A few questions about future proofing my system.

morguk · 7 Dec 2007 at 18:30

Hey guys i am thinking about building a new system for christmas but just had a few questions about future proofing my system.

1) Will the new intel penryn chips fit into current 755 socket motherboards? So say i bought a e2140 now i could replace it later with a penryn?

2) Whats this about PCI-E 2? Will the nvidia 9800 series be PCI-E 2? When will it come into play?

3) DDR3. Will DD3 take over DDR2 anytime soon? Is DDR3 much better? Should i be looking for a board with both DDR3 and DDR2?

4) AMD's codename spider looks interesting. Do you think AMD we overtake intel anytime soon? Who should i go with?

Cheers everyone.

DavidB · 7 Dec 2007 at 18:41

Good questions, ill try my best:
1) yes i believe so, most will with a BIOS flash anyway, although i may be remembering wrongly.
2)Dosn't look like it will add much at the moment, IIRC cards like the 8800 gt are backward compatible anyway, as they dont even max out the PCI-e ports that are currently in pass use.look here

3) DDR3 will eventually overtake DDR2, but i dont think it takes much more than a look at the prices to establish that it wont be for a good while yet, who knows though, there could be a sudden price plummet, but i highlydoubt it. Those that use both DDR2& DDR3 can't use them in combination anyway, so you may aswell just upgrade the mobo when the time comes to do so.

4) We all hope, but the current performance of AMD pretty much shows there a generation behind Intel, so wouldnt really be worth factoring in as a consideration.

A last note on "future proofing" its almost impossible, just dosn't work. If you want good performance 24/7 your going to have to upgrade every year or so, especially with computer games software currently being ahead of graphics cards(ok so maybe only crysis, but its going that direction).

morguk · 7 Dec 2007 at 18:47

Thank you DavidB

FatRakoon · 8 Dec 2007 at 01:05

I agree.

You buy the best you can afford today, and by xmas this year anyway, there will be better gear out.

Its the way it is unfortunaltely.

Normally I tend to go for mid range stuff that lets me play all the games I want to, but costs a fraction of the price of the latest kit, ( however, recenly I have splashed out far too much )

That way, I dont get hit too hard when I see somethign thats £50 cheaper than I just paid, even before its been delivered!!!