No idea how to select components anymore

[Scott_Arm]

I guess I don't keep up enough anymore. I was trying to price a PC, just to see what I'm looking at. If it was cheap enough I might buy before Christmas rather than after. The thing is, I can't do it. There are just too many CPU variations, motherboard chipsets and motherboard brands. Then there's DDR2 vs DDR3, with different timings. Even selecting a CPU fan is annoying because I'm never sure it'll fit on the motherboard I pick. Video cards is a little easier, but there are still so many vendors with different clocks and memory.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Nehalem is right around the corner (literally only a couple months away) and it brings an entirely new platform with it, so unless you absolutely must build now, I suggest you wait until Nehalem hits to even think about pricing components.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Thanks for the tip. It will probably reduce the complexity of my choices as well, because there won't be so many different motherboards and chipsets to choose from. I just need something basic, but dependable. The only thing I really want to invest in is the video card.

 

[cychris]

From your description i think you would be better off to buy something now. You dont seem like the target audience for Nehalem. Current Quads are pretty cheap, overclock a lot and are proven performers.

Anyway, it all depends on your budget.
P45/X48 Chipsets from Intel are both really solid, P45 is more economical and gets my thumbs up. I like Gigabyte as a mobo maker.
An intel Q6600 or a Q9550 depening on your budget, both are good and overclock a lot. The latter is based ona new core and is 5-10% faster per clock approximately.
DDR3 is not worth it, buy 4GB or 8GB of DDR2 at either 800MHz and 4-4-4-12 timings 1066MHz and 5-5-5-15. I like G.Skill, but Corsair and OCZ are supposed to be good too.
Graphics card depends on the amount you want to spend, money well spend are with ATi HD4850, HD4870 and arguably GTX280 if you can find it cheap enough.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

From your description i think you would be better off to buy something now. You dont seem like the target audience for Nehalem. Current Quads are pretty cheap, overclock a lot and are proven performers.

Anyway, it all depends on your budget.
P45/X48 Chipsets from Intel are both really solid, P45 is more economical and gets my thumbs up. I like Gigabyte as a mobo maker.
An intel Q6600 or a Q9550 depening on your budget, both are good and overclock a lot. The latter is based ona new core and is 5-10% faster per clock approximately.
DDR3 is not worth it, buy 4GB or 8GB of DDR2 at either 800MHz and 4-4-4-12 timings 1066MHz and 5-5-5-15. I like G.Skill, but Corsair and OCZ are supposed to be good too.
Graphics card depends on the amount you want to spend, money well spend are with ATi HD4850, HD4870 and arguably GTX280 if you can find it cheap enough.

I'm not sure you're looking at this from a proper long-term perspective. LGA775 is dead (or will be when Nehalem launches). That means no upgrade path. Why would you recommend a dead platform to an enthusiast? As for the OP not being in Nehalem's "target audience" - what does that even mean? Entry level quad Nehalems will be priced @ $250-$300 upon launch, and should surpass all but the fastest QX Yorkies out today.

Don't get me wrong, I have an o/c'd Penryn G92 rig myself and I'm quite happy with it.

 

[cychris]

I am looking at it from the perpective that most people dont really change CPUs but rather change mobos+cpu+RAM. If the guy changes components often then obviously my advice is not good. If on the other hand he keeps his components for a long time and overclocks i think the current platform provides the advantage of being proven.

Again, with PC the more you wait the better things you can buy thats never going to change. I just dont think that Nehalem at launch will be much more attractive against a highly clocked Yorkfield CPU (3.2GHz and above) on most consumer oriented applications at least.

If he can wait thats always an option but i believe that LGA775+Yorkfield combo will hold their own for quite some time. Its readily available, prices are good, platform is stable and overclockable (OCing is obviously a major advnatge and if its not done it loses a lot of its appeal as a platform).

In the end it all depends on the "need" to buy PC now and on the budget that the man has on the PC. Nehalem may be priced decently but X58 and DDR3 will certainly be pricy.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

I am looking at it from the perpective that most people dont really change CPUs but rather change mobos+cpu+RAM. If the guy changes components often then obviously my advice is not good. If on the other hand he keeps his components for a long time and overclocks i think the current platform provides the advantage of being proven.

Choice is always better than buying into a dead platform.

Again, with PC the more you wait the better things you can buy thats never going to change. I just dont think that Nehalem at launch will be much more attractive against a highly clocked Yorkfield CPU (3.2GHz and above) on most consumer oriented applications at least.

Said highly-clocked Yorkie costs $1000 or more, compared to similar performance in single-thread applications (and greater performance in multi-threaded or bandwidth-intensive apps) from a $250-$300 processor on a brand new platform likely to last several years, I know which one I'd pick. Unless you're talking about overclocking, in which case there's no reason to believe Nehalem won't clock as high as Penryn so it's a wash there.

If he can wait thats always an option but i believe that LGA775+Yorkfield combo will hold their own for quite some time. Its readily available, prices are good, platform is stable and overclockable (OCing is obviously a major advnatge and if its not done it loses a lot of its appeal as a platform).

Again, I'm not saying it's a bad platform for the here and now, and it is likely to provide adequate performance for some time to come. The problem here is one of platform longevity, and future component options.

In the end it all depends on the "need" to buy PC now and on the budget that the man has on the PC. Nehalem may be priced decently but X58 and DDR3 will certainly be pricy.

He did mention a December or later time frame, so I think it's rather silly to rush into a purchase now, knowing that Nehalem will be widely available when he's planning on buying. Knowing this there's not much point in pricing components right now. Prices and available components are sure to change drastically between now and then.

 

[Davros]

He should just send me the money and let me build it, trust me scot your new pentium 166mhz will be the envy of b3d

 

[Scott_Arm]

He should just send me the money and let me build it, trust me scot your new pentium 166mhz will be the envy of b3d

Ha, I said I didn't know how to pick components now, not twelve years ago.