General question concerning building a computer.

[Heartsbane]

As of now, I plan to build a pc in the coming months (likely when school is out in May). With rising technologies such as the new 9000 series nVidia GPUs and the new quad-core Intel processor becoming readily available and even newer Nehalem processors on the way (some say by the end of '08), I am wondering if May would be a good time to start building a ~$3000 gaming pc.

I have looked at several technology news sites and I've found that emerging products will utilize both newer CPU mounting an DDR3 RAM so my gaming pc will be soundly obsolete (which is something to be expected with technology) and will require major reworking in order to update it (i.e. buying a DDR3 compatible mobo and one that supports the new mounting).

I understand that to stay top-o-the-line is expensive, but I also understand that some times are better than others to build an elite machine.

In short, my question is this: Would April-May be a good time to build a new pc or should I wait for the NEXT generation of products? By "good time" I mean will the $3000 pc I build be pretty much the best for a long while?

I'm kind of leery about building a pc now as the newer products are just coming out and it would cost me a ton of money to have what I can for much cheaper by May or so.

Thanks for any input.

[Rick]

When you wait for the newest latest greatest hardware and watch what is coming out next.
You will never get the system built
There is always something new coming out and when it arrives.
Something else is announced

Waiting for the new stuff is best when you are talking about things like DDR3
that stuff is very expensive today and will continue to be for some time to come ..
Until it becomes popular and widely available

I would wait in your case
how long ?
Thats up to you.

What I have done in the past
Decide what I want. Then when the prices reach the point I am willing to pay
I build it and from then on stop looking at what is the latest ,greatest

[odannyboy000]

Ricks right. You will be waiting forever if you want the best-to-come. Just buy something that will be upgradable...i.e. a motherboard with SLI so you can add a second GPU, or one that supports quad core as well as dual core so you can upgrade to a quad core later, etc.

I think the time to buy is now. Hardware prices are amazing right now. They may keep getting better, or the economy will get better and they will go up.