Time to build a new PC - Need some info

[jimmyrules712]

Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted on here (over a year at least) but I do come in and look around every now and then. A year ago I sold off all my PC stuff and moved to England to study abroad for my last year of college and the computer I've been surviving on is a Dell D400 (pentium M, 1.6ghz, 1 gb ram, win xp, only weighs 4 pounds with a 12 inch screen!) Now I'm back in the U.S., graduated from college, and working as a C# developer for a Fortune 10 company and I think it's time for a computer upgrade.

I'm a bit behind the times, the last time I spent any amount of time researching PC components was when Core 2 Duos were the newest and greatest thing. I started looking around, checking performance charts on tomshardware, and I think I've got a decent idea of what I want but I thought I'd check in for some opinions. I'm planning on going straight to Win 7 when it's released so I'm debating between buying now and getting a copy of Vista that comes with a free Win 7 upgrade or waiting and buying in late Octoberish. I'm not up-to-date with Intel/AMDs cpu lineup - is there anything coming out or changing in the next few months that may drastically alter the landscape for CPU pricing and performance that would be worth waiting for?

For this hypothetical build I thought I'd go with AMD. With my budget the Intel i-7 920 looks too expensive (particularly when you take into account DDR3 prices and prices for i-7 motherboards) and this AMD CPU looks better then what an Intel CPU in the same price range would give me. Thoughts?

Budget: $750 (not including OS or monitor)
Purpose: For general use, some heavy applications (Visual Studio, photoshop, maybe a bit of video editing, won't be used for gaming).

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition - $200

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA-790GP-UD4H - $125

RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 - $60

HD: WD Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA - $95 X 2 (2 drives for RAID 1)

DVD: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model GH22LS30 - $26

Case/PSU: Antec Sonata III 500 steel Case 500W PSU - $110

Video: Onboard from motherboard (not a gaming rig)

Total: $711

I would openly consider any suggestions that would keep the overall price under $750, including a CPU change to Intel if you guys think I could get something that would perform better and stay in budget. I'm feeling the itch to buy now, and I know there's always something around the corner you could be waiting for, but let me know if you think there's good cause to wait 2 months.

Thanks!

[Khalil]

Looks like a good rig, that Gigabyte is a good motherboard but for the sake of better customer service in case you ever need it, I would go with an Asus equivelant. That CPU is awesome, I used it in my gaming rig for 4 months till I just replaced it with a 965, I was very impressed with it's performance.

[glc]

If you wait till late October, the new Intel socket and chipsets for the i3/i5/i7 will be out, which will bring the motherboard prices down considerably.

[Khalil]

I doubt for his use though he would see any benefit from the i3/i5 systems, the AMD 955 will still be faster in my opinion.

[jimmyrules712]

Originally Posted by Khalil I doubt for his use though he would see any benefit from the i3/i5 systems, the AMD 955 will still be faster in my opinion.

Is it just new chipsets coming out in October or is it a new lineup of CPU's as well?

[jdeb]

nice build

[glc]

Originally Posted by jimmyrules712 Is it just new chipsets coming out in October or is it a new lineup of CPU's as well?

Both. The only i7 now is the 9xx series with X58 chipset and triple channel ram capability. i7 is hyperthreaded quad core, and the 8xx series i7 for the new chipsets (P55, etc.) will be the same, but dual channel instead of triple channel ram. The i5 will be a non-hyperthreaded quad, and the i3 will be dual core.

I have held off several customers wanting high end machines till fall - both for the new socket and for Win7. I will not build AMD (personal choice) and do not like the quirks of the X58. If someone must have a new machine RIGHT NOW, I will do a P45 with XP.

[Khalil]

No one knows though how quirky the i3 and i5 will be, they might be just as unstable as the i7.
Both AM3 and P45 are very stable. In my opinion either one will run very strong for the next few years.