Back in July I asked for advice on buying a new PC. I was looking at a mid range P4 based system to purchase around October. Well, I still haven't bought a new system since my situation hasn't changed as planned.
Anyway, I'm now looking at the AMD64 chips since they've come down in price. I've done tons of research on it and have come up with at least one question that hasn't been answered.
Now, the Socket 754 is clearly being phased out in favor of the Socket 939. However, all signs say there isn't much of a difference between the two, except the 939 is more expensive and will last longer in the upgrade cycle.
The other change is that nVIDIA is releasing their nForce4 chipset soon, which will bring PCI Express to the AMD64. Again, there's no real reason to buy a PCIe card over AGP8x since it has not been fully tapped as far as its performance potential goes (as I understand it has to do with its bandwidth not being even close to full, so why need more?).
But, just as 754 is shifting to 939, so too it would seem that AGP is moving to PCIe. The question I have is, how soon before the latest cards are PCIe only? I know nVIDIA has released some of its higher end cards in AGP (notably the 6600GT just came out this past month) and ATI is expected to have its X800 cards in AGP in the coming months.
Since there's currently no performance boost with 939 over 754 or for PCIe over AGP (or for nForce4 over nForce3, for that matter), the only reason to spend the extra money would be to future proof a new system.
My question to those in the know is, is it worth it? I'm really coming down to the wire with getting a new place but I've still got some time yet (since I'm planning on proposing to my g/f in the next month or so, it's pretty much certain by February).
Now, as has been in the past, I don't upgrade very often, making the 754 package a slightly better deal. But, I have noticed that games depend more on GPUs these days. This makes me believe the first thing I'd probably want to upgrade would be my video card. Since I'm eyeing the 6600GT right now as my main card, it should last a couple years at least (since I'm not one to need the latest, greatest thing. I still run a 4600Ti).
Is there an upgrade path for the AGP platform beyond a year or two (especially considering that Intel seems to be done with it)? Or does it look like PCIe will be all that's available soon? I'm not too worried about the upgrade path of the 754 itself since I don't normally upgrade my processor without changing motherboards too (though that may just be because by the time I need an upgrade I have no choice). But to have to upgrade everything at once might be a bit much. Then again, there may be no choice if there aren't any AGP boards available in 2-3 years.
And this all doesn't even start to cover SLI and the added expense an nForce4 SLI board is likely to bring over a plain nForce4/Ultra. That's only something I've begun to consider, but can see the potential down the road (buying a second card will probably be cheaper than buying what's new and hot at the time, but then again it might not perform as well as what's new).
My gut says to spend the extra cash (albiet probably only $100-$150 more) with the 939/nForce4/PCIe platform now for the extra options in the future. It doesn't seem like much more, but considering I'm going to have to buy a whole ton of stuff (like furniture and such) I'd rather not spend it if it's not worth it.
And this is all, of course, assuming I stick with AMD64, which seems to be almost certain since it has become much cheaper. The past few months have certainly been interesting, especially with everything dropping in price.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Something I missed maybe?
Anyway, I'm now looking at the AMD64 chips since they've come down in price. I've done tons of research on it and have come up with at least one question that hasn't been answered.
Now, the Socket 754 is clearly being phased out in favor of the Socket 939. However, all signs say there isn't much of a difference between the two, except the 939 is more expensive and will last longer in the upgrade cycle.
The other change is that nVIDIA is releasing their nForce4 chipset soon, which will bring PCI Express to the AMD64. Again, there's no real reason to buy a PCIe card over AGP8x since it has not been fully tapped as far as its performance potential goes (as I understand it has to do with its bandwidth not being even close to full, so why need more?).
But, just as 754 is shifting to 939, so too it would seem that AGP is moving to PCIe. The question I have is, how soon before the latest cards are PCIe only? I know nVIDIA has released some of its higher end cards in AGP (notably the 6600GT just came out this past month) and ATI is expected to have its X800 cards in AGP in the coming months.
Since there's currently no performance boost with 939 over 754 or for PCIe over AGP (or for nForce4 over nForce3, for that matter), the only reason to spend the extra money would be to future proof a new system.
My question to those in the know is, is it worth it? I'm really coming down to the wire with getting a new place but I've still got some time yet (since I'm planning on proposing to my g/f in the next month or so, it's pretty much certain by February).
Now, as has been in the past, I don't upgrade very often, making the 754 package a slightly better deal. But, I have noticed that games depend more on GPUs these days. This makes me believe the first thing I'd probably want to upgrade would be my video card. Since I'm eyeing the 6600GT right now as my main card, it should last a couple years at least (since I'm not one to need the latest, greatest thing. I still run a 4600Ti).
Is there an upgrade path for the AGP platform beyond a year or two (especially considering that Intel seems to be done with it)? Or does it look like PCIe will be all that's available soon? I'm not too worried about the upgrade path of the 754 itself since I don't normally upgrade my processor without changing motherboards too (though that may just be because by the time I need an upgrade I have no choice). But to have to upgrade everything at once might be a bit much. Then again, there may be no choice if there aren't any AGP boards available in 2-3 years.
And this all doesn't even start to cover SLI and the added expense an nForce4 SLI board is likely to bring over a plain nForce4/Ultra. That's only something I've begun to consider, but can see the potential down the road (buying a second card will probably be cheaper than buying what's new and hot at the time, but then again it might not perform as well as what's new).
My gut says to spend the extra cash (albiet probably only $100-$150 more) with the 939/nForce4/PCIe platform now for the extra options in the future. It doesn't seem like much more, but considering I'm going to have to buy a whole ton of stuff (like furniture and such) I'd rather not spend it if it's not worth it.
And this is all, of course, assuming I stick with AMD64, which seems to be almost certain since it has become much cheaper. The past few months have certainly been interesting, especially with everything dropping in price.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Something I missed maybe?