When to buy a new computer
Hi, my laptop is getting slow and I want to invest in a new computer (not laptop). Do some of you are following the price of the best components out there? Should I wait longer? (I'm thinking of buying my new computer when it will cost a reasonable price for a very good computer/compnonents that will last me very long).
I'm ready to pay anything depending on the performance/price ratio.
I'm ready to pay anything depending on the performance/price ratio.
I suggest building your own, Finished computers are crap, unless you spend waaaaaay more than you should.
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc
This subreddit should be of great help.
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc
This subreddit should be of great help.
Logical Increments is also a good place to start. They provide a bunch of builds varying from cheap to pretty damn expensive. LI is basically where I start for any build. Find a price range you like, swap out parts until you get the computer you want. If you wanna talk more, visit our IRC channel at irc.freenode.net #cplusplus.com
http://www.logicalincrements.com/
http://www.logicalincrements.com/
PCPartPicker is by far the best site to go when putting together a build.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/69n6dC
That's the build I'm about to buy. The GPU is a bit overpowered but I'm into heavy graphics programming so I'll be putting it to good use.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/69n6dC
That's the build I'm about to buy. The GPU is a bit overpowered but I'm into heavy graphics programming so I'll be putting it to good use.
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Computer parts are kinda weird with pricing. The tend to have static pricing throughout their lifetime. Memory and hard drives are the exception. When technology becomes obsolete and the true purpose of hardware becomes obsolete, the price of it may drop (as seen with some motherboards and CPUs)... in some cases, they actually increase in price since demand stays high while stock depletes.
You also need to be in the loop of current technology. I've seen more than one person be impatient, buy some hardware at full price, just for the next generation of that hardware to be released at the same price or even cheaper. However, this doesn't apply to cases, power supplies, fans, or general accessories because the technology surrounding these have been the same almost forever. Even if they're succeeded by another product, it's not usually that big of a deal.
It's a good time to be buying a motherboard and CPU. DDR4 memory is past it's initial pricing spike and affordable for most. There's no major new standards that you'll want to suddenly upgrade your motherboard for coming soon.
I'd be careful of AMD however. I currently use an FX8350 with AMD motherboard (obviously) which was okay several years ago. However, AMD still doesn't have a chipset that supports PCI-e 3.0 and upcoming cards might start hitting that barrier. At this time, I would go with Intel, even if you're an AMD fanboy. That's not to mention how far behind in technology the latest AMD CPU is compared to Intel. It uses more energy, provides less performance. Not much else to say.
It's not a good time to buy video cards. The AMD R3xx series is about to be released and the NVidia Pascal architecture will come to fruition in a year or so. I would wait to buy a video card until after they're revealed (especially since stacked DRAM is now a thing, they're moving to SoC cards, and are now taking advantage of HBM, all in the next generation). It's hard to tell how much of it is significant to me as a consumer and how much is marketing. However, I'm not about to drop $300+ on a card for me to be blown away when they're released because I was impatient.
You also need to be in the loop of current technology. I've seen more than one person be impatient, buy some hardware at full price, just for the next generation of that hardware to be released at the same price or even cheaper. However, this doesn't apply to cases, power supplies, fans, or general accessories because the technology surrounding these have been the same almost forever. Even if they're succeeded by another product, it's not usually that big of a deal.
It's a good time to be buying a motherboard and CPU. DDR4 memory is past it's initial pricing spike and affordable for most. There's no major new standards that you'll want to suddenly upgrade your motherboard for coming soon.
I'd be careful of AMD however. I currently use an FX8350 with AMD motherboard (obviously) which was okay several years ago. However, AMD still doesn't have a chipset that supports PCI-e 3.0 and upcoming cards might start hitting that barrier. At this time, I would go with Intel, even if you're an AMD fanboy. That's not to mention how far behind in technology the latest AMD CPU is compared to Intel. It uses more energy, provides less performance. Not much else to say.
It's not a good time to buy video cards. The AMD R3xx series is about to be released and the NVidia Pascal architecture will come to fruition in a year or so. I would wait to buy a video card until after they're revealed (especially since stacked DRAM is now a thing, they're moving to SoC cards, and are now taking advantage of HBM, all in the next generation). It's hard to tell how much of it is significant to me as a consumer and how much is marketing. However, I'm not about to drop $300+ on a card for me to be blown away when they're released because I was impatient.
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Thank you all for your answers, I went to these websites and they are very good!
Also NoXzema, if it's not a good time to buy video card, then would you recommend me to wait 1+ year until they release the new ones? I would prefer buying my new computer all at once when all the parts are worth buying (I have no computer except my laptop so the parts would just wait and be useless before I get the video card)
Also NoXzema, if it's not a good time to buy video card, then would you recommend me to wait 1+ year until they release the new ones? I would prefer buying my new computer all at once when all the parts are worth buying (I have no computer except my laptop so the parts would just wait and be useless before I get the video card)
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Buy the video card now. Nvidia and AMD have good cards out, it's silly to always be waiting for the next greatest tech. That is a never ending cycle.
I have to agree with ResidentBiscuit, there will always be new tech available no matter when you decide you want to buy. My advice would be to buy/build a new computer when you daily needs can no longer be met by your current machine.
Another thing I have found to work really well is to put away a little money from your paycheck every pay period into a computer or even technology fund. Doesn't have to be much, I personally just put away around $25 every paycheck. Basically $25 * 27 Bi-Weekly pay period = $675. So after 2 years I have more then enough to build a new rig. It also helps to alleviate that sudden large hit to your expenses.
Also another important thing is always consider what your daily needs are. There is no use buying the latest and greatest parts when you really don't need them (Unless you are like me and find it as a hobby to build rigs). Most users can get by perfectly fine with 1 - 2 generation old hardware (Even gamers) and save quite a bit of money by doing so.
Another thing I have found to work really well is to put away a little money from your paycheck every pay period into a computer or even technology fund. Doesn't have to be much, I personally just put away around $25 every paycheck. Basically $25 * 27 Bi-Weekly pay period = $675. So after 2 years I have more then enough to build a new rig. It also helps to alleviate that sudden large hit to your expenses.
Also another important thing is always consider what your daily needs are. There is no use buying the latest and greatest parts when you really don't need them (Unless you are like me and find it as a hobby to build rigs). Most users can get by perfectly fine with 1 - 2 generation old hardware (Even gamers) and save quite a bit of money by doing so.
I understand that one needs to buy the computer one day or another, but what about this one?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2898175/nvidias-next-gen-pascal-gpu-will-offer-10x-the-performance-of-titan-x-8-way-sli.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2898175/nvidias-next-gen-pascal-gpu-will-offer-10x-the-performance-of-titan-x-8-way-sli.html
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Unless you plan on spending a *LOT* of money on that... ignore that article.
I personally use an HD5450, who can run most games on mid/low quality and just recently chose to upgrade it (since it can't run any new game at 40fps anymore).
A friend's got a spare 6670 for €50 but I'm planning to get an 7770 or a 240 (especially since he doesn't want to make a discount... 50€ is everybody's price for that one :p).
NVidia is still high on prices, I'd rather not spend a lot of money.
I personally use an HD5450, who can run most games on mid/low quality and just recently chose to upgrade it (since it can't run any new game at 40fps anymore).
A friend's got a spare 6670 for €50 but I'm planning to get an 7770 or a 240 (especially since he doesn't want to make a discount... 50€ is everybody's price for that one :p).
NVidia is still high on prices, I'd rather not spend a lot of money.
Having a SSD isn't needed in some circumstances, for example if the person only ever uses their computer to browse the web, send emails, do some work stuff with MS Office, etc.
Sure it definitely could help increase load times for every one of those activities, but if that is all you are doing I personally wouldn't bother with getting one since it isn't worth the added price/reduction in storage capacity.
Though with that said if you are doing anything that will need to put a large number of files from drive quite regularly (Gaming or evening compiling large projects frequently) then I definitely agree! In the case I just mentioned getting a SSD over a standard HDD is actually one of the cheapest performance boosts that you can buy. Though you will be sacrificing capacity in most cases still.
Sure it definitely could help increase load times for every one of those activities, but if that is all you are doing I personally wouldn't bother with getting one since it isn't worth the added price/reduction in storage capacity.
Though with that said if you are doing anything that will need to put a large number of files from drive quite regularly (Gaming or evening compiling large projects frequently) then I definitely agree! In the case I just mentioned getting a SSD over a standard HDD is actually one of the cheapest performance boosts that you can buy. Though you will be sacrificing capacity in most cases still.
I just added a 256 gig ssd to my system and installed a fresh os on it. The improvement user experience is the most dramatic I have ever seen. It was well worth the $100. Opening gimp, blender, Firefox, IDE's, loading projects, videos, booting up and initializing, installing packages, all of these things happen very rapidly.
If I remember correctly, and if I understood what I read(I have a terrible memory, so no link sorry), SSDs have a limited life, like half that of an HDD. Just something to keep in mind. I could be completely wrong, or it could be the opposite. Maybe something to consider though.
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@twiggystardust Pretty sure it's the opposite, some types of SSDs can last a lifetime, and HDDs only last like a decade at most.
@Ganado: Well I did a little research and found very conflicting views. Some are saying the controller is the issue, but the newer ones have better controllers which implies a better lifespan. So it may have been an older article I read last time. I did find this article(http://www.pcworld.com/article/2856052/grueling-endurance-test-blows-away-ssd-durability-fears.html) Which states
But I do have a iMac from 2003 that still works with the HDD(which has never been replaced), so they can last longer than a decade, but this computer isn't used at all anymore, aside from the fact it still works.
| Why this matters: Since flash memory degrades over time it’s true that all SSDs have an expiration date, which has always led to the big question: How long will your SSD last before it finally shut down for good? There were plenty of stories during the early days of SSDs about these fancy expensive drives dying quickly. But short of getting a dud drive, the current generation of SSDs are robust enough for anything most users could throw at them over the course of a reasonable life span. |
But I do have a iMac from 2003 that still works with the HDD(which has never been replaced), so they can last longer than a decade, but this computer isn't used at all anymore, aside from the fact it still works.
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Even if you use your entire SSD's storage space and are constantly rewriting all the files on it, it will still last quite a while. If you don't use the whole storage space, and most file never change (e.g. OS files), then the SSD will outlive your children and probably your grandchildren too.
SSDs have special optimizations in place to extend their life. They try to avoid overwriting the same place twice as much as possible.
SSDs have special optimizations in place to extend their life. They try to avoid overwriting the same place twice as much as possible.
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