Mobo and Vidcard madness for future build

[Tek-Almighty]

I have put off building what I like to call my UT3/Crysis build so far.

 

I am waiting for news of the NVidia 9000 series GPUs that are supposedly coming sometime before the end of '07. I figure a minimum of $100 price drop on current 8800s and I figure the new (hopefully year's worth of wait better) 9000 cards will top out around $550 or so.

 

I don't want to buy a $500+ GTX now, and in one month (so close) find a much better card on the market for same price. I know we've had this discussion (alluded to...) in other thread, but I wonder what the opinion is...worth the wait or not? Any news on the 9000s?

 

Not only that, but I know that UT3 and Crysis will likely drop before the 9000s roll out...so that means if I wait for those cards from Nvidia, that I will have to suffer mediocre graphics or crappy framerates with my no, sub-par, 7900GT.

 

Then...

 

That got me thinking about Intel's soon-to-be-released quad core Penryn-based processors. They are 1333 mhz FSB and use a 45nm process...they are also socket LGA775. The first of these (the extreme edition, at 3.0 ghz) will be released on Nov 16th...according to accurate press. Then in early 08, the lesser brethren of these 3.0 ghz quad cores, will be released to the tune of $300-500. That would mean I could upgrade to one of those from what I plan to buy 2.4 ghz quad core now.

 

There is a lot of scuttlebutt around the webs about their backwards compatibility with the 680i and 650i chipsets. I know that they will be compatible with p35, but I can't find a p35 mobo that I like for the price I want to pay (no more than $165).

 

Hmmmm...

 

 

Thoughts?

[dragonfly]

Look at gigabyte's lineup.

[Cujo]

wait until the games are released. your 7900gt should play each just fine in dx9 mode as will your dual core cpu.

 

the fact is right now you have no idea what performance will be like in either of those games on your current hardware. you have no idea how the new nvidia or ati cards will compare to current ones. you have no idea how costs will be affected. you have no idea what will be delayed. the crysis demo was delayed a month already. heck, we don't even know the new nvidia card will be a 9 series card.

 

my main point is to upgrade when you have the facts, not when you're speculating about performance of unreleased games and hardware.

[dragonfly]

Dont listen to Cujo - he's just trying to save you money and headaches.

[Tek-Almighty]

Dont listen to Cujo - he's just trying to save you money and headaches.

 

 

Bahhh...

 

Cujo does have a point...(doesn't he usually?).

 

I really want to upgrade...but perhaps I'm convincing myself in spite of myself. I do have a fair amount of caution built into my genetics...my father is German and English.

 

I suppose, much of this desire is 'keepin up with the Joneses.' Everybody else already has switched to the 8800 series or is in the process...or has built entirely new machine.

 

Right now, my processor and vid card and RAM do the job quite nicely. I play all games (cept Oblivion, Bioshock, and SupCom at pretty high levels with good fps. I suppose I am just jealous and wary that Crysis and UT3 will probably destroy my system at the settings I'm used to in other games.

 

Well...waiting seems to be the best plan.

[bushwack]

Got a SLI mobo? Go ahead and get that 8800 now and when the new cards come out and the prices fall get another 8800. That's my plan anyway. Right now new Flitters build is about 13% faster then mine (in 3dmark2006). Not worth upgrading from a AMD X2 to a Core 2 Duo IMO so keep your current rig and just drop in a couple of 8800's.

[VooDooPC]

Buy a new 8800 from EVGA and step-up to a 9000 when they come out in November(maybe). That is what I am hoping to do.

[Cujo]

ati's new one looks pretty quick too though. i would definitely wait and i would definitely never go sli.

[benjester]

I'm personally waiting on my build to see what shakes out. I'm anxious to buy now, since I'm not running any dual core yet... but still... I agree with cujo... gotta see how things play out.

[Xoul]

Its likely that Nvidia won't release their new 9000 cards until sometime mid to late next year. I think they boasted to release a new series every year? I'm not sure... but I think they fell behind. Or maybe they just did so good with the 8800s they just sat back and enjoyed it. Who knows... but I know this, I'll want to see benchmarks on those cards in game magazines before I buy anything. Or at least on tomshardware. I'd expect to see the cards a little after seeing specs, and benches in magazines. I don't know for sure though, its been a while since I've read anything about a nvidia card, so I could be wrong about the magazine to card release thing. as for the "SLI" thing, I don't think I'd go SLI ethier(cujos comment) to me SLI would only benefit someone who couldn't really afford a good card right away. So their card is say... 35% crappier than the 8800s. So you'd simply buy a slightly better card, or the same and in the 200 dollar range, to sli it with to make up for the performance. Thats what I thought SLI was when it came out, a better way to get out of overpaying for a video card. I wonder how two SLI cards, in the mid range, would do against a 8800 in an unbiased test. I've read a few that had a VERY SMALL disclaimer stating that one of the machines, which had totally different parts, had 1 gig of ram, while the other had 2. I over looked it the first 20 minutes I was going over and over it. I do hope they come out in November though. I go off for training and I'd REALLY love to see those specs on a quad intel when I get back. My new goal for a PC probably is much the same as yours 'keepin up with the Joneses.' I'm so far behind now... I don't even have a dual core. I plan on buying the best right out and saying "Hunny, this is it until my FPS start to suck really bad again". My goal is Best processor, best mobo, and best video card. Then i'll slowly upgrade the ram, and hard drives as needed. Maybe some raptor drives. I was going to take Cujos advice on one of my posts before but... since I got this new job, I figured might as well go ALL out on this one just this one time.

Edited October 8, 2007 by Xoul

[Xoul]

Well, I just found this while googling. Nvidia Guess we'll get the card by christmas YAY benchmarks! The last comment gave me chills. UT3 full cranked and smooth as a babys butt... man... awesome.

Edited October 8, 2007 by Xoul

[Tek-Almighty]

Well, I just found this while googling. Nvidia Guess we'll get the card by christmas YAY benchmarks! The last comment gave me chills. UT3 full cranked and smooth as a babys butt... man... awesome.

 

 

Thanks for posts and that linky.

 

Good info.

 

I have an SLI board now...not because I wanted/needed SLI at the time, but it was a great board for oc'ing my rig and stable as heck. When I buy new mobo, I still think I will get 2 x PCI-e because you never know in the next year or year and a half what cards may come out for PCI-e (like physics acceleration, etc...)

 

For an extra $30 the extra PCI-e x 16 is worth it for me.

 

I still don't think I will go SLI, for me the performance gain won't be worth the cost...not only that, but I don't think my PSU will do it. I mean it is a great PSU and never even stresses but it doesn't have 4 PCI-e connects on it...just two...and it is only 600W (3 rails tho...so that's good)

 

Plus...with the 8800...I really think you'd have to have higher res. than me (1690 x 1050) to make it all worthwhile and really crank those settings...(8x msaa and 16x af).