Is Now the time to buy a new pc?

[Ctarant]

Would like a new pc (my current rig is 3+ years old). but given that AMD is coming out with the M configuration early next year, should I wait until then?

Thanks
Chris

 

[suicidalpigeon]

would help if we knew the specs and what you do with the pc.

 

[DaveSimmons]

There will always be something new. After AMD's M will be intel's P-M based dualcore for the desktop that might even put them back into being competitve.

nvidia and ATI will always be coming out with new cards, hard drive capacities will keep going up, Creative will keep changing the name of the same soundcard to sell it to you again, etc. etc.

 

[mOeeOm]

Well now is probably the best time if you were able to get your hand on a GTO^2 for $217 shipped....not anymore, I'd just wait if you can run everything, even on low settings.

 

[Ctarant]

I use the pc for all around tasks (internet, office apps) plus fairyly high level gaming, music creation and some photo editing. My current rig is a P4 2.4 g, 512 ram and a Nvidia TI 4600 video card

Thanks

 

[suicidalpigeon]

the ti4600 is still a very capable card, you should be fine with everything on med/low. a good boost to increase the longevity until the new line of hardware is to overclock that cpu, good if its a northwood, which should be. get a 6800nu and softmod/overclock it to a low end 6800gt. success is varies, though.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Ctarant
I use the pc for all around tasks (internet, office apps) plus fairyly high level gaming, music creation and some photo editing. My current rig is a P4 2.4 g, 512 ram and a Nvidia TI 4600 video card

Thanks

Newer games from even a year ago will look nicer with a modern video card, better lighting and shadow, textures, reflections, etc.

I had to use to a spare ti4200 when my defective 6800 died, and had to dial down visual quality settings on even the 2003(?) game Silent Storm.

Though like wafflesandsyrup said you can still play modern games, just missing out on some of their visual goodness.

 

[forumposter32]

If you get a new card, try out the BF2 demo. I THOUGHT I wouldn't like it but I did. (Actually, do. I'm kind of addicted. It's pretty bad when you can't go to the bathroom.)

BTW, I found the socket 754 3700+ on sale on some sites for around $160 US. I know people crap on the socket 754 but that CPU is a pretty good deal.

 

[bladephoenix]

Originally posted by: Ctarant
I use the pc for all around tasks (internet, office apps) plus fairyly high level gaming, music creation and some photo editing. My current rig is a P4 2.4 g, 512 ram and a Nvidia TI 4600 video card

Thanks

That's an awesone system you got there! Keep what you have for now.

 

[Cook1]

Is Now the time to buy a new pc?

That's the million dollar question around here. Basically, there's ALWAYS going to be something newer, faster and bigger coming around the cornor in a few months.

 

[w00t]

i think its a good idea for you to just get s939 m2 isnt going to be a big performance increase all it is is ddr2 and new socket.

 

[bladephoenix]

Originally posted by: w00t
i think its a good idea for you to just get s939 m2 isnt going to be a big performance increase all it is is ddr2 and new socket.

True, but the fact is that the release of the m2 will drive the current s989 down a notch. I think he has a good enough system to slug it through for another 3 months or so. Then the A64 will come down a bit.

 

[grimdeath]

definatly give up on waiting for the "next best thing" cause there will always be something on the horizon...get the best you can afford when you need it and enjoy it, dont stress

 

[Magnulus]

I agree with all the folks that say there's always going to be something better.

Yeah, Athlon has the socket M comming out, but the Socket 939 still has a future ahead of it. If you want to upgrade to that, that's perfectly fine. If it were Socket 754, I would say no-way, but Socket 939 is fine.

The GeForce 4 card is OK. Not great but you can get better cards now days. The GeForce 4 is going to bog down in DirectX 9 games.

So it comes down to... do you play alot of DirectX 9 games? Do you anticipate buying any upcomming games? If not, don't upgrade. 2.4 GHz is still fine for everyday computing, provided you keep spyware off your PC.

Theoretical upgrade:

Athlon x64 3200+
Socket 939 motherboard with NForce 4 chipset (your choice of SLI or not, personally I would recommend against it for budget conscious).
1 GB DDR 400 RAM
GeForce 7800 GT PCI-Express if you want pure performance (Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT with the Silent Pipe if you want to save some money and have a QUIET videocard that still performs well).

My rationale for the upgrade is its always better to spend more money on your graphics card than the processor if you do gaming.

 

[qdogforeva]

To add something to Magnulus's post... A GF4 is not going to run dx9 games in dx9. Of course they'll bog down due to texture size/particle effects, so on... but I didn't think that the GF4 series even supported DX9. That wasn't implemented until the FX series and did so rather poorly.

 

[deptrai]

It's never going to be a good time to buy "a new pc" if you keep on playing the waiting game.

 

[TNM93]

I would just wait until the newer socket based AMD comes out. I bought an Athlon XP late in their product cycle and regretted it when the Athlon 64 came out a few months later.