My PC died, and I was waiting for Sandy Bridge / Bulldozer. What's the most logical choice for me now?

A. Spend big on a Core i7 which will be outdated in about 2 months (SB out in 1/2011)

B. Spend small on a basic Core i3 system and use it until SB / Bulldozer are launched

C. Buy an external HHD, back up data, and wait for SB / Bulldozer (several months w/o a PC)

I can't decide : (

It all depends on how much your budget for a new system is. We still don't know the state of overclocking for SB so even if you buy a Core i7 now, with oc'ing, it still might work decently.

I've got a bunch of desktops and a couple of laptops so I've got spare systems in case my main rig ever goes down. They're not going to be as fast but they should handle internet browsing and basic productivity well enough. I think it might be a good idea to build a spare now so you have a back-up. A basic Core i3 build is going to be a bit more expensive compared to an Athlon II X2. Even if you save just an extra $100 or so going with AMD, that's still $100 that can go into Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer. Going with a low-end system now will also give you time to wait for Bulldozer and compare it to SB. If you delay building a PC, you're most likely going to have to go with SB by default as it'll be released earlier. Bulldozer isn't expected to reach mass production/release until Q3'11.

I'd suggest getting a cheap ass core 2 duo or athlon II X2 and waiting a month or two for sandybridge. A Sandy Bridge i7 will probably be worth it, especially if you do emulation, which tends to use new architecture asap.

Bulldozer (as Jedd says) won't be here till much later. Don't bother waiting.

Go find some computer that does internet browsing and use that while waiting for Sandy Bridge.
If you buy an i3 now, you'll hate yourself for it in 2 months

Buy a PS3 now, it have a browser and a lot of games. And after 2 months you, probably, would not like to spend any money to useless junk - computre.

Core i3 530 is cheaper here where I live. The cheapest Core 2 Duo (also at 2.9GHz) is $13 more expensive lol

If I have an LCD TV or a monitor with HDMI then I will buy a PS3 right away.

Ah, but new PS3's don't have the capability of playing PS2 games. At least even a low-end build would play some games with speedhacks.

Assuming prices are similar to the US, I'd recommend an AMD stopgap 785G/880G with Athlon II X2.

I think Athlon II is too obsolete. At least i3 is 32nm.

I planned to buy a PII X4 955 but they are out of stock, and the mobo I wanted (Asus 88TD-V EVO) is also not available. What a sucky country

(11-12-2010 04:21 AM)tsunderetaiga Wrote:  I think Athlon II is too obsolete. At least i3 is 32nm.

I planned to buy a PII X4 955 but they are out of stock, and the mobo I wanted (Asus 88TD-V EVO) is also not available. What a sucky country

Again, that all depends on your budget. Personally, I think a Core i3 build is too expensive as a stopgap system. As much as possible, you want to funnel your funds on either Sandy Bridge or Zambezi (Bulldozer). If I had to build a stopgap, mine would consist of a $50 max CPU and $50 max MB with onboard video and compatible with RAM I already have.

If you've got funds for both an i3/PII X4 and an all-out SB/Zambezi build later, sure, why not? I can't imagine not having a spare computer available (one reason I still keep an old single-core AMD Sempron S939 PC) so if you don't have one and you can afford it anyway, might as well make the spare halfway decent.

My old P4 has 2 sticks of DDR400 (512MB each), but I don't think they are compatible with newer AMD board, nor are they worth re-using.

Having a $300 Core i3 system as spare PC is good, but the problem is that I can buy a 2nd-generation Core i3 if I wait 2 months. So as someone said above, I'll probably hate myself. Even when the new Core i3 is at 3.1GHz and can't be OC'd, its IGP is still 2x better (according to some test results I read).