Same old question: New machine now or wait?

[Jesse]

Hello All,

I am thinking it is time for a new "workstation" at home. My current "do it all except HTPC" machine is a four year old P4 1.8 that is starting to display some hware related weirdness.

When it comes to electronics I usually buy when I need/want with the understanding that something better and cheaper will be available in six months. It's the nature of the beast and I dont fret over it.

Things seem a little different now. Intel has the conroe chips coming sometime this year. If what I have read is even mostly true then they will be the big dog...unless, of course, AMD pulls something out of the hat. That does not seem likely based on the stuff I have read about the new AMD chips. In all likelyhood it seems that intel will be back on top soon.

I am considering the AMD 64/X2 4800+. Even if the conroe is better it probably wont be all that much better than a 4800+. Right? There is also the fact that the fat lady is warming up her pipes on socket 939, so there will not be any future upgrading of the cpu if I go with a 939.

The worrys I have about the conroe are that it will be expensive, it wont live up to the hype and the whole h/ware based Trusted Computing/DRM garbage will be a part of it and the required intel mobo.

And finally there is Vista. I dont know whether I should be looking forward to it or dreading it. I know that the 4800+ should be more than enough cpu to deal with Vista. I know if a DTV pci card is ever going to happen it is going to take Vista to do it. What if I have to have the trusted computing/big brother crap on board to make it happen? Any thoughts on that.

All that being said, I would like to build a fairly powerful dual core, Vista and 64 bit ready machine that will be usable for three or four years. I figure the 64/X2 4800+ on an Abit KN8 Ultra mobo with a couple of gigs of ram ought to do it.

Thoughts please.

TIA

Jesse

[stanger89]

The only reason I'd wait, is if you have illusions (dillusions? ) of playing next gen content, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, CableCard, DTV?. If those are high on your list, wait until Vista is out and the dust settles.

Otherwise, as you noted, something better will always be out soon.

[Jesse]

Hi stanger,

The only reason I'd wait, is if you have illusions (dillusions? ) of playing next gen content, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, CableCard, DTV?. If those are high on your list, wait until Vista is out and the dust settles.

I am really in no hurry re. HD-DVD and Blu-ray. I am definitely not moving on that until the format war is decided. I am pretty skeptical about them allowing "managed copies." Hopefully I am wrong on that, but I think that once they get it all locked down pretty tight they will not do anything to compromise it.

A DTV pci card definitely appeals to me. Uncle Bill says it will happen. Are you skeptical? If it happens hopefully sage can make use of whatever security is built into Vista so we wont need MCE for it to work. As it stands so little of DTV's content is in HD I am in no big hurry for it.

What is your take on the whole trusted computing thing? Will this and Vista be the key to PC based DTV and Cable card, or will Vista be enough?

The more I think about it the more I am concerned about the lifespan of my sage box........

Thanks for the input.

Jesse

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Jesse

A DTV pci card definitely appeals to me. Uncle Bill says it will happen. Are you skeptical? If it happens hopefully sage can make use of whatever security is built into Vista so we wont need MCE for it to work. As it stands so little of DTV's content is in HD I am in no big hurry for it.

On that front I'm monitoring Stealth's progress with a R5000 network encoder

What is your take on the whole trusted computing thing? Will this and Vista be the key to PC based DTV and Cable card, or will Vista be enough?

Don't know about DTV, but at least for the near term, all indications are that regardless of if you need "trusted PC" components, you won't be able to build yourself a CableCard PC.