I recently asked about a new PC build and there was suggestion to wait till AMD did their releases. I know not everything is released now, but some decently intelligent conclusions can be drawn. I am not real familiar with the hardware scene.
So my basic question is, does it still make sense to wait.
If I can get a Kaby Lake i5-7600 3.8GHz for ~$240 does it make sense to put it off.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117728I don't think prices are going to drop below $220 next month when the AMD chips arrive. Saving 20 bucks on a 1200-1500 build just does not seem to make much sense if I have to wait another few months and hope for a bigger better sale.
Is there really a compelling reason to wait for a new build now?
I did some research and it looks like AMD may get better performance in some applications with an update to windows scheduler so there is no cross communication across the ccx. If that is the case, my guess is that an update will be pushed out. We still will have fewer IPC and lower clock speeds.
If it doesn't make sense to wait, I will be putting a new thread out for a new build.
Comments
Once a "powerful" cpu meant a "high end" and came at a price premium. Today?
The i5 you linked will give you a top end PC. It won't need upgrading in "6 months" because something has come out that the cpu can't handle as used to be the case. Yes if you spent an extra $100 you could get a i7-7770K today but .... is it worth it? And the option will probably be there to upgrade in the future as well - unlikely to be needed but a nice option. Games are far more likely to be gpu limited today.
And since the i5 isn't a "high end" cpu it doesn't come with the same price premium. Yes the price will probably trend down but big price cuts - not likely. The premium isn't there.
But if you're inclined to buy now and think four CPU cores is enough, then I don't see any reason to wait unless you have a strong preference for AMD. The GTX 1080 Ti is out, the GTX 1070 and 1080 have dropped in price, and I don't see the Vega launch pushing prices down that much further. I don't see Ryzen pushing prices down on Kaby Lake at all.