Worth Waiting for?

[Wutbh]

Hi,

I im a PC gamer and intend to upgrade my system.
It's sole purpose is pretty much for gaming only.

I have planned to buy:

CPU: AMD ahtlon 64 3000+
MOBO: ASUS K8V-DX
RAM: 1GB PC3200 Samsung
And i was intending on using my radeon 9100 for the mean time untill i can save enough pennies for a new gfx card.

Now heres the advice i seek:

Is it worth upgrading now?
With PCI-Express Apparently just round the corner, which will apparently wipe out my 8xAGP slot, is it worth holding back for a PCIE motherboard?
Will these slots really improve gfx card solutions within say, the next 4 years? (The system is pretty much for Halflife2 and in time CounterStrike 2.. Yes im sad laugh and point all you want.)

Also ive read about new RAM? 533mhz?

And Socket T, Socket 939 Mainboards?

With all these apparently just round the corner, as a gamer is it worth the wait, Or are they purely hyped up products which i dont need? And anyone care to estimate if these products will come on the market and push prices of my current intended system down?

Thank you in advance.

[saphalline]

If this new PC's sole purpose will be for gaming, then yes, I suggest waiting. All that new tech you mentioned will be released and patched ;) by this holiday season.

Normally, waiting isn't advisable as new tech is always coming out. :rolleyes: But this time is different. New CPU sockets are coming from both Intel and AMD, PCI Express is radically different and will replace all current expansion slots, the legendary "legacy-free system" will actually happen this year, the new graphics cores from ATI and NVidia are almost due, SATA is picking up speed in the upcoming chipsets, and DDR2 is also coming out.

All in all, 2004 is going to be exciting! :D Unfortunately for you, that means more waiting if you want your hardware to be relative up-to-date for more than 9 months. :( My opinion is to wait it out, at least for a few more months, but others will undoubtedly have their opinions...

[Orion]

Legacy free....mmmmmm.....::contented sigh::

I've been chasing the Legacy Free dream almost as long as the "It could happen to you" Lottery dream, or the "It could happen to you" win an argument vs. your wife dream....might be nice to see that occaisionally dreams CAN come true. don't know if Legacy Free will be a consumer-wise option; that is, I don't know if companies would take that risk. After all, the Canard Wing plane is still "experimental" and we still have backwards compatability to 8-bit code, no? we'll see.

regardless of Legacy Free or not, I would advise waiting as well, if you are interested in not replacing integral parts within about 9 months.

about the only option that I could see now that would allow upgrading now as well as upgradability later is buying the aforementioned Athlon 64 based machine, go all out with at least one SATA Raptor Drive (possibly a raided pair, if you have the money.), and get a good case. Last I heard (though I may be mistaken, given how fast the computer world turns) AMD will continue production of older socket processor, hence the current models will not be deadweights. this means motherboards will be produced for the said processors. in essence, the only thing you'd have to absolutely worry about replacing is the Motherboard, assuming the processor path is as I heard it to be earlier. This would enable you to upgrade your processor now, and have that performance boost until the PCIE standard truely becomes "standard" and only be out 100-150 or so in the end. leave the video card for now; the new cores are due to blow the current ones out of the water, or at least leave a fair to middling size puddle.

That just leaves the issue of memory, no? with the current limits of processors, PC-3200 is fast enough for anyone but an overclocker (again, currently.). if you decide to upgrade your proc now, don't overclock (much), and aren't going to upgrade your proc later on when you upgrade your mobo, then I wouldn't recommend bothering with faster speed memory. with any processor that istn' going to be replaced soon, and isn't going to be overclocked, it only makes sense (to me) to only get what you need-not just the fastest available. Of course, there's the new DDR standard in the works....but that will only be an issue if you upgrade proc later, I beleive.

Could be wrong though...

maybe.

bottom line of this diatribe? in my opinion, you have to decide if you're going to eventually upgrade your processor. if what's currently out is fast enough for you for the next while, go ahead and upgrade now, because the only thing you'll be able to make use of in the future upgrades that isnt' available now is PCIE, and possibly DDR2, IF your new mobo later on supports it. if you're thinking of upgrading processor later on, then it only makes sense to wait.

Orion