When's the best time to upgrade my pc?

[kjac]

I upgrade my computer about every 18 months to stay somewhat current with the games that come out. I don't keep up to date with the new technology though, so I'm not sure if I should buy parts now or next year. I'd prefer to buy around the beginning of next year, if economical.

So, I guess what I am asking is if anyone knows if there is going to be any technological advances anytime soon that I should wait for or not. Last time I bought parts I didn't buy a mobo with PCI-Express when everything is headed that way, so I don't want to make the same mistake again.

Thanks

 

[bryanf445]

buy now, youll allways be behind on newest hardware. Its impossible really to stay ahead of whats coming out, because theres always new stuff coming out.

 

[Asus]

Direct3D 10 seems to be what a lot of people are waiting for (Direct3D 10 gfx card and Vista required). Vista will hopfully be out early next year (in 32bit and 64bit versions). Direct3D 10 video cards should be out this fall/christmas. Tech stuff like PCI-Express and DDR2 are maintream now on both AMD/Intel systems.

Since you were already planning to buying early next year anyway, I'd stick to it.
AMD and Intel recently released their new platforms so a lot of people are buying now. But next year I bet you'd see faster clocked CPUs, better prices on the same stuff now and the platforms should be more stable.

 

[The Brick]

The only thing you might want to wait for is DirectX 10 graphicscards. They will probably be around christmas, but there hasn't been much announced yet. Dx10 cards are supposed to boost performance in Direct3D games, so you might want to wait if you want longer lasting hardware. Beginning next year would be an excellent time to buy a new pc (I will be buying one then too :E).

As for the rest of the hardware, there's been a huge pricewar between AMD and Intel. Intel came up with their new Core 2 Duo (Conroe) cpus and they blew AMD out of the water. AMD responded by dropping their X2 cpu prices by as much as 55%. But Conroe is still the preferred CPU if you're buying a new system. The E6600 is the best choice now.

Motherboards, Intel has released their 975X and 965 chipsets for Conroe (socket 775), but ATI and Nvidia are about to (or have already) release their new chipset based motherboards. They are certainly worth a watch, but I'm no expert on motherboards.

Ram, don't waste your money on pc8500 DDR2 memory. Go for the 50% cheaper pc6400 DDR2 memory, not much performance is lost.


Other than the graphics cards, things don't look like they are going to change any time soon.



Edit: beaten D:

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

I'm waiting for DX 10 and Vista myself. But giving Vista a little time to "become tame," so to speak. There's always the initial rough phase, you know?

 

[Asus]

But giving Vista a little time to "become tame," so to speak. There's always the initial rough phase, you know?

The long wait for Service Pack 1? hehe

 

[The Brick]

IBut? Is that a new Apple product, Asus?

 

[Asus]

IBut? Is that a new Apple product, Asus?

haha im not sure how that got in the quote. It's in this one though. =p

 

[huntingbear]

While we're on the subject. I was looking at RAM today, trying to figure out which ones weren't cheap crap "ValueRam" and which ones were good. I've found most of them say that they're "value" or whatever in their name but some i fear don't. what's a common attribute of cheap ram and advantage in good ram?

 

[Garfield_]

Only when you got an overload of money you don't seem to be able to spend on something more useful or better for you. Or when your current PC can't perform the way you want it to.

I usually choose the second option because you can always spend money on better things than entertaining systems.