What's coming? Building "Soon"

[daninfamous]

Ive been really out of the loop lately so thus the question, whats coming?

Ive always kind of building middle to slightly high end cpu's and im waiting till the release of
BF3 and possibly holding off till diablo3 (likely end of the year, if not ill build around end of the year)

Any big changes announced, or would it be ok to build a i7 2600k rig with a XXX### video card, now?

Thanks guys.

 

[happy medium]

i7 2500k is the way to go. Buy now, no real reason to wait.

 

[Tuna-Fish]

For gaming, i5 2500K is a better deal than 2600K -- for most games, it's exactly as fast, and costs about a third less.

AMD is about to release their 'Bulldozer' CPU:s on 19th of September -- we are not expecting wonders out of them, but if they can compete with the Intel consumer high-end (what is something their present offerings can't do), perhaps they can make them lower the prices?

As for the GPU, AMD is going to release the first 28nm GPU's sometime late this year. They should be a major update over what's presently available, but they might not be ready for your deadlines.

 

[greenhawk]

Just to add, intel has nothing expected in your time frame. Their next is Q1 next year for the SB-E (officially March, but they are trying for "something" this year, mostly for marketing reasons). Next main stream is Q2/April for Ivy Bridge.

So from now to Battlefield release, nothing is expected worth waiting for.

 

[nonameo]

i7 2500k is the way to go. Buy now, no real reason to wait.

BD may or may not have price/performance that is significant, but I agree.

Given what we know, just get a 2500k/z68 and be done with it. You'll be glad you did

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

2500k + z68

 

[Spikesoldier]

2500k or 2600k is a solid choice. we dont know too much about BD yet to know whether its worth waiting for.

when is bf3 slated for release? if its september then i would rather just spring for the intel and be rocking and playing on day 1 of release.

 

[nenforcer]

2500k or 2600k is a solid choice. we dont know too much about BD yet to know whether its worth waiting for.

when is bf3 slated for release? if its september then i would rather just spring for the intel and be rocking and playing on day 1 of release.

Nope, not until October 25th, 2011 for the PC release. By the time all of the big games come out for PC this fall i.e. Rage, Batman:Arkham City and COD:MW3, AMD FX Bulldozer should be available with a surplus of reviews.

I would personally wait and see how things shake out as there may be big prices changes at the i7 2500/K level.

 

[Auggie]

If the OP really doesn't need to build until the end of the year, it doesn't seem like it's sound advice to tell him to get the 2500/2600 chips. Heck, he didn't even say anything about overclocking, so unless he's going to get a decent board and get that extra % from OC'ing, why not save money buy just using the stock HSF, basic mobo and non-K 2600? That'll save the op somewhere around $60-100 without costing him any performance.

And even then, if Bulldozer is an unknown factor right now and he doesn't need to build until after it'll be out (as well as subsequent releases, if we're really talking about a December time frame) then just wait and see.

This all assumes his current system is meeting his needs. If he wants something better now, then sure, I'd definitely get the 2600k if he's got the cash and build around it. But he specifically said "soon" and gave a time frame of end of 2011.

 

[daninfamous]

Everything thanks for chiming in, I will be overclocking, and my current system will get me along, itll probably even cut it on release day, but im due for an upgrade and im in the position to spend the money on one. But I can sit tight.

 

[sangyup81]

2500K and then wait for Ivy Bridge to upgrade

How bout your other components?

 

[grkM3]

I say wait for x79

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Wait until those games come out to upgrade. Unless you know that you cannot play the game with your current PC.

 

[Jdmathew]

Ive found that patience and self-control in purchasing hardware go a long way... the longer you can wait, the better deals you'll find. Here's my hardware outlook:

... in the next 3months and with a responsible budget:
cpu: i7 2600K or bulldozer or i5 2500k ($150 onsale at Fry's & microcenter)
board: Asrock extreme4 or msi g80 ~$150?
ram: 8gb pc12800 1600mhz $50-60
hdd: 64gb ssd with raid0 500gb's $180?
gpu: 6950 2gb ~$220?

...long term project for the hardware zealot but still less than a new motorcycle...
cpu: SB-E lga2011 $500?
board: lga 2011 3+ slot Gen3 pci3 3.0 x16 from...Asus? ~$400?
ram: pc14900+ 1866mhz+ 8gb or 16gb. ~$100/$175
hdd: sata 6 128gb ssd with raid0 WD caviar black HDD's
gpu: Next GTX 6XX Q4 '11 else, GTX 570 sli or 6970 xfire or GTX 590

Just a tip...buy non-volatile items first: items that change in price very slowly, such as cases,fans,keyboards,mice,sound cards,power supplies, maybe HDD. If you have a "class" of PC in mind, you can buy all the non-volatiles items on sale and save up for the leap into a CPU/Board/SSD/GPUs/RAM(though dropping fast) all at once.

 

[wuliheron]

There isn't much choice in mid to slightly high end systems. Socket 1155 is Intel's mid range offering, and the their high range sandy bridge E will be considerably more expensive. That leaves bulldozer as the only alternative to 1155 for quite some time to come.

 

[tulx]

Buy now, no real reason to wait.

Umm, that's really bad advice.
It is very unwise to commit to a platform, however good it might be (and SB is REALLY good), when a major competing platform is just about to be released. The OP cannot possibly loose anything by waiting until AMD's FX processors arrive - he can only potentially get a better processor (if BD turns out to be good) or get 2500k for a lower price (if BD turns out to be bad).
I understand you like Sandy Bridge, I do too, but that shouldn't be a reason to give such short-sighted advice to people.

 

[guskline]

daninfamous, what are the specs of your present rig? It would help with advice. Also, if gaming is your prime reason for your machine, the 2500k is great.

 

[drizek]

It depends, if you're building to play games, you can buy just about any modern CPU over $100. Hell, you can get a Phenom II X3 720 for $60.

If you're building for the fun of it, you might want to wait for Bulldozer or S2011. There's all sorts of bugs, incompatibilities, supply shortages and other kinds of fun waiting for you on the horizon.

 

[bryanW1995]

Since you've said that you can get by with BF3 on your current rig, I'd wait until Black Friday to buy anything. You will get deals on even the hot/new products, and anything interesting that could possibly be available WILL be available. That was the biggest smoking gun on 69x0 last year, amd whiffed on BF and just gave tons of sales to nvidia. Most likely you'll have a good bulldozer cpu to compare with a 2700/2800k from intel on a new stepping with higher OC potential than the current offerings, so either way you'll win in the cpu department. With gpu, rumor has it that amd will have their 28nm lineup available by then, though I personally have my doubts about whether the high end replacement will be available.

Regardless of which way you go with the cpu/cpu/mobo/etc, deals are always there on BF. I saved about 20% on all high quality components a couple of years ago, and I'm targeting BF again, either this year (possible) or next year (more likely) for my next upgrade.

 

[greenhawk]

I would personally wait and see how things shake out as there may be big prices changes at the i7 2500/K level.

might be, but for it to be noticable you need competition. And at the 2500K level, I am not expecting anything shattering. More likling be a small rise as people upgrade for the new games just after release causing a short term shortage (and the expecting price increase/price gouging by some shops).

 

[greenhawk]

why not save money buy just using the stock HSF, basic mobo and non-K 2600? That'll save the op somewhere around $60-100 without costing him any performance.

+1, though had a "discussion" on another forum just last night with someone pushing that idea. Wanted people to use a i5-2400 and a H61 as a worthwhile difference. The best they could come up with was a $100, and that was only after taking the differnce in cost of the cpu/motherboard/a third party cooler and case into considerations.

 

[greenhawk]

2500K and then wait for Ivy Bridge to upgrade

Given the expected performance difference, I would find that a waste of money, even if getting a i5-2400 now or a i3 (which would not be worth upgrading from most recent systems like a earlier i5).

 

[imaheadcase]

Diablo 3 is not going to require a upgrade for anything that is out now, its not graphics intensive at all.

B3 should play fine on current systems, all the videos you see online from EA are on a GTX 460.

 

[grkM3]

I still say wait for x79 socket 2011 but if thats out of your budget wait for pcie 3.0 socket 1155 boards that will support intels 1155 ivybridge chips that are about to come out.

You can buy a used 2500k for about 150 and then when the 22nn ivys come out with pcie 3.0 support you can swap one of those in there.

They should do about 4.7-5.0 ghz with ease if intel got the 22nm down right.

 

[Arg Clin]

Unless this is some kind of emergency upgrade, there's no reason not to wait to see how Bulldozer performs. Even if you're strictly Intel user it still makes sense to wait, since BD will likely put some much needed pressure on Intels pricing.