The current PC market is somewhat changing all the time , but recently, a lot of things that have changed, which will make big differences.

I was thinking of buying a computer early next year, but im going to wait. And these are the reasons.

Firstly, GFX cards predominantly use GDDR3 memory which is alright but iare shown to struggle somewhat with DX 10.1,
unless u have SLI or buy and ultra expensive card, and even then,
u aint really getting good performance considering the amount of watts that card willl be sucking up to get that performance in the 1st place.
GDDR5 is o the horizon, which promises far better performance per watt, and generally far superior performace all round for your money.

Secondly, DDR3 is out and about, but within a year or so its prices will be far lower than present, and will be affordable.
It's more energy efficient and far quicker also, with higher latencies as a side product but who cares ?

Thirdly, SSD's are here !! Say goodbye to hard drives which are unreliable at the best of times.
Solid State Drives are far qucker than HD, except they are marginally slower in long writes, such as film editing and so forth.
Booting up takes far less time and a lot less energy too.

Therefore, in about a years time, or possibly more, all these new designs/products will be affordable.
A PC using them will be far more energy efficient,
which is an important consideration, because a powerful PC can consume anything between 500W and a 1000W.
Thats like using a small heater ! costs a lot of money !!

With this technology, the PC will be invariable quicker and more reliable and cheaper to run.

To me, it makes sense to wait, save the money, and buy when they're all affordable. The you can get a sick computer !!

Thing is when it gets to that point when all that is affordable, chances are you will then be looking at the next new shiny tech out.

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Ultima Ratio Regum

Aye, always the problem for many. Guess it just depends upon what type of person you are!

Can you afford it, or are you willing to afford it?

I would love top notch brand new stuff, but I will never be able to afford it
Oh well

Nothing more frustrating than spending a few hundred quid on a uber pc, and then two months later someone posts theyre rig for about the same money as you've just spent for what you've just spent.

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Ultima Ratio Regum

really? I'd say now is a fantastic time to buy.

it depends if you are after a top of the range PC, or just a good one.

I bought mine about a year and a half ago when the market was pretty similar as far as graphics cards go, which I think is the crucial price factor. graphics cards are the most 'descrete' compenent in a computer as prices go - there will always be a processor for £150, £80, £300 etc etc...but there are usually huge price gaps between graphcis cards...right now you can pick up a near top of the range (because the 9**0s aren't out yet, and even if they were it wouldn't matter) for less than £200. It takes about 18 months between each generation, so I'd say at least a 15 months until you see similarly priced cards....

I think SSDs are over hyped - they are still waaaay more expensive than conventional hard disks and will be for a long time, and whilst they offer some advantages they have significant drawbacks too.

Right now the market is fantastic for people with a computer two generations old (say, with Athlon single cores, or a 6*00 or X*00 card). If you are after new tech, there's implicitly never a good time to buy.

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“There are some people in this world who don’t love their fellow man, and I HATE people like that!”

if you wait a year,in a years time you will want to wait another year for even newer hardware and thes ame the year after ect ect....

the fastest ddr2 is the same as the fastest ddr3,new gfx cards next year will bring down the prices of todays cards and the same with cpu's.

if your gonna wait,wait till early next year not the end of the year

i personally think that all those technologies really take the domestic computer to the next step in term of speed, energy efficiency and reliability.

thats why im going to wait for them to come about.

coupled with a quad core, its an unbeatable combination, for the money and for some time to come.

i'm wiling to spend up to £2000, but at the moment running a pc of echelon will cost a fortune in electricity, about £10 -£15 a week i've worked out.

that really isnt good.

Your right about the RAM, the upper cards are the same speed ad the DDR 2, but your using less electricty for what you get, and the higher DDR3 is far faster.thats not really an issue anyway

it's graphics that count, and current gfx cards are preetty crap in DX10.1, which is the future of games to come. anyway.

im still gonna wait.

I was about to say almost the same thing. I've been waiting for the 8800GTX to drop to £200. Now the GT is that price and almost GTX performance, seems a great time to buy. Wait too long the 9xxx will be out and the GT will look less attractive and I'll end up forking out £300 for a card I don't need (missing out on the bargin).

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Don't worry Sony, I'll just cancel my date of birth and get a new one.

I agree, now is the time to buy.

I just worked out the I can get a Q6600 + 8800GT + 4GB mem + Mobo + ...

for the exact same price I got this computer 5 years ago.

2.4 ghz + 1 gb mem + 128 mb card + ...

That's (on paper), 4 times better.

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quote Way_Dragon: "Rush requires movement."

I make pain come happen.

it does depend on your budget - if you want a computer that'll play current games and last a couple of years, you can get one now for £700 - £800....and its fantastic value. If you want to spend silly money, then its something totally different.

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“There are some people in this world who don’t love their fellow man, and I HATE people like that!”