Go or hold-off?

[Roduga]

Seeing as my PC isn't going to do any justice to games coming up, I'm curious on whether it's worth upgrading now or waiting a few months?

Is there anything 'on the way' I should wait for?

 

[Roduga]

AM2 with DDR2
7900
Vista OS

Depends what you have at mo IMO

P4 3GHz Northwood
1GB RAM
ATI 9800 Pro

I want to avoid doing a half-upgrade. All or nothing. This is for a few games arriving in a month or two.

 

[Roduga]

Hold out thats still good enough to play 1024*768 ATLEAST, with decent effects no AA of course. Im holding out on XP2600 512 and 9700Pro

Yeap, that's what I do now. When Oblivion comes out it will make me cry though.

 

[Roduga]

Sounds like its time to upgrade.

Go for something like ...
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS)
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)

Sounds good. However, I'm getting a sizeable bonus in a few days, plus a few hundred squid I've saved already. Permission to up that a bit?

 

[Roduga]

Invest the money in a high-interest bank account, wait until AM2 comes out with DDR2 support and build yourself a killer rig. It's hard to hold back, but it always pays off in the end. Just 4 months, that's all.

Is it really worth the wait just for AM2/DDR2?

 

[Roduga]

That's a question of hot debate. In my opinion it is worth the wait because AMD will be basing their future processors on the AM2 socket, giving you a better chance to upgrade next year (should you need to). Also, DDR2-800 will be coming out around the same time as AM2, so it seems wise to wait instead of spending the best part of £1000 on technology that will be out-of-date in just 4 months time.

I've read a lot of, well, not bad but not great reviews on the AM2 stuff. Hence, I'd like more input from people.

 

[Roduga]

Basically, next year I will be concentrating on other activities so this is my last upgrade for a while (I hope). As the first game on my list is out at the end of March, I think I shall 'go'. Even if AM2 works, I'm not sure it would be a big enough jump to wait for.

Guess I'll have to ponder on a spec then...

 

[Roduga]

How much have you got to spend, let us know and i'm sure we'll be able to point you in the right direction.

I've been looking and pondering for over a month already and it has seriously helped me narrow doen my choices of hardware. I'll be ready to go in 2-4 weeks myself

A little over £1400, of course I'd like to have a little bit left over...

Thankfully, all I need is the box.

 

[Roduga]

Why-o-why can't these things be easy.

*shakes fist at sky*

 

[Roduga]

and it does look nice.

And now, another n00b question:

What's the deal with the Opteron gear? Their speed is pretty low compared to others, I'm guessing that isn't their 'actual' speed?

 

[Roduga]

They're server chips, allegedy made with the finest silicone available. They also run at lower volts and generate less heat. The clock speeds are "low" but they are the best overclockers, which is why they're so popular. Don't expect AMD to honour any warranty or give you any support if you're running a server chip in a desktop computer (or so I've heard!).

So, bearing in mind I've had a Unix-consultant existance where all my work is software-related, it sounds like I'm going to need someone to hold my hand whilst I do this.

 

[Roduga]

lol, that's what we're here for!

Seriously, there's nothing hard about it. Installing the processor onto the mobo is a piece of cake and overclocking is simple once you've read the stickies on various forums. It's all down to buying the right parts that will give you an optimum overclock.

I can do the installation with my eyes closed, overclocking is new to me. I guess I'll have to read up on the subject.

 

[Roduga]

Thats a good spec, you have the cash... go for it... it will be a great upgrade!

Sounds like a plan. See you in one month...

 

[Roduga]

Dont believe everything you here about DDR2 Ram. Check this out and see the insane FSB speeds even DDR2-533 can hit then tell me its not as quick as DDR1 (up to 15% quicker even with basic value Ram according to artificial benchmarks which measure mem bandwidth).

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/27/in_search_of_true_ddr2_bleeding_edge_memory/

Actually I've based my move on the release of a certain game. *AND* that lot will cost a fortune.

 

[Roduga]

Hows about something like this:

CP-153-AM AMD Opteron UP 175 Dual Core San Diego 2.2GHz 2MB Cache (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-153-AM)
£334.95 £334.95
MB-014-DF DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-014-DF)
£79.95 £79.95
GX-046-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO)
£324.95 £324.95
HD-070-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB 3200KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-070-WD)
£79.95 £79.95
CD-026-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-026-NE)
£27.95 £27.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.50 £14.50
CA-012-TT Thermaltake VA3000BNA Tsunami Dream SuperMidi Aluminium Tower - Black (CA-012-TT)
£67.95 £67.95
CA-025-EN Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN)
£63.95 £63.95
MY-057-OC OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC)
£134.95 £134.95
Subtotal £1,129.10
VAT £197.60
Total £1,326.70

With that ram, cpu, mobo & cooler you'll be able to seriously clock that opty, probably to around 3ghz

Proper job. I am leaning towards the CoolerMaster Praetorian 732, good/bad? Also unsure of the PSU, unless it's highly thought of?