Buy Now vs. Waiting for New Hardware

I have been told that it is a good idea to wait until April for the release of Intel and nVidia/ATI's new CPUs and GPUs.

What are your opinions on this matter?

Some of my questions:

- When Ivy Bridge and new nVidia/AMD hardware arrives, do you think the price will be inflated compared to what I would pay for a build now?

- New hardware often suffers from more problems. Do you think this will be an issue?

- Is there anything else you have in mind?


Thank you.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/637185-concerning-next-series-graphic-card-coming-up-600m-7000m-series.html

I hope it answer some of your questions.

 

As a general rule, waiting is not the way to go.... there is always something better just around the corner....

 

I think the flagship GPUs will be priced higher. If you look back to the current generation, remember that both the 6990M and the GTX 580M have dropped in price since their release. The lower the model behind those, the closer the price probably be to the current analogue.

 

Does anyone think the IB architecture will reduce CPU heat by a large margin?

 

probably nothing great, since they will put more transistors in it. But it will be better than this gen. I highly recommend you to wait since you are so close to the release date. I just got my laptop in Dec. I usually get new models every year in holidays for good deals (last 4 years) so ill get my new model again this dec the prices would have dropped by then. For you I suggest waiting 2 months. you will be pissed in 3 months otherwise !

 

You change laptops every single year? Do you sell your old one then?

 

Yes, I do sell them, I am pretty good at it!

 

What's the average percentage you make compared to what you originally bought your laptops for?

 

I wouldn't go so far to say I make a lot of money selling one year old hardware! But I don't lose any money. So I usually use the cash to buy newer hardware every year. Its a lot of fun and the people who buy from me a really happy too! Its a good deal since they dont have to pay 1200 and get ripped off with dell.

 

It depends on the model you are after. If you are looking for a X7200/NP728x, I'd say wait 3-4weeks . All other systems will probably get refreshed in 4+ months and thus not worth waiting for. You can always upgrade your GPU down the road. As for the CPU, IB won't be that much more powerful, at best 15-20% boost and even then, modern laptops aren't bottlenecked by CPU, so IB is not a must, IMHO.

 

this is very true.

no game really needs the power of even a 2630.

 

No, I am not looking for either of those (is the NP728x an 18"?).

I think I will end up pulling the trigger next month as I seriously need a new laptop IMMEDIATELY and the most graphically demanding games I ever play are Starcraft II and Dota 2 - I don't play Skyrim, Crysis or any other FPS/RPGs. I don't play MMORPGs for long periods of time either.

Therefore I think there is no need to wait for updated CPUs and GPUS.

 

Skyrim, The Witcher 2, Deus EX: HR, Crysis 2, Starcraft 2, Risen, Dawn of War 2, Civilization V, and a bunch of other games would like a word with you sir.

 

Well, you're both half right. Games aren't well optimized for quad-core CPUs so they perform better on CPUs with faster cores.

 

ah i own the 2630 and no game stresses it with monitors running. so im pretty sure you have a good imagination.

 

As it happens, I own all of these titles and tried them all using a 2630QM vs [email protected] -> No difference...at all. In fact, while playing Skyrim I deliberately locked my 2960XM at 2.7ghz and it lost 0 FPS, hehe. I have only seen CPU to affect FPS at lower res, at 1080p there's no difference.

 

We are strictly talking about your own benchmarkning right? Nothing based on in-game benches

 

I don't know about all those games, but I've heard in Skyrim with max settings and a GTX 580 SLI setup you can gain an extra 10fps by overclocking your processor. But I mean, that still doesn't mean all four cores are at over 98% utilization.

 

Wait. The new tech is coming soon. If you haven't noticed they have raised prices on the last gen tech from a month ago---nuts.

 

Nope, in game benching tools. There are quite a few screenshots scattered throughout the benching thread in the M18x section. I was the first to claim the OC'ed CPU makes a difference but then after running numerous tests it became clear that those FPS gains were either at lower resolution (below 1920x1080) or in poorly optimized games. BTW, Skyrim is a very bad example as it is still too far from being issues free. I had to downgrade from the 6990s to 6970s to get perfect FPS there and no OC'ing CPU helped me.

 

Apart from holiday sales, no they haven't.

 

If I buy now would I be able to upgrade my Sandy Bridge to an Ivy Bridge processor in the future?

 

Personally, I am waiting for intel's Haswell to be out next year for my next sager laptop: currently owning the first gen 8690 bought back in dec 09

 

My opinion - wait. It's a new year, new technology. What more needs to be said? I went ahead and numbered the questions

1. I think they're going to be about 200 more bucks than the current price of cards...maybe more
2. That's rarely an issue these days IMO. Drivers come out so rapidly for new hardware that it really doesn't cause an issue
3. I don't understand the question ;x

 

my only reason for waiting is i want the backlit kb.
my games arent cpu/gpu intensive, but i want the backlit kb since my gf is always nagging about the light while i'm playing.

 

Probably not. You would need a BIOS and Firmware update to make it compatible (only on certain mobos) and I doubt Clevo will do that.

 

None of the current mobile chipsets will be compatible with Ivy Bridge, so we're all screwed.

I'm not going to refute your testing, but certain situations are still CPU limited.

 

Just ordered my P150HM thursday. I can't wait! but now I have a little regret in my purchase now ..