Is now a good time?

[taylorhuston]

I am getting a fairly decent tax return, going to use the money to build a new system from the ground up.

My question is is now a good time to do so? I have been reading that since it's so soon after Christmas alot of parts are low on availability so prices are higher then they were 2 or 3 months ago, especially on video cards.

I have a general idea of what I want. So far I have a Phenom X4 955 BE based system with 4 gigs of ram and a 5770 for under $800. Hoping it gives me plenty of upgrade room, I can throw another 5770 and another 4 gigs of ram in down the line if I need too.

I use my machine for gaming as well as some graphic design and 3D animation, hence my need for a quad core as opposed to a higher clocked and cheaper dual core.

My question is should I go ahead and get it or do you think we will see any major price drops within the next few weeks? Or any game changing technology? I know that Nvidia is supposed to be releasing their new architecture relatively soon, but I am really interested in Eyefinity so I am planning on sticking with ATI. Not opposed to an Intel based system though, just right now ATI seems to have the best bang for my buck in the price range I am looking at.

Also, on a side note, does anyone know of a decent aftermarket cpu cooler that doesn't take up the first ram slot on most motherboards? Been reading cooler reviews on here, Maximum PC and [H]ardOCP. Seems to be a pretty prevalent theme: If you want a good cooler your going to lose a RAM slot.

Thoughts?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Well, Intel usually drops CPU prices at the end of February and that has an effect on what AMD can charge. This is the time of year that Intel introduces new CPU's and as a result new MoBo's usually fall right behind. Finally, Fermi is expected to arrive in the next 6 weeks and that may have an effect on the GFX card market pricing. I have always found June to be about the ebst time to do a new build.....the GFX cards introduced pre Xmas have no reached the "non-reference" design stage, drivers are mature and as most peeps are planning vacations rather than new system builds, prices tend to drop a bit.

I'm using the Prolimatech Megahalems and I didn't lose any RAM slots on my son's build. It's very ez to install and is in the top 2 or 3 performance wise. If heavy OC, get the two fans and splitter. W/ stock or moderate OC, just the Mega, 1 fan and the TIM req'd.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8807/cpu-pro-01/Prolimatech_Megahalems_Rev_B_Intel_CPU_Heatsink_LGA_775_1156_1366_AM2_AM2_AM3_Hot_Item.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7038/thr-41/Innovation_Cooling_Diamond_7_Carat_Thermal_Compound_-_15_Grams.html?id=BZWnrfIC
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10026/fan-639/Scythe_Slip_Stream_120mm_x_25mm_PWM_Fan_-_SY1225SL12LM-P.html?tl=g36c365s936
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8418/cab-150/FrozenCPU_PMW_Y_Splitter_Cable.html

If that's a budget breaker, look at the Xigmnatec S1283 or one of the others here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Heatsinks
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm#INTELHEATSINK
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=371&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=15