The best time to upgrade my computer?

[EtheAv8r]

If you are asking should you wait until 2008..... that means you think you can and your computer will do untill then... So maybe you have already answered your own question.

If you have to (as in want to for whatever reason) upgrade now or in near future, then if you feel the need and have the dosh and inclination, then plan to upgrade say in three months, and spend that time deciding what you want your computer to do, and what kit will best suit that objective.

It will always be cheaper and faster next (whenever Month/ Quarter/Year)... and often there is no "best time", just "your time". I have been pondering upgrading for a year now, and have changed my plan fundamentally several times during that time, with ony a couple of exceptione (e.g. case - and three days after I buy a Sonata 2 for my daughter's new PC and a P180 for mine, the Sonata 3 and the P182 are launched).

There is some very good stuff available now, propably the best ever, but there is always "jam tomorrow".

Good luck!

[TooNice]

I think it partly depends how often you can be bothered selling off your old gear. I reckon that mid-end gear tend to depreciate less than high end gear. And if you can sell them off before new technology render the mid-end gear completely obsolete, you probably minimise your losses.

Personally, I find that a bit troublesome, so every 18-24 months, I will just build a new system equipped with upper 2nd tier performance gear. Yes, I do end up paying a premium for the satisfaction of above average performance, but without having to worry about not having the fastest PC that I've paid for (since it wasn't fastest to begin with)

Fixed typo. But yea, I paid more than £50 and less than £100 - it was a good spot fo rme.

[Leepox]

I think it partly depends how often you can be bothered selling off your old gear. I reckon that mid-end gear tend to depreciate less than high end gear. And if you can sell them off before new technology render the mid-end gear completely obsolete, you probably minimise your losses.

Personally, I find that a bit troublesome, so every 18-24 months, I will just build a new system equipped with upper 2nd tier performance gear. Yes, I do end up paying a premium for the satisfaction of above average performance, but without having to worry about not having THE fastest PC not being the fastest anymore

Yeah, thinking about it, it really pays to get the mid range to feel the depreciation effect lesser. I.e. my £50 939 mobo still sells for 30ish quid in ebay, while those 939 mobos that cost £140 sells for about £80 Ah well, maybe this summer would be "FOR ME" the best time to sell my gear. I should get a hefty amount of money by that time and would get me another mid range set-up.

But lets see what changes are gonna happen this year that would render my 939 set-up to be worth bananas next year.

[frosty15]

Leepox,
Going back to your initial question, there is, as a few people have stated, never a RIGHT time to buy, however, there are times when it is less than advisable.
Currently -
Vista is just about on the shelves - (shortly to be accompanied by the numerous bug fixes et.al. no doubt)
DX10's general release in budget, mid-range and high-end models from both AMD/ATi and nVidia is due, but not here yet.
HDCP and it's subsequent "is it compliant, is the graphics card compliant?" debacle is still ongoing.
Quad core is looming in various guises
And the widescreen debate is continuing
The next six months will be a settling in period from many angles.
What is guaranteed is that multi-core IS the way forward. Software WILL be released to take advantage of multi-core (including games)
HD IS the new standard
Vista WILL eventually become widely accepted as the best platform
Widescreen and HD WILL be synonamous as the must-have display format.

When all the dust settles in 6-8months, you will have more cash saved, a better understanding of what not to get and prices will have stabalised.
Vista will be far more stable than on its release and what you can then afford would be far better than what you can buy for the same amount now.

It's a phrase I've coined as "wait-tech" - waiting for the next technological advancements.
And it sucks, but hey, that's the price we pay for being computer enthusiasts

[merdat]

This year I would wait till 2nd or 3 q as there is going to be price drops on c2d chips also more processors introduced. That aside if you feel that you need to upgrade then go for it as any system you build will be out of date immediately. Just have a look at your own requirements and get the stuff.

[Leepox]

Yeah, the thing im really waiting for now is the release of DDR3 supporting chipsets. I dont think DDR2 is a big step forward from DDR1, although there is a bit of performance rise. Once that happens then I'll buy me a new PC

It really is a waiting game for us so somehow I have made a list of the things I want to get once I upgrade

Multi Core
DDR3 RAM
DX10 GPU
Vista
Widescreen Display

You guys helped me think about this one... It really is hard to plan, It took me several weeks planning about my current set up and it has fared well considering its two years old (mid range set up as well) and still plays all the games I want. The next system I build I hope would also be spot on as my current one, and last me another 2-3 years.. And I think the list I have above will do so.

I dont see DDR4 until 2009 or 2010, DX11 will be in the olympics 2012 along with a new OS, And some new revolutionary Core maybe in 2008 perhaps/2009. Its not good to speculate because one time its like this and the next its like that... Technology.. just unpredictable. *even if you look at the roadmaps of intel and amd*

[Clunk]

Dont forget about ddr5 and octocore though, only round the corner.

[Leepox]

AMD commented that we are getting drifted away to multi core processors now.. just like the Ghz race... And eventually they will design a processor which would disprove that the more cores the better, just like what they did with the higher ghz the better stuff.

Anyhow, quad cores i think will be mainstream in 2008, as with ddr3. It would be in 2010 that we will see octocores and ddr4 maybe... bleh.. as long as I have my targets already lol. Just that I want to make a big performance step by the time I upgrade. Yes C2D kicks AMD's ass but the performance difference isnt that big in real world applications anyway. I will count my PC as one generation(DDR1, the AMD era where they kicked intels ass), the C2D as the second(DDR2, intel era where they kick AMD's ass), and waiting for another generation(DDR3, maybe both will kick each others ass, but I put my bets on intel). Its like im basing it on the DDR generation, mainly because it dictates FSB speeds? lol. anyway, maybe they will completely change the way computers work in the future, but while DDR is still here I might choreograph my upgrades to every two generations of the DDR story lol.

Screw this, the thing Im talking is absolutely rubbish. I just wanna waste time so that it gives me more time to ponder lol.

[No.72]

Ummm, theres no time as good as the present?
If you want to make decent pc, well make one, now!

[frosty15]

Yes C2D kicks AMD's ass but the performance difference isnt that big in real world applications anyway

That depends on what your real world apps are and what you are currently using.
I recently did a major upgrade on a friends rig, from an XP2800 to a C2D e6300, his encoding went from 2 hours + to 25mins, that's some big performance difference!

[iamtheoneneo]

Dont forget about ddr5 and octocore though, only round the corner.

ddr5? is that a joke? when ddr4 has barely entered consumers hardware
and 8 cores yes but only in limited demos has one been available going to be at least another year for that and even then will be overpriced!

[ajbrun]

At what point do you all think the prices on the Nvidia 8800 series of graphics cards will come down after Ati release their effort? Will it be immediate, or will it take weeks/months for it to make a substantial drop?

Anyone know when the Ati card will come out, and any guesses on the price of an 8800 GTX by mid Feb?

[Leepox]

That depends on what your real world apps are and what you are currently using.
I recently did a major upgrade on a friends rig, from an XP2800 to a C2D e6300, his encoding went from 2 hours + to 25mins, that's some big performance difference!

im not a heavy gamer... because of academics... But I consider myself a gaming fan lol.. i just want my system to keep up with everybody elses.. not that i overpower theirs, as long as I can play it with decent FPS (40+) and decent loading times. I just light 3d rendering other than that and the normal word/excel job and well.. surfing.

[frosty15]

as long as I can play it with decent FPS (40+) and decent loading times.

This is about the only gaming comparison page I can find which compares C2D to X2's at stock settings, (as well as the E6300 and E6400 modestly overclocked)

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=2802&p=10

[Toobad]

Hadn't we better wait for Intel to put their Bearlake chipset on mobos in Q3, they're FSB-licious apparently.

[prehensile]

wait for crysis and an upcoming platform with a lot of headroom.

people that say upgrade any time don't know so much, upgrade to platforms that can double your speed, and to mature chipsets.

core2 is a killer, my last five systems where AMD, for performance sake I am going to wait for chipsets and quad cores to become an easy choice-I do multitasking I expect DDR three will be prohibitive and immature for almost a year after the middle of this year.

unless there is a really good platform coming up within six months and depending on your limitations and heavy your installation and workstation is...