Pentium 4 4.0 or wait?

[fiveiron]

Ok so ive been looking to purchase a second computer for sometime now, What i have now is awesome but I want to get rid of most of the stuff on this machine and just use it for my recording studio and maybe playing some lan games with my roomates(p4 3.0E, ABIT IC7 Max3, 1gb ultra pc4000, gainward 6600gt agp)

I am debating whether or not to wait for all these new technologies that are coming out or to go with what i can get now, I know this forum loves AMD but please tell me what you think objectively. I have a friend who is gonna sell me this system for 1500$ canadian, i can buy it or wait until stuff like sata2, and dual core stuff is more popular.
this is the system.

Pentium 4 3.4Northwood(not to many of these around) oced to 4.0 with air, maxes out at about 55 degrees.
Abit Ic7-g
Sapphire ati x800pro
74gb raptor
lg dvdrw 16x
2x512-1gb crucial ballistic pc4000
nice case.

or I can wait for the new stuff to come out?
I know what i get either way will be a pretty sweet machine. what would you do?

 

[tweebel]

Quite easy, rebuild the system in an online shop and see what is costs. If you can't build it (or anything similar) yourself for the money, it's a good deal.

Waiting for new technologies is frustrating with pc's. The moment what you waited for arrived, something new is due to arrive soon. Only if you really care for future compatibility and upgrading you should wait for technologie. And of course, you might want to ride the 64 bit highway and buy an A64 or the Intel 6 serie.

I don't know what you want to do with the new system but games won't really benefit from sata2 and dual core.

 

[jammydodger]

That is a very nice system he is gonna sell you, and it will def play anything you want for a while. However do as tweeble says and add up the cost of building that system new.

Dual core stuff will not give you any performance increase over single core unless its with a program that has been optimised for multiprocessor work. Although it will help if you run multiple CPU bound apps.
The other thing about dual core is that the CPU's will prolly be very very hot (the intel ones atleast), bare in mind that the P4prescott is the hottest desktop CPU ever made...think about having two of these on a single chip!

SATA2 wont give much of a performance increase, it raises the max theoretical transfer rate from 150MB/sec to 300MB/Sec but i dont know of a single drive that can transfers faster than 70MB/sec so whats the point?

 

[mozzartusm]

I did some rough number crunching, and looking it this from an ex-fiancial advisors viewpoint, I would pass on this deal and wait. Its a nice system, I wouldnt mind having one like it but it is used even if you know the person I would be concerned about the little things like warrantys for the different parts not transfering to you.

To save us both time, assume I know EVERYTHING :tongue:

 

[RichPLS]

If you add those parts up today at just Neweggs prices, (did not list northy 3.4, but had a northy 3.2 $280) I come to $1300 without case and PSU, so figure very nice case and PSU for $200 add another 100 for 3.2 to 3.4 and you have about $1600 today new.

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[Rugger]

Those prices are right for U.S. From what I've seen a lot of the same parts in Canada will be more expensive. Anyway you look at it, though, a used system for close to what you can get it new is not a good deal.

"He who will not risk, cannot win"
- John Paul Jones

 

[Rugger]

And it's been OC'd which has a tendency to shorten the lifespan of parts...

"He who will not risk, cannot win"
- John Paul Jones

 

[umala]

But it is 1500 Canadian dollars

 

[Rugger]

$1200 USD.
Have you priced the system in CDN stores? How old is the system?

"He who will not risk, cannot win"
- John Paul Jones

 

[Rugger]

Epox 9NDA3+ - $126
Crucial Ballistix PC4000 - $288
Sapphire X800Pro - $378
Raptor 74Gb - $179
LG DVDR/W - $76.50
Antec Neopower 480W - $126
Logisys CS600SL - $52.49
A64 3500+ Newcastle - $289
Total: $1514.99USD = $1893.45CDN

Considering you can get an awesome AMD rig for a little more than the <b>used</b> P4. The AMD system will OC extremely well and will beat the P4 in gaming.

That being said, you would be happy with the P4 for a long time, too. Personally, I wouldn't do it...but that's me.


"He who will not risk, cannot win"
- John Paul Jones