Build now? Or wait?

Bucko89

Bucko89

Bucko89

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2 Nov 2010
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Hi guys, looking at building a new system as mine is quite clearly dated (6800 Ultras SLI, AMD FX55...). I was going to take the plunge in about two weeks and get:

Radon Intel Core i5 760 2.80GHz @ 4.00GHz Overclocked Bundle - Gigabyte

69xx ATI, 570 nVidia or maybe even if the prices drop for the cards atm get one of those (Dont want to spend more than £200 if i'm honest)

And was looking at a Silverstone FT02 case for next year when they have got the new fans in (Just use my Akasa Eclipse intil then).

But now I honestly don't know what to do. As I've just read an artical on Bit-Tech saying don't buy the 760 as Sandy Bridge is around the corner. I've literally held of building a system for years now, you know what it's like, always something coming around the corner. But I've waited this long, is it really worth waiting for these new processors? As you can see I don't upgrade often, my computer 5 years ago was a lot of money as has served me well. I'd like to future proof as much as possible.

So, is it worth waiting?

Cheers
 
I'm in the process of building a new PC and all I need to buy now is that same OC bundle you mention.

2 reasons why I am sticking with the current i5 760 bundle.

1. We still don't know how much Sandy Bridge will cost and what impact, or how quickly, it'll have on the prices of CPUs and mobos currently available.

2. January 1st there's a 2.5% VAT increase (and I'm tight)

3. The i5 760 bundle will do everything I want and then some.
 
ElliorR said:
I'm in the process of building a new PC and all I need to buy now is that same OC bundle you mention.

2 reasons why I am sticking with the current i5 760 bundle.

1. We still don't know how much Sandy Bridge will cost and what impact, or how quickly, it'll have on the prices of CPUs and mobos currently available.

2. January 1st there's a 2.5% VAT increase (and I'm tight)

3. The i5 760 bundle will do everything I want and then some.
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+1 Exactly why I bought now. the i7 I have is plenty and will eat up any game I throw at it. It will be good for a couple of years and I haven't heard much about the new sandybridge, price wise. You have to get on somewhere, or else you will be waiting for ever as tech changes so quickly.
 
Never a right time to buy TBH, won't be too long before Sandy bridge is old hat and theres something better coming out. The system you are thinking of getting will be tons better than the one you've got now and you'll get a good few years out of it.
 
Thanks for the replys guys. Is there any benchmarks for the Sandy Bridge at the moment? Is it going to me much better than the 760 or is it a case of waiting to see how well it proforms and how well it overclocks? Well I've waited this long so another month won't hurt I spose.

Cheers
 
Some sources say Sandy Bridge will be gimped, i.e. overclocking on certain boards will cause the USB and SATA ports to malfunction [ http://techreport.com/discussions.x/19321 ]

Personally i'm sticking with LGA1366 for a while, as when sandy bridge is out, the price of the current extreme chips will drop, which can only be a good thing.

Listen to armitage shanks, he knows what he's talking about there.
 
Bucko89 said:
Thanks for the replys guys. Is there any benchmarks for the Sandy Bridge at the moment? Is it going to me much better than the 760 or is it a case of waiting to see how well it proforms and how well it overclocks? Well I've waited this long so another month won't hurt I spose.

Cheers
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Hi there,

Here is an article with some preview benchmarks of sandy bridge.

As for overclocking will cause malfunctions with the USB and SATA ports, yes this will happen if you increase the BCLK - but this isn't how you overclock using these chips. Instead you have to buy the muliplier unlocked CPU versions, they do cost a bit more than the standard versions, but the overclocking prospects do look good.
 
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At this point I don't see how any improvement on processors will make a huge difference anyway. I already can't afford an i7, and those can do more at a tech level than anyone could need to do at a practical level.
It's GPUs I'm concerned about right now, we're about to enter quite a bullfight next week.
 
SpriteAlpha said:
I'd pick 1366 over Sandy Bridge too.
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Could you please explain why?

Admittedly, you can't buy SB now, so if you need a system immeditaley then s1366 is one of the best options (depending on application). But if you are buying new and can wait the 4 weeks, then you will be able to get a faster system (SB) for the same money as a "low-end" s1366.
 
I should have wrote "I'd pick 1366 over waiting for Sandy Bridge". I personally can't see the 1155 gen. having much over the 1366 - albeit, I obviously can't say this as fact, though neither can the opposite be claimed as fact either. And the 1366 platform is mature, so it's a more stable option.
 
SpriteAlpha said:
I should have wrote "I'd pick 1366 over waiting for Sandy Bridge". I personally can't see the 1155 gen. having much over the 1366 - albeit, I obviously can't say this as fact, though neither can the opposite be claimed as fact either. And the 1366 platform is mature, so it's a more stable option.
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That is fair enough - i7 (nahalem) is fast enough for most uses and many people will judge that having a gaming machine over the christmas holiday is worth more than waiting and getting a faster machine for the same money. However, some people would be happy to wait - so I guess its a personal decision.

As for what s1155 has over s1366, I suggest you have a look at this article (with benchmarks), there is certainly a CPU performance benefit with SB. Also, if you have a look at this thread - these new chips do seem to OC well on air cooling.
 
Sandy Bridge doesn't look that tantalising for those wanting to use SLI or CrossFire cos none of the chipsets support 16x,16x PCI-E.
 
cmndr_andi said:
That is fair enough - i7 (nahalem) is fast enough for most uses and many people will judge that having a gaming machine over the christmas holiday is worth more than waiting and getting a faster machine for the same money. However, some people would be happy to wait - so I guess its a personal decision.

As for what s1155 has over s1366, I suggest you have a look at this article (with benchmarks), there is certainly a CPU performance benefit with SB. Also, if you have a look at this thread - these new chips do seem to OC well on air cooling.
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Thanks for the links. I'm upgrading now, and then again in probably 2012 when socket 1356 is mature enough (assuming it's a decent upgrade of course).
 
DragonQ said:
Sandy Bridge doesn't look that tantalising for those wanting to use SLI or CrossFire cos none of the chipsets support 16x,16x PCI-E.
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If you already have an i7 system, then there really isn't much point in upgrading (I certainly won't be) - and as you say SLI/CF is optimal on the board that support PCIe x16x16.

However, when running dual cards - the performance hit going from x16x16 to x8x8 is less than 4% (when using top-end cards), so it isn't a massive problem tbh.

Obviously if you want to use triple cards or more then you need X58 - but this only of concern for a very small number of people.
 
There will always be someting newer around the corner so you have two choices:

1) Wait for the release of said technology and buy into it.
2) Wait for the release of said technology and buy the last generation at a much reduced price.

Look at the aps/games you run and see if a faster cpu / board combo makes much difference - if its a games pc then probably won't make much difference and money is better off being spent on graphics cards or SSD's.
 
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