Building a rig for Christmas 2011

[nothingspecial]

This is my current dilemma:

I'm looking at building a new rig for myself as a Christmas present. But day by day it seems increasingly like a truly stupid time to do so, and I'll explain why.

If I go Intel, I'm currently looking a X68-UD7 and a 2500k. But then Ivy Bridge is due somewhere around Q4, and there's no clues as to which side of the new year these will come. And today I read that there's going to be X7x chipset boards in the new year as well! So if I do go with Intel, I'm going to be craving the next best thing almost straight away.

If I go AMD, the problems are partly the same. I'd go 990FX-UD7 and the FX8110, yet there's going to be a second phase of Bulldozers (Bulldozer Extreme?) in Q3 or Q4, and again, it's whether that means December or January. It's further complicated by whether the second lot of chips will still be AM3+ or not. If so, I could buy a 990FX board, drop in an old Phenom II and wait for the new chip in 2012.

Any thoughts? It's my birthday in February, should I just sit on my hands until then?

 

[SieB]

Seen as you won't be building till Q4 anyway if I were you i'd wait until everything is released so you can compare benchmarks and decide what is best for you.

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

I don't think there's any point building a rig you won't be happy with.

If you're the type that craves the next big thing then you better wait for the next big thing.

Just make sure you buy the next big thing when the next big thing comes out otherwise your going to be waiting for the next big thing after the next big thing again.

 

[ruthless_villain]

well i cant see anything new coming out in 2012 especially since sb has just been released and lga 2011 should be out by then but you know... your choice you can keep waiting for something that might not happen

 

[yggdrasil]

I would buy all high end parts bit by bit that you can besides CPU and RAM

Go buy your

Case, Power supply, Hard drives, 3 Monitors, Keyboard, Mouse what ever else you need that I cant think of then by the time you done that It should be time for the mobo and CPU by the time the new chips come out. Or just buy a cheap board and CPU to fill in until the one you desire is out.

Or if you get a bulldozer buy a decent mobo and cheap CPU and then upgrade the CPU.

If you wait for the next big thing to come out with computers you will be waiting forever since there is always some thing new on the horizon.

As people on here have pointed out AMD, Intel and nvida are already working on CPU's 1 or 2 generations ahead of whats currently available. Look at AMD. "Wow look at our brand new 6990 Dual GPU card, in other news here is the specs for our 7990"

It also depends how high end you want to go and what you are going to do with your PC. If its high benchmarks and fast gaming you'r looking to get then concentrate on your GPU performance, current AMD systems seem to slow GPU's down a bit tho.

 

[sheroo]

I also wouldn't worry too much about the systems you see other people building. Build something for yourself that suites your needs. We don't care what it is as long as you're happy, mind you we will be checking your cable management.

 

[nothingspecial]

Cheers all. Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed that anything new and good is available by early December.

Looking forward to seeing Bulldozer benches, and more details/a release date on Bulldozer Extreme (which, if replacing the Opterons, will probably be out of my price range anyway, as I'm guessing will anything on LGA2011).

Interested to see if all the Ivy Bridge chips are going to be LGA2011, or will there be some to drop into 1155.

By the way, case will probably be CM690-II in white, and an NH-D14 cooler. That's assuming nothing better comes along. PSU will be CM Gold Series 1200, which I have already (overkill I know, but hopefully futureproof) and will probably stick my HIS 5770 in it for a while.

Rig is mainly for music making (or trying to), so plenty of RAM, and it'll deffo be a Gigabyte board, as they're the only boards I've seen with T.I. firewire controllers for my M-Audio soundcard. Not heard good things of the VIA FW controllers.

Oh, and I'll be sure to do a good job on my cable managment

ps. Anyone know where I can get purple LED case fans?

 

[marsey99]

there will be 4 core ivy cpu on 1155 it seems but 2011 is only getting the 6 core versions with more cache and better ocing options.

if i was you i would wait on ivy and bulldozer for a couple of reasons. first off they will push current prices down so for 2500k money you might just get a 2600k or you could jump on the new tech that takes you fancy if its priced right too.

 

[bleddyn]

Id personally sit on my hands till febuary and build your self a birthday present instead of a christmas present, its only 2 more months to wait really and afer waiting 7 whats 2 more gonna hurt? Also with a longer wait comes more time to build up a sum of money so that equals better stuff =]

 

[Excalabur50]

Im in the same quandary build soon or later and as a mate of mine said this new 22nm stuff is going to change heaps not only cpu's but gpu's and everything else as well, and if you do wait don't buy the first generation wait a bit more for the second or third as the Sandybridge first release proved.

 

[SieB]

Im in the same quandary build soon or later and as a mate of mine said this new 22nm stuff is going to change heaps not only cpu's but gpu's and everything else as well, and if you do wait don't buy the first generation wait a bit more for the second or third as the Sandybridge first release proved.

The 22nm CPUs will be worth the wait for they are a smaller architecture (obviously), will have less power consumption, run cooler and overclock better. The Intel ones will also be using their new 3D tri-gate transistors which are supposed to give a 32% performance increase over the current 32nm CPUs that use the 2D transistors and with half the power consumption.

GPU's will only be going 28nm but the same thing will apply to those, less power consumption, less heat which also means quieter GPU's with smaller fans.

 

[UnknownXV]

Mate, you're going to be feeling like this all the time. Even if you buy it RIGHT when it first comes out, at most you have about 6-7 months until the next big thing is out. Technology just moves too fast to be the king for very long unless you constantly reinvest every half-year.

 

[nothingspecial]

Mate, you're going to be feeling like this all the time. Even if you buy it RIGHT when it first comes out, at most you have about 6-7 months until the next big thing is out. Technology just moves too fast to be the king for very long unless you constantly reinvest every half-year.

True, but 6 months I could probably deal with. 6 weeks though, then I wouldn't be a happy bunny at all!

At least 1155 sounds like it will have some longevity, and if I do go Sandy and X68 at xmas, I should (hopefully) be able to drop in an Ivy chip 12/18 months later. That's a big consideration, especially with talk of an AM4 slot (news to me, but I wouldn't be completely shocked if they went LGA at some point in the future).

Would also be my first personal Intel build. Always had AMD in my rigs (Athlon 1500XP in the first, Phenom x4 9650 in the current one).

 

[Grizzly]

As it's a christmas present wait until christmas and ask again then, if something big and new was coming out soon then a few people on the forum would be sure to know.

 

[Pat123]

I agree, asking this question now doesn't really make much sense to me lol. No-one really knows what the picture will be in 7 months. Best off buying the best that's around at the time and making the most of it, tech moves so fast but at the moment the steps each generation aren't HUGE. Granted the difference over 2 years is big but 6 months, not so much.

You could end up spending your whole life waiting for the next best thing, get the best you can when you can and just enjoy it.

 

[sheroo]

I agree, asking this question now doesn't really make much sense to me lol. No-one really knows what the picture will be in 7 months. Best off buying the best that's around at the time and making the most of it, tech moves so fast but at the moment the steps each generation aren't HUGE. Granted the difference over 2 years is big but 6 months, not so much.

You could end up spending your whole life waiting for the next best thing, get the best you can when you can and just enjoy it.

+1 couldn't agree more.

 

[nothingspecial]

Ahh, I'm just getting over excited... Looking forward to seeing the Bulldozer benches and 990FX boards though.

 

[nothingspecial]

Quick update on this - the 990FX boards look okay, and there looks to be a second wave of Bulldozers around August/September.

To distract myself until there's reliable benches and such, I've just ordered the CM690-II Advanced White case, so I'll have that to concentrate on playing around with and modding until I need to make the decision on the innards of the rig.

Shall put pics in the project log/rig gallery of the progress on that. Planning on getting the black windowed side panel and painting it to match the white case. Might replace the plexi while I'm at it, get rid of the fan space and have a go at some etching.

Colour scheme will be white and purple/UV