Buy now or wait for Sandy Bridge/Bulldozer (+VAT increase)?

crackerbear · 23 Nov 2010 at 09:58

I'm thinking of buying a new PC with a budget of £300 max (CPU, RAM & Mobo), speccing up one myself it seems i5 760 is a good choice. However, I know Sandy Bridge chips and Bulldozers are coming soonish, so is it worth the wait?

As far as I've read, the Sandy Bridge chips are likely to be faster than the i5, but possibly crippled somewhat by hardware level limiting overclocks. I know no one knows for sure, but what are the expected prices? Would I still be able to get a similar or better speed CPU (Sandy Bridge/Bulldozer) for the same price as a i5 760?

The main thing that worries me by waiting, is the VAT increase to 20% in January, hence I'm in two minds whether to buy now or not. I will only have £300 max to spend, this budget won't increase if I wait or not.

Any thoughts?

edscdk · 23 Nov 2010 at 10:07

an increase in vat of 2.5% will increase the price of a £100 by £2.50...

your £300 will buy you a £255 card now or a £250 card after the increase..

the vat increase should not factor in your decision..

DoctorStoxx · 23 Nov 2010 at 10:11

I'm in the same boat as you, along with countless others.

Personally I've decided to wait and see what happens with Sandy Bridge in terms of performance and pricing, it's only a matter of weeks away now.

Don't let the impending VAT increase frighten you, though. It represents a price increase of 2.5% which amounts to about £7 on your £300 budget. Not worth losing sleep over!

edscdk · 23 Nov 2010 at 10:11

I forgot that any CPU you buy now will drop in value when the new CPU's are realeased, so technically it will cost you MORE to buy before the vat increase (do to the reduced cost of the part after the increase)..

assuming there is not a coponent shortage and subsequent price increases

crackerbear · 23 Nov 2010 at 10:23

I think you're underestimating how tight my budget is, £300 max is literally £300 max

However saying that, as you say edscdk, the component value drop when new tech appears is worth factoring in. At the same time, price fluctuations have been crazy recently, 4GB ram would've cost about double it is now a few months back.

From a very quick spec up:

Intel i5 760
Asus P7P55D
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600)

Can be currently had for £295.93 which is ideal as it's just under budget. However I'm slightly concerned about buying a chip with the 1156 socket as it's going to be phased out soon (I think?).

hybrid572 · 23 Nov 2010 at 10:28

crackerbear said:
I think you're underestimating how tight my budget is, £300 max is literally £300 max

However saying that, as you say edscdk, the component value drop when new tech appears is worth factoring in. At the same time, price fluctuations have been crazy recently, 4GB ram would've cost about double it is now a few months back.

From a very quick spec up:

Intel i5 760
Asus P7P55D
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600)

Can be currently had for £295.93 which is ideal as it's just under budget. However I'm slightly concerned about buying a chip with the 1156 socket as it's going to be phased out soon (I think?).

Socket 1155 will be phased out fairly soon after release, and upgrading within a socket is rarely value-for-money anyway. Go for the i5.

Hagar · 23 Nov 2010 at 10:44

With a bit of luck, the pound sterling will strengthen or the dollar weaken. This could affect the pricing more than VAT.

I look back a couple or three years when the dollar was almost two to the pound. Buying good domain names was so cheap.

andy.

Superjeep4x4 · 23 Nov 2010 at 10:52

Everyone says to wait and you should if you have a money tree you just planted and it will bloom right as the new tech comes out. I have played the wait game for 15+ years now and frankly it is overrated and frustrating.

A year or sometimes less after you buy anything the new "must have" tech hits the scene and your left with old gear so its just as much of a state of mind as well as actual performance you should be looking at. the i series from intel and the Phenom/athlon 2 offering are proven to be plenty of power not only right now but for years to come. Even C2D quads offer more than enough for a while to come if your willing to OC.

There is a reason why in so many "should I upgrade my x cpu" you get a reply like "buy a second hand Q6600 and overclock it to 3.2 or above and your set for a couple years" because its enough power unless your a true enthusiast and your playing the benchmark game.

If you wait for the new tech yes it will be faster but it is not gonna future proof you any more than you will be if you purchased a solid setup with current tech. Also you are gonna pay a premium for that new tech not just from the CPU but the MB also as both AMD and Intel are using new sockets this go around so the "price decrease" really makes no difference since you will be paying a new tech premium for months if not longer as well as the increased vat.

Intel as of late changes sockets almost as much as the average person changes underwear I wouldnt worry to much about it. I always sell my old gear and have found you actually get pretty good prices and can make an upgrade a lot less painful financially.

IMO buying on a budget which most of us do you simply need to do some research and buy the best current tech you can afford that fits your needs and not worry about what is coming next year. Worst case you spend another 300 next year and sell your old gear for a decent profit and be happy. At the end of the day 300 once a year in the grand scheme of things is peanuts to upgrade a machine that gives us so much entertainment.

crackerbear · 23 Nov 2010 at 23:43

Thanks for the input lads, I guess I'll wait it out in the hope that the i5 or maybe even i7 prices will fall far enough for VAT differences to not matter :

yashiro · 24 Nov 2010 at 04:05

Buying at the right time for you is part of the whole PC hobby.

Big.Wayne · 24 Nov 2010 at 04:35

crackerbear said:
I'm thinking of buying a new PC with a budget of £300 max (CPU, RAM & Mobo + GPU)

I will only have £300 max to spend, this budget won't increase if I wait or not

how tight my budget is, £300 max is literally £300 max

crackerbear said:
Any thoughts?

Admetos · 24 Nov 2010 at 05:01

Superjeep4x4 said:
Everyone says to wait and you should if you have a money tree you just planted and it will bloom right as the new tech comes out. I have played the wait game for 15+ years now and frankly it is overrated and frustrating.

A year or sometimes less after you buy anything the new "must have" tech hits the scene and your left with old gear so its just as much of a state of mind as well as actual performance you should be looking at. the i series from intel and the Phenom/athlon 2 offering are proven to be plenty of power not only right now but for years to come. Even C2D quads offer more than enough for a while to come if your willing to OC.

There is a reason why in so many "should I upgrade my x cpu" you get a reply like "buy a second hand Q6600 and overclock it to 3.2 or above and your set for a couple years" because its enough power unless your a true enthusiast and your playing the benchmark game.

If you wait for the new tech yes it will be faster but it is not gonna future proof you any more than you will be if you purchased a solid setup with current tech. Also you are gonna pay a premium for that new tech not just from the CPU but the MB also as both AMD and Intel are using new sockets this go around so the "price decrease" really makes no difference since you will be paying a new tech premium for months if not longer as well as the increased vat.

Intel as of late changes sockets almost as much as the average person changes underwear I wouldnt worry to much about it. I always sell my old gear and have found you actually get pretty good prices and can make an upgrade a lot less painful financially.

IMO buying on a budget which most of us do you simply need to do some research and buy the best current tech you can afford that fits your needs and not worry about what is coming next year. Worst case you spend another 300 next year and sell your old gear for a decent profit and be happy. At the end of the day 300 once a year in the grand scheme of things is peanuts to upgrade a machine that gives us so much entertainment.

+1

Buy what you can afford, that suits your needs.
Use it, enjoy it don't worry.
When it feels dated, sell it to part cover the cost of your newer gear, and start again.

The best things are the things you use. All gear ends up in a skip one day.

crackerbear · 24 Nov 2010 at 09:12

Big.Wayne said:
...

Heh I didn't miss out the GPU by accident, I already have a Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB that I bought last month as my 8800GTS 512mb died (it's completely bottlenecked by the rest of my system though)

The only other thing I'm thinking of adding is a case, as the case I have is absolutely ancient and cost about £14, but I'd rather have as fast innards as possible with my £300 (hence me speccing myself an i5).