Upgrade now or wait...

[brizey]

I have a pretty old build: Asus 939 board with a 3700+ Athalon running XP. I have plenty of hard drive space (2 x 500 GB sata drives) and a reasonably OK video card, 8600GT.

So, should I dump maybe $400 into it and build a stepping stone until the Core i7 product is fully mature (and cheap?).

Something like an E5200, an ASUS P5Q, 4 gigs of Corsair DDR2 800, a Lite-on SATA burner (mine is IDE) and Vista HP? I can get all on NE for around $400.

One big question I have is power supply--mine is a mediocre Antec SmartPower 450W. I figured I was already pushing it with the 8600GT.

Second big question: is it worth it at all? Should I just wait until spring and get a LGA1320 board and an i7? Will be bigger $$$, but I will gain in terms of future proofing.

[TwoRails]

The waiting question is age old, and hard to answer in some senses and easy in others. If something you want is "just around the corner" for sure then waiting can pay off. However, there always seems to be something better "just around the corner" so you could wait forever...

I didn't notice a video card listed: is that 939 mobo AGP or PCI-E? (don't remember off hand if they had a AGP 8600GT card or not... )

Antecs are pretty good PSs, but with a newer system (and especially if you upgrade your vid card) you'll be pushing it.

[brizey]

Originally Posted by TwoRails The waiting question is age old, and hard to answer in some senses and easy in others. If something you want is "just around the corner" for sure then waiting can pay off. However, there always seems to be something better "just around the corner" so you could wait forever... I didn't notice a video card listed: is that 939 mobo AGP or PCI-E? (don't remember off hand if they had a AGP 8600GT card or not... ) Antecs are pretty good PSs, but with a newer system (and especially if you upgrade your vid card) you'll be pushing it.

Video card is a EVGA 8600GT, and I plan to keep it. MB is an A8N-SLI, so it has PCI-E (and SLI capable obviously). Back then the failure of SLI to deliver future-proofing was not obvious yet.

My real decision--if I can spend $400 now to get me through until this time next year, will I save the $400 on i7 components? I think the power supply is the crux--if I replace it now it pushes me to $500--more than I wish to spend, especially since that is with an OEM Vista. Retail Vista puts me at about $600 with a power supply--might as well just by a Cyberpower at that point. On the other hand, if my power supply is OK--I can make this thing a second PC in a year or so and go crazy on an i7 build next Christmas.


Why am I doing this? The lack of a dual core is starting to wear on me. I have been doing more background processing of video files and it slows everything to a crawl.

[Eriol]

My build looks very similiar to yours, well almost exactly Unfortunatly,my computer died last week and am forced to build another, my parts sh0uld arrive tomorrow (yay!!). I was happy with mine and had it not died i think i would have gotten another year or two out of it. Of course I wasnt playing the most graphic intensive games either, just WOW and a few RTS.

[Hippo08]

Well, here is what I can tell you for my experiences about upgrading and whatnot. Basically, I feel that it is a great time to upgrade right now because of many reasons. It's a great time to upgrade for YOU because manufacturers are doing it themselves, which means quality products starts selling for great prices. Here are a few reasons why I think you should upgrade:

1. A dual-core is plenty fast for most users, in fact its almost overkill for most users. Dual cores are becoming cheaper by the second because of quad-cores and just recently the new i7 quad cores. This effectively makes Dual-cores, which are already overkill for most consumers, a 3rd generation product which you means you get GREAT price/performance when you buy them now. (Compare the E8500 to the Q6600 from Intel. Unless you are doing Multi-tasking to the extreme, you won't need a quad-core and probably wouldn't even notice the difference between the two. So same price for better performance for MOST people with the dual core.)

2. Memory is also making a change, from DDR2 to DDR3. DDR2 you can get for VERY cheap right now with 4 gigs(DDR2) running into the 50 - 60 dollar ranges. 4 gigs, some would say, is almost overkill for most consumers, yet you can get it for cheap prices and thus providing another excellent cost/performance when you buy the memory now.

3. Upgrading to the latest and greatest is HARDLY EVER worth it. In fact, I can almost say that its never worth it. If you do a price/performance calculation when products just come out, they are HORRIBLE compared 2nd/3rd generation models. The fact that you are worried about spending a lot of money is already telling me that you don't need a "latest and greatest" model of computer and most people who think they do, really don't. (For instance, a gaming computer that wants to run Crysis needs the latest and greatest, but any other game doesn't need anywhere close to the specs Crysis needs.)

4. Greatest thing about the times right now, is that all of the companies (good quality and bad quality) need to get rid of their existing product to make way for the new models. Which means you can find Good quality products for great prices with great performance and dependability.

I don't mean to ultimately sway you in your decision, but if you needed a comprehensive comparison of upgrading to the parts of now, hopefully this helped.

Whatever your decision I wish you the best of luck,

Hippo

[brizey]

Man, this board is great. I wish all forums were as civil and helpful.

Thanks for the insight guys. I think I may pop for a Wolfdale and Vista. Now I just need to convince "She Who Controls the Checkbook"...