With my current rig sputtering on the Witcher, and the 8800GT getting great marks, it seems like its time for me to finally get a new rig for the holidays. I just wanted to make sure there aren’t going to be any big hardware shake ups (either video cards or processors) in the next month or two that will dramatically alter the performance/pricing picture.
That, and any additional pointers regarding PC purchasing at the moment are appreciated.
The nearest one is the rumor of the G92 8800GTS 512. Basically, the same as the the 8800GT but the big difference having 128sp. The 8800GT has 112.
Other than the added 16sp, it’s have higher clock speeds across the board and a dual-slot cooler. It’s rumored to be as fast as the current G80 8800Ultra but at the msrp of $350.
To put this in persepective (speed low to high):
G80 8800GTS 320/640 = 96sp
G92 8800GT 512 = 112SP
Ver 2.0 G80 8800GTS 640 SSC = 112sp
G80 8800GTX/Ultra = 128sp
Rumored G92 8800GTS 512 = 128sp
The speculated release date is either Dec. 3rd or Dec 11.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p256/phinix666/8800gts65_tabelka.jpg
Re: CPU’s
Intel next chips, the 45nm mainstream desktop ones (dual and quad), will be released in Jan 08. It’s more of an evolution of Conroe (Core 2) rather than a big “shake up”. However, if you are buying a laptop, it will reduce the power requirements so that should make battery life better.
Linky for est. prices -> http://www.tcmagazine.com/comments.php?shownews=16193&catid=2
Best motherboard chipsets (for the dollar) seems to be Intel’s P35 + fast DDR2 memory. DDR3 is faster, but imho, offers diminishing returns just because DDR2 is dirt cheap atm. Intels X38 is also out there and seems good, but more expensive. X48 is coming, but a recent article on Anandtech suggests that its not much better than X38.
I have not read much on AMD so can’t give any info on them.
I’m in a similar situation. I’ve been planning for a while to do a system upgrade around Jan '08, and was hoping we’d get new processors and video cards by then. It looks like Intel should have the Penryn processors ready around that time, which works great.
But damn Nvidia is screwing up my plans, with no sign they’ll be releasing next gen video cards any time soon (I’m not counting these 8800 GT style refreshes of old tech to a lower price point). The best explanation I’ve seen for this lack of a new round of cards - despite the fact that current tech is at least a year old - is that ATI really dropped the ball and still hasn’t come up with a viable competitor at the high end, and thus Nvidia has no strong incentive to release something even faster at this point.
I’d been waiting to build a new machine since June, and finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago. There’s always something around the corner, but here’s why I finally pulled the trigger:
In Feb ATI launches the single card with dual 3870s on it, which should handily beat the Ultra for the price of the GTX. I’d expect Nvidia to come out something around the same time.
Tomorrow, or the day after that, AMD will launch their new processor family (Phenom) and chipset (RS790).
It won’t be the fastest, but maybe it will influence multicore processor pricing.
Eh, February is a little to distant for me tastes, and I’m not in the market for a high end $400 or $500 card. $300 is plenty, and I’ll probably upgrade it in a year or two anyways. Thanks for all the advice, but it seems like a good time to buy. At least its not like Dual Core Processors or Direct X 10 cards are about to come out.
One recommendation: whatever MB you buy, make sure it works with Penryn (or Phenom, if you’re going AMD), even if you’re not going to wait for it. No sense limiting your upgrade options.
Do you know off hand what a motherboard needs to be upgradable to these processors?
The ability to forecast the future.