Any startling technologies next door?

[edyzmedieval]

I want to go all out since my rig has been sold by my dad, so I only have a notebook as a computer.

By startling I mean something like a 2xquad core and things like that. I don't want to pay for something and the next month some super tech comes and renders my thing useless (figuratively speaking). I prefer to wait and get the serious tech before I buy.

So, any rumours?

[Lemur]

Hmm, there's supposed to be a new videocard-to-screen connection coming down the pike. Haven't seen it in the wild, however. Worse, it's not clear whether it's going to be DisplayPort or UDI, or whether both will fail since HDMI is kinda working okay.

There are a very few games that can take advantage of four cores, such as Supreme Commander, and perhaps the Source Engine. I'm not aware of any game in development that can use eight cores. I guess you could use the box to double as a furnace, however.

Some of the stuff on parade right now looks a little fishy. Three-way SLI to offload physics onto a GPU. Not sure it that's in the least bit worth it.

You need to get used to the idea that something snazzy will come along after you've spent your dough on a rig. That's just the way technology works. Best is to figure out what's the best bang for your buck, and plan on upgrading every three-to-four years (or less, depending on your budget and patience).

That's my $0.02.

[Mikeus Caesar]

I was wondering this too, considering i'll be coming into a hueg amount of money soon, which i intend to build my dream monster with.

[edyzmedieval]

Intel released an Extreme Quad Core, but it's more than 1000 dollars, and reportedly AMD will come out very soon with "true quad cores" - 4 cpu's in a single silicon. Intel's quad core is 2xDual Core stuck together.

What I'm looking specifically are Quad Cores, 3 way SLI (2.3GB of video...that's just WOW) and liquid cooling. I just bought a PC Gamer issue in which details how to build your own rig.

Thoughts?

[CBR]

Not super tech of course but Intel are releasing their Penryn class of cpu's these days and Nvidia too with their 9xxx series of graphic cards. So anyone who plans on buying a powerful pc soon should at least wait a bit to get stuff like that.


CBR

[CBR]

What I'm looking specifically are Quad Cores, 3 way SLI (2.3GB of video...that's just WOW) and liquid cooling. I just bought a PC Gamer issue in which details how to build your own rig.

Thoughts?

What do you plan on using your pc for? A lot of games hardly use dualcore yet. Maybe video encoding can use quadcore, not sure.


CBR

[edyzmedieval]

I want a super monster that can handle me 3-4 years on super high and high games. Then I buy a new one. I resisted with a Pentium IV, 512MB RAM and Radeon X700 for 3 years, so why shouldn't I do the same with a much more powerful thing?

[CBR]

AFAIK not even the 9xxx Nvidia series support directx 10.1 so at one point within this or next year you would want to get a new video card anyway. I dont know what monitor you have right now but you might be getting something with higher resolution within next few years. That might also require a new videocard.

I "resisted" 3 1/2 years with my Pentium 133 Mhz but it sure as hell wasnt fun

Personally I change pc every 2-3 years and in between upgrade my video card. Although I havent upgraded my 7800gt on this two year old pc, I would have if I had cared about some of the new games and if the 8xxx series hadnt screwed up MTW.

Recently I played some Red Orchestra and noticed I no longer was among the first few to load the map (which is nice as the first players get to pick weapons). My overclocked dualcore Opteron is still a good cpu and 2 years ago was very powerful but it would have been difficult to get something that much faster to still be in the top today.


CBR

[Meldarion]

I understand your concern about wanting to build a machine that stands the test of time, but there are always new technologies just next door, so if you wait for the latest then something newer will always be on the horizon and you will never get your new PC built.

My advice to you is to set a budget and stick too it, maybe go a little higher if something is a fraction beyond that budget.

At the moment the latest processor to be released are the Intel core 2 duo E8000 series and for the money they are very fast, but since you specifically asked about quad cores the Intel Q6600 is hard to fault, maybe they will release a 45nm version in the not too distant future.

As for GPU's CBR already pointed out the Nvidia9xxx series.

Still a computer using currently released stuff that has a Quad core and 3 way SLi would look something like this:

Case
Power supply
Evga 780i motherboard
Q6600 processor
Processor Cooler for overclocking
4 gig of ram
8800gts GPU
Sound card
Hard Drive
DVD burner

This build would probably set you back a good $1500, probably more and lacks a monitor and operating system but a lot of it is just for show anyways . It also has great overclocking potential at the end of the day it may be a little overkill but then we are looking to the future.

[Husar]

Why 8800GTS and not GT?
Did I miss something or shouldn't the GT offer more bang for the buck?
Haven't really checked lately as I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon.

[CBR]

...maybe they will release a 45nm version in the not too distant future.

Yeah the Yorkfield (Q9000) quadcore series should come out in March and the price should not be that bad: Q9300 2.5 GHz very similar to a E8500 3.16 GHz from what I have seen.


CBR

[Lemur]

Did I miss something or shouldn't the GT offer more bang for the buck?

You missed the part where edyz declared (more or less) that he had a near-unlimited budget and didn't care about price/performance ratio, just future-proofing. Which is, of course, impossible.

[Meldarion]

Your right in bang for buck terms the 8800GT is better value. The 8800gts does have slightly more firepower and has 128 universal shaders to the GT's 112, but these are only petty differences. If you have a few more dollars to burn though I would say its worth it.

[CBR]

Well if money is not an issue then its a question if one likes to buy new hardware or not. If yes then its better to buy something every 2 years than every 4 years

There is nothing like opening all those fancy boxes and put together your pc and fiddle a bit with overclocking and.. and.. oh I better stop.


CBR

[edyzmedieval]

- Intel Extreme QX Quad Core
- 3xnVIDIA 8800GTX Ultra (in SLI...VERY doubtful about the extra cash for the Ultra...maybe the normal GTX is enough, even if the performances of Ultra are something)
- 4/8GB RAM
- liquid cooling

That sounds great. But processor is 1G, videos are 1.5G, ram is another half, liquid cooling another half at least, power, case....

So, ideas?

[Lemur]

So, ideas?

Sure, here's one: Why not buy a more reasonable rig right now, and plow the rest of the cash into a fund for the rig to come after this one? Technology is a terrible investment, since it's constantly improving. All the cash in the world wouldn't have future-proofed you if you spent gobs of cash on a pimped-out 386 rig back in the day.

I dunno, maybe I should recuse myself from this thread. Spending huge bucks on uber-high-end equipment just seems like a massive waste to me ...

[Whacker]

Seconding the Lemur's suggestion. You can get a dynamite rig for about $2k USD right now that will easily last you 2-3 years. No, it won't be the exact same experience as the guy who buys the $8,000 Alienware or VoodooPC or self-built monster, but you'll be more than satisified with what you can get. The only people who should be spending that kind of ridiculous money on a new PC are 1. people with too much money to begin with and 2. people who compete seriously (like the fatal1ty dude) and professionally in online tournaments on a regular basis as a source of income.

[drone]

and 2. people who compete seriously (like the fatal1ty dude) and professionally in online tournaments on a regular basis as a source of income.

And they get to write off their rigs as "business expenses" on their tax forms...