplete, or completely wrong

HardWareBoss · Oct 15, 2003

He can play the waiting game forever.

slvr_phoenix · Oct 15, 2003

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but the Socket754 Athlon64 might not be such a bad investment if future-proofing is a concern. It'll cost a lot less than a Socket940 solution but perform almost as well (on an equal clock basis) and should be plenty good for a long time.

That or at least wait for Intel to release their new socket so that the PC has a solid future. :\ It's a wait, but with as much of a changeover as it portends it could be worth that wait just for the longevity of the platform.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new">People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</A></pre>

HardWareBoss · Oct 16, 2003

That will work. It's up to him on how much he wants to spend. Plus how soon before he buys. The new Intel chipset is due maybe 2ndQtr 2004.

Guest · Oct 16, 2003

I'm with you on this one.. I can't wait for AMD to bring out a cheaper A64, like a 2800+ or 3000+. the motherboards are very cheap, and especially the VIA chipset seems to be pretty well already. If you don't have an allergy against VIA, and you can afford $400 for a cpu, thats what i would do. Right now, I'm still playing the waiting game though, I never spend >$250 on a cpu.

If I had to buy a new system like right now, with a limited budget, I wouldnt really know what to buy. Maybe an expandeble cpu like the barton 2500+ ($85) with an el cheapo ECS board ($44 for a 746), and expect to ditch/sell both of them next year or so. For $130 you can't go terribly wrong.. especially since I have surprisingly good memories about both my ECS SiS735 and 745 boards. Both of them where dirt cheap, stable like a BX440 and very acceptable performers.

Another option might be a 2.4C like the original poster suggested, and overclock it and hang on to it somewhat longer; however, for $162 for the cpu, and somewhat more expensive motherboards, its a bit expensive to consider it expendable.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

shadus · Oct 16, 2003

Honestly, I'd put off an upgrade right now until pci-express and either go with ath64 at a lower clock or wait for next gen intel chips. Looking at what you're getting I'd say you plan on gaming a bit on the system, if that is the case you may want to reconsider the lcd... even the fastest lcd's don't compare to a crt for rapid changes on screen (aka games) and you don't get true black and some colors are off if you are doing graphics generally... not to mention you could go with a much better system by using the money you save on monitor elsewhere.

Shadus

slvr_phoenix · Oct 16, 2003

you may want to reconsider the lcd... even the fastest lcd's don't compare to a crt for rapid changes on screen (aka games) and you don't get true black and some colors are off if you are doing graphics generally...

You know, so far I've seen an awful lot of LCDs (because our company likes to shove them into our x-ray enclosures and CRTs take up too much space in there) and time and again I'm astounded by how FUZZY text is on an LCD. It's just not crisp at all and it makes it hard for me to read any text on an LCD because of that. You don't see it in graphics so much because they often slowly gravitate from color to color so the fuzziness doesn't stand out, but once you see thin black lines against a white background it just stands out like a sore thumb.

Maybe I'm just too accustomed to the sharpness of a quality CRT, but for me LCD monitors just don't have the refresh rate OR image quality to make them worth it. But then I write software, so I look at lots of tiny text on large resolutions for long periods of time. :\

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new">People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</A></pre>

shadus · Oct 16, 2003

Nod, I'm with you there. I won't touch an LCD until the technology matures, it's come a long long way, but it has a good bit left to go yet.

Shadus

slvr_phoenix · Oct 16, 2003

Yeah. It's great for portable devices and small spaces, but that's about it still. CRTs are cheaper, have better color gradients, support a wider range of resolutions, have better refresh rates, have a better dot pitch, and you can get a flat-screen CRT if the warping bugs you. Until LCD matures more I'll just continue to make that extra room on my desk and be quite happy with a CRT.

The one thing that I have to wonder though is how multiple CRTs would do pressed against each other. Would the magnetic fields warp each other's screens if they were pressed up close? If so then maybe for multiple-monitor setups LCDs might have an advantage.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new">People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</A></pre>

ChipDeath · Oct 16, 2003

If so then maybe for multiple-monitor setups LCDs might have an advantage.

I'm looking at twin CRTS as I type this (multi-monitors are soooooooo nice for programming.. I highly recommend it to you slvr) and I've never noticed any distortion or other problems. I guess they're quite well shielded these days. But given the size of them, any more than 2 is highly impractical, unless you have an absurdly large desk..

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The preceding text is assembled from information stored in an unreliable organic storage medium. As such it may be innacurate, incomplete, or completely wrong

shadus · Oct 16, 2003

I had 3 on my desk at one point (spread on two computers) I have *never* seen distortion on my >19" monitors, however I've had 3 sub differnt monitors that were smaller and they *ALL* distorted badly.

Shadus

ChipDeath · Oct 16, 2003

My setup is a compaq 15" S510 and a Hansol 710D 17". They are both pretty good quality though, so maybe cheaper ones have problems?

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The preceding text is assembled from information stored in an unreliable organic storage medium. As such it may be innacurate, incomplete, or completely wrong

slvr_phoenix · Oct 16, 2003

Cool.

I could get an absurdly large desk if I could afford another two 19" CRTs. Maybe one day... **sigh**

It'd definately be cool to have peripheral vision in games or to be able to watch a DVD while I surf the internet. Come to think of it, it'd be useful for comparing code and copying functionality from one file to the next. Man I could really use two (or three) monitors. Oh well. I could really use winning the Lottery too! **ROFL** Or getting published. That'd do.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new">People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</A></pre>

HardWareBoss · Oct 16, 2003

You have the hot numbers for the Lottery?

slvr_phoenix · Oct 16, 2003

had 3 on my desk at one point (spread on two computers) I have *never* seen distortion on my >19" monitors, however I've had 3 sub differnt monitors that were smaller and they *ALL* distorted badly.

I've had two on my desk at work (two different PCs though) that were 19" and there was some definite distortion. Luckily I hardly ever needed both PCs running at the same time.

But then my 19" at home is a nice good quality monitor so maybe it'd be better. I could probably test it with my stereo's speakers to see how shielded it is against outside interference. That used to totally screw up my ancient 17" monitor.

For a monitor that's eight years old and was a floor model that 17" beast has certainly served me well over the years. Hopefully it can last another year though so that I don't have to replace it, now that it's my wife's and all.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new">People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</A></pre>

slvr_phoenix · Oct 16, 2003

You have the hot numbers for the Lottery?

I wish! Normally I don't even play actually. It's only when the pot gets up high that I even bother. Heh heh. Maybe I should try using my psychic intuition to pick my own numbers for a change instead of just relying on fate to win. **ROFL**

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new">People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</A></pre>

HardWareBoss · Oct 17, 2003

When you use numbers all day long at work. You have the winning number But!!! which ones to pick that's the $64 dollar question. OR $64 mill.

SlowCheetah · Oct 17, 2003

Decisions... decisions...
I came to the fine folks here at the Tom's Hardware community a few months ago asking for new system advice. After mostly settling on a system very similar to the one at the beginning of this thread (2.8C, more memory, CRT monitor.) I've been not-so-patiently waiting for the October Intel price drop. But now the sentiment again seems to be to wait for the new and improved crop. But the new stuff will also have premium price tag until this time next year anyway right? So once again I'm also struggling with the "best" time to buy/build.

I guess, to put a question to this, if you were to build a new system in a couple of weeks looking at price/performance, what would you build? (non-OC, gamer)

Thanks

Guest · Oct 18, 2003

>I guess, to put a question to this, if you were to build a
>new system in a couple of weeks looking at
>price/performance, what would you build? (non-OC, gamer)

A A64 3200+, and I wouldnt have to think twice about it; its faster, cheaper and more future proof than any compareable intel solution.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

Is it time to build?

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