DukeIronHand 8 Posted March 15, 2012 My system, while old, was "top of the line" years ago and over those years I have upgraded a little here and there and I am still impressed by its performance. My latest upgrade, with the assistance of RAF_Louvert, was an upgrading of my power supply to support my new GTX460 1GB (OC) video card. The point of this post is that, while shopping about, I was kind of amazed at how the prices of all sorts of hardware items have dropped. The above card only cost me $135.00. If your system is a little (or a lot) old you may be surprised at how you can kick your computer in its performance arse for very little coin. P4 is just around the corner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamper 9 Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) What you've observed is certainly true - but not isolated. It really has to do with what you're shopping for more than anything. What I mean is, if you buy any hardware for a PC when it's first out, you'll pay a FAT premium. Wait 6 or 8 months, that number will come down, sometimes as much as half. What almost always drives this is the next best thing is always right off in the wings, and as soon as that comes out, this will be much cheaper. Generally, the longer you wait, the cheaper it gets...well, to a point. For instance, the 460 you mention is 16 months old or so (depending exactly which unit); in the meantime the 500 series has come out and taken over the retail shelves. So the 460 is much less than when it first came out. (It is worth mentioning, though, that additional features often come along with the newer products - in the case of the 400s, I think the 500s generally are quieter, cooler, and use less power). The real trick is waiting out the price long enough, but not so long that the item you're after is suddenly missing from stores/'out of stock'. Watch closely, because once the price starts falling it tends to gain a momentum of sorts. It helps to know specs upfront, read reviews, etc - that way, when someone decides to dump the last stock they have of something at substantial discounts, you know what you're buying into and when. Basically, never - ever - buy the latest and greatest. The stuff is incredibly overpriced when it first comes out, and (unlike clothes) it will do exactly the same job new 6 months from now that it will do today. (Yes, I know thye'll have something faster by then but, remember: NEVER. Ever.) Just my $.02, FWIW Edited March 15, 2012 by Tamper Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carrick58 23 Posted March 15, 2012 Some one said that best buys are last years Cards and I agree. I have a 57 series AMD Card and this time next year I will be looking for this years top card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flyby PC 23 Posted March 15, 2012 I think we're further up the expotential curve these days. It's all relative. It takes a greater amount of change to be noticed to the same degree. Changes now improve what we've got, (sometimes vastly), but in the old days, the new 'thing' in town totally superseded what went before and turned your careful investment into junk. It's still expensive to keep yourself at the cutting edge, and I sympathise with people who have to do that, but a few steps back from the cutting edge, the world's a happy place. The PC's I have now will provide all I need for the foreseeable future - in a business sense at least. If one dies, I don't need a mortgage to replace it. If I want to stay current with the latest games and performance, then I may choose to do so, but it is a choice I'm at liberty not to make. I realised early on that when buying a PC, you needed to identify what you needed it to do, buy a PC that did it, then never read a computer magazine or visit a PC shop again until you were ready to buy a new PC. There are special events, like the P4 release, which often turn into those special occassions when you do look to upgrade and treat yourself, - it's then you realise just how obsolete and clunky all your other stuff truly is, but you've up to that point you've been blissfully unaware of how far behind you've fallen. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamper 9 Posted March 15, 2012 "...then never read a computer magazine or visit a PC shop again until you were ready to buy a new PC..." *lmao* Yeah, you can say that again Seems like every time I commit to/pay for something, it shortly thereafter is being practically given away free or is declared obsolete and replaced by a totally new (and not compatible) design. I didn't mention my own situation but it's a good example as well. The motherboard in my sig now is only a few weeks old; it replaced a unit scarcely a year old, when retailers starting offering substantial discounts on Z68-based boards. Couple that with a 'bundle' discount for buying the CPU & board together, and my cost was much less than it would've been just a short time prior. (Of course, I'm not fooling anyone - I got a good price because the retailer was already clearing shelf space for the next thing...x79). It happens I'd have probably been better off waiting out the newer x79 stuff to get cheaper, but I had other reasons for wanting to build a Z68 machine. Downside is my curiosity and impatience - though it did yield a ~15% performance gain overall - cost $ that would have probably produced even more benefit, had I been patient and waited. The good news, if you can call it that, is that I can now wait longer - with the 15% I did gain - while the x79 stuff comes down. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
