In my experience the obsolescence of a PC is mainly down to the processor size which in turn is limited by the motherboard. Other relevant components can be easily upgraded within this envelope. Furthermore there are major leaps forward leaving existing machines totally obsolete with regard to power hungry applications like games. Is the state of play such that it is best to wait before spending about £1000 on a new machine, or is there nothing earth shattering on the horizon at present? I cannot afford £2000+ for a specialist games machine. Thank you.
2007-02-27 20:17:19 · 6 answers · asked by fred35 6 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
You can keep your 'pc' alive for years with piece by piece replacement if chosen carefully.
Every thing you are going to upgrade a component, research it carefully for the latest technology. Always 'step ahead' as far as you can afford so it will be usable longer.
Even the cpu and motherboard and be easily exchaged out. Nothing in a desktop/tower is irreplaceable.
THere's an old joke: I've had this saw for 30 years. Only replaced the handle twice and the blade 3 times...
2007-02-27 20:27:24 · answer #1 · answered by Jim 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
As you no doubt imagine, there will always be something new on the horizon, the judgment you are trying to make is what impact that has on your current decision making. To give a full opinion it would also be helpful to know what you are upgrading from. If you are updating from a P III ad 16MB graphics, then yes go ahead. Ig you are upgrading form P IV 2.8 GHz hyperthreading and 128MB video, then I would wait.
Upgrading isn't quite as simple as you state. For example with the jump to Socket 775 in the case of Intel came such things as 24 pin power supplies necessitating a new case.
What's coming? Definitely Quad core processors. Maybe some form of resolution to the HD format, whether it be blueray or whatever. The latter is being held back by format wars, the same as DVDs were when we couldn't decide on plus or minus standards.
The whole High Definition thing has a LOT of sorting out to do before people will be happy. Most current hardware jumped the gun trying to support standards which hadn't been finalized so much current HD gear such as monitors etc, will not in fact work properly.
Base your decision on your current needs. If you are not in a tearing hurry, my advice is to wait until they have at least written a decent amount of drivers and software for vista. I think this will take 6-12 months. Don't be the guinea pig. I just built a new workstation at work with a NV 8800 card specifically because it supports Direct X 10 on Vista. What a shame there is no driver yet! I am currently playing with a beta driver, but what a mess!
2007-02-27 20:38:00 · answer #2 · answered by teef_au 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
1000 quid will get you a good machine. The problem is with technology is there is always something new and shiney on the horizon. No matter what you spend on a PC within 6 months there's faster equipment available at the same price.
The long and short of it is if you wait for the next advance in technology to buy a computer, you'll never actually get round to buying one.
On a tech side go for a Pentium Core2duo, at least 1024mb ram, a 200Gb hard drive and the most expensive Nvidia graphics card you can afford. MSI, ABIT and ASUS make the best motherboards, avoid anything by gigabyte and DFI if you can.
2007-02-27 20:28:56 · answer #3 · answered by Gophur 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Why dish out £2000+ for a 'specialist' games machine when a PS3 will only cost £425 when it comes out in a few weeks time? OK it has only 60GB, but with 300GB drive at £60 or less, you're still ahead. The cell CPU on the PS3 will outperform any dual core CPU or graphics card currently available. Use the PC for something else.
2007-02-27 20:28:22 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would just upgrade to better computer when you need to rather than just because some new technology has been released. Personally I upgrade once every 3-4 years as I find by that time my computer is well behind the current standards.
New games are frequently built to run on more powerful machines so I usually just play older games which run better.
2007-02-27 20:37:05 · answer #5 · answered by Mike 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
whatever you buy (pricewise) wil change pretty much as soon as you've upgrade!
right now you can build a relatively cheap machine that;'l kick ***!
look at a decent 64bit mainboard for about a hundred, about 120 for 64bit chip (Not dual 32!) £200 for a terrabit SATA hard drive and £180 for 2gig memory (533+) and then choose the case u like (£25-95)
so far, pretty cheap!
this'l leave you with a choice of graphics cards (Go for pci express 512mb+) for £60ish (or go for a damn good one (£145+)
well under a grand and all u should have to do in the next couple o years is upgrade the graphics!!!
PP: make sure the card is directx 10 forward compatible!!
2007-02-27 20:32:43 · answer #6 · answered by slinkyshadow 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋