Is Now a Good Time to Buy a Gaming PC or Should I Wait?

cypher67 on 13/06/2017 - 10:26
Last edited 13/06/2017 - 11:00 by 1 other user

Hi All,

TL:DR - Are you aware of any major advancements coming for gaming PCs to help me decide if I should buy now or wait?

My old gaming rig of 9 years has died and I'm weighing up my options. 9 years ago I bought pretty much top of the line (4870x2 etc) and it provided me many many years of enjoyment and I intend to splash again.

I have several dilemmas though:
1) CPU - Intel have been pretty lazy of late and improvements over each gen only minor. Now that Ryzen has hit the market, leaving a positive impression and placing alot of needed pressure on Intel, I fully expect Intel to play their Joker up their sleeve on their new i9 & 8th Gen Processors. The issue is how long will it be before they release it and is it worth the wait?

2) Monitors - My current monitor is only 1080p 24", its 9 years old after all. I have decided I want to go Ultrawide as opposed to 4K, easier to run and more immersive. My issue here is the best on the market is the Acer Predator X34, BUT it is over 2 years old. It doesnt run at 100Hz native (Has to be OC and even then its not guaranteed - 144hz would be more ideal), doesn't support HDR & the replacement X34p has been awaiting release for over a year. The gaming nirvana is 4k, 144 hz and HDR - These monitors are in flight but not released. I dont want to drop $1.2k on something that will be superseded in a few months.

3) GPU - 1080 Ti is a monster and I have no doubts it would serve me well. My main concern is the cost, ~$1200 is nuts and really hurts.

I can live for a while without a PC, but ultimately I need to pull the trigger sooner or later. Does anyone have any insider knowledge that can help me decide if any of the 3 above will be addressed in the near future?

Gaming

Comments

  • Caped Baldy on 13/06/2017 - 10:50
    +3

    IMO not worth the wait for i9.

    New monitors have been announced in the past few months which include refresh of the x34 and other monitors.

    It is already possible to get a 1080Ti for sub $1000. With AMD's vega release(eventually) it should provide more competition and push prices down.

  • ProspectiveDarkness on 13/06/2017 - 10:52

    1. Intel's Coffee Lake is rumoured to launch around August / September. It's likely the i7's will be 6 core / 12 threads, possibly for similar pricing to the current 4C/8T ones. Whether i5s will move up to 4C/8T or 6C/6T is still unknown. So upgrading to Kaby Lake 7th Gen now would not be great in terms of value and performance. If higher core count does become more relevant in the future, I'd say it's worth waiting a couple of measly months for, to avoid potential future bottlenecks. I'm not 100% convinced of that argument, given poor multi core support now, but I'm figuring it's worth that wait just in case. You could also just get Ryzen now, I guess.

    2. Can't help you here, I'm fairly undecided myself. I'm thinking of just getting a regular 1440p / 60hz to wait until HDR with local dimming becomes more prevalent. Releases are coming fairly quickly these days, and as you said, don't want to be dropping a bunch of money on something that's going to be outdated quickly. One thing though… these extreme-high-end monitors are probably going to be closer to $2K than not, so if you have a budget in mind… might want to expand it a bit.

    3. AMD's Vega is announced end of July, so nVidia might drop prices a bit in response.

    All up, I'd recommend waiting for the 6 core Coffee Lake CPUs at least. GPUs and monitors are easy, you can just buy them independently whenever. But you'd probably want to maximise the CPU given that it's part of the core system and not so easily upgraded.

    Edit: missed the part where your current desktop died. Makes the choice to wait a bit harder.

    • cypher67 on 13/06/2017 - 11:59

      We are on a similar wave length, cheers on the heads up on the AMD Vega, I didnt realise it was so close. Defo wait to see how that bad boy impacts the market.

  • Axelstrife on 13/06/2017 - 10:59
    +1

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/11491/acer-asus-unveil-35inch-…

    I'd wait on the monitor X35 end of the year according to the article.

    • cypher67 on 13/06/2017 - 11:48

      Ive seen the X35, It is not an IPS monitor and doesnt support HDR. Whilst I agree it would be an amazing monitor, the only real improvement is the refresh rate

  • Piranha2004 on 13/06/2017 - 11:18
    +3

    Dont wait for anything. Get what is good now otherwise you will be in an endless cycle of waiting. I tried to wait for the rx480 and ended up buying the 1070 since AMD took their sweet time release non reference cards.

  • Diji1 on 13/06/2017 - 11:31

    I'd buy a new gaming PC without a monitor until the Acer Predator X35 comes out.

    It features 200Hz, 1000nits, HDR and sector dimming (true black). It is a massive leap in image quality over the X34.

    I don't think there's any other massive leap coming for other parts.

    I use a GTX 1070 with my X34. Often this means sacrificing anti-aliasing techniques to maintain FPS at 80-100 FPS while keeping maximum settings (with some exceptions). I think a GTX 1080 is probably the ideal card for 3440x1440 ATM.

  • supnigs super skids on 13/06/2017 - 11:44
    +2

    The longer you wait the cheaper it gets. Best thing to do is don't buy anything and watch YouTube for all game plays instead. I've seen all the latest games

  • KaTst3R on 13/06/2017 - 12:56

    When it comes to the PC market, you can be waiting for forever as there is always something around the corner.

    Personally, if your main use is gaming, i9 will be a waste. Even a Karby i5 + 1070 will do very well now in 4k 60fps and is great value for money.

  • macrocephalic on 13/06/2017 - 13:50
    +3

    Buy now and buy last year's good bits. You'll save a bunch, and you can afford to upgrade in a couple of years if you need.

  • ShortyX on 13/06/2017 - 14:13
    -1

    Xbox One X? :)

    • Kiato on 14/06/2017 - 04:12

      Shooo get back in the corner.

      As for computing parts. The Ryzen CPUs are a good choice at the moment price to performance is pretty outstanding, I'd expect similar to come from vega when it's released. Buying the very top Teri comes with a huge tax and it's some what wasteful in terms of cash, buying close to top is good enough generally and if need be just upgrade your house in a few years time with the money you save as it's the key component when it comes to pushing frames.

      As mentioned many times. Buying a I9 is going to be a absolute waste of money and is nearly a desperation act from intel after they were caught off guard. There is going to be another CPU release from intel that's between now and the i9 release which is essentially a i7 7700k on the x99 platform. Kinda shows you were their heads are at right now.

      If you can get a good deal on a 1080ti jump on it but if it's not a great deal just wait a few months for vega to come out and the prices will shuffle a little.

      • cypher67 on 14/06/2017 - 09:45

        Agree i9 appears to be a more productivity based processor and coffee lake would be where the gaming gains would be had. Im going to do the unthinkable and go without a gaming machine for a few months and wait to see how Vega impacts the market. I dont expect it to beat the Ti, but I expect it to get pretty close at 60% of the price and place a heap of pressure on Nvidia.

        So happy to see AMD catching Intel with their pants down. I have been telling my mates for years that I think Intel are sitting on some amazing tech and speeds, but as no one is around to push them, they just release minor improvements each year just to keep the money rolling in. I fully expect to next chips from intel to far exceed expectations & reconfirm their position as king; yet still not showing their full hands.

        • Kiato on 14/06/2017 - 21:45

          its not a hidden fact that intel has had about their next 6 generations of processors already planned out. with the way the market was they could stretch it out offering only minimal gains with each passing generation to maximize profits. unfortunately with this approach its the tortoise and the hair story, they got caught taking their time and allowed the competitor to appear at about the same point in the race that they have been strolling along in. im sure they skipped kaby lake they could be sitting on their thrones right now laughing at the the pathetic ryzen cpu. but they decided to push minimal gains and now they are seated in a race to which they have not had to run in many years.

          now that amd is here the consumers are the ones that win out. but thats only after being gouged by intel and nvidia for many years. lets hope that the game changes soon so we can actually see some real developments and that we can get some nice performance per dollar gains.

          just a fyi there are some decent deals on 1080's at the moment might be worth a look into.

  • stingyashell on 14/06/2017 - 07:31

    Why do people spend 3k plus on a rig, split that in half and just upgrade every 5 years. You gotta ask yourself why you need 1080ti u don't just go throwing money out there coz it the top CPU. And isn't i9 all about that thread count? Mainly for industry use. I don't know but that my 2cent

    • cypher67 on 14/06/2017 - 09:37
      +3

      I think its mostly to do with perspective. $3k on something I will spend 10s of thousands of hours enjoying to me isn't wasted money. I want to move to Ultrawide, its a superior gaming experience and a $1.5k rig may be able to get it by at an ok frame rate. But I want to kick its face in and not make sacrifices when it comes to game detail. You dont get into PC gaming over console gaming because you enjoy the people. You do it to maximise the experience through the better visual performance & gameplay … driven by your hardware. So if you can afford it and see value in it, why not maximise that experience, rather than limping in? If someone was a car enthusiast, spending $3k would barely make a dent. If you enjoy 1080p on your half baked machine, that's fine … but to quote BCF "That's not living!!"

    • Kiato on 14/06/2017 - 21:53

      i love this mindset. most people will have some aspects of their life where they are not willing to compromise it maybe be paying the extra dollar or two buying coke over home-brand cola or if its buying really plush carpet for your home. cypher likes to spend a little extra one their computer. i am the same, 3k for a computer seems budget to me really.. sure i could play most games ok in a system that costs 2-3k. but at the moment im playing every game in 4k or above resolutions with every setting pushed as far to the right as possible, meanwhile both graphics cards are not even using 50% of their true potential. to some people spending 2k on graphics cards is their outlet. its not always about measuring penis sizes some people just like to go out see some game they might like and know that if they buy it they can play it in all its true beauty rather than having to sacrifice in areas just to make it seem smooth.

    • AlienC on 19/06/2017 - 20:57

      Same reason people buy expensive cars and go on holidays some people like that premium buy and don't just want extreme value or bang for buck. It usually starts after you have reached your absolute limit on living on bare minimum.

  • AlienC on 19/06/2017 - 20:56

    As an ex pc gamer console gamer and now tablet gamer.. it's up to you. You can live without it it is possible to live off of hype and gameplay trailers and twitch streams but ultimately it's your choice. Personally pc gaming got to hectic for me so I switched to Android for awhile but now after many years on android I am feeling the urge to rejoin the pc gaming ranks.

    Imho all or nothing unless you feel like mid range coasting.

  • StickMan on 20/06/2017 - 09:56

    1080 Ti can barely get 60fps @ 4K with AA minimal or off, with other settings maxed. So trying for a 144Hz 4K monitor without even a 1080Ti (you said it's crazy expensive, yet would drop double on a monitor?) is just to jerk off your e-peen with "look at my nice 4K monitor" - your end of day IQ will be worse than a whateverX1440 screen.

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