The 2008 Guide to Gaming PC Specs
Closing comments Microsoft's Alan Wake (due in 2008) promises quad core CPU usage and DX10 graphics - time for an upgrade? The PC hardware market is always changing, and that means this article can only be based on what the situation is today. In the near future, the recommended hardware will definitely change, and by late spring the recommendations are most likely going to be obsolete. In general, names and models change, but the price you pay for a good gaming system remains mostly the same - you just get more for the same price. Even today I can already dish out a good guess that the suggested NVIDIA low end system video card is going to be the GeForce 9600 GT as soon as it becomes available (late February is the current rumor); it's expected to offer faster performance than the current offerings at a lower price. This makes the GeForce 8800 GS a very short-lived card. It may end up being a better deal than ATI's Radeon HD 3850 - it all depends on the price point it is going to be introduced at. At the high end things are simpler: the GeForce 8800 GT/GTS and Radeon HD 3870 probably won't be unseated until autumn 2008, unless NVIDIA and/or ATI manage to pull a surprise out of their hats. We've heard the rumors about 9800 GTS/GTX, but without anything solid to go on, it looks unlikely that NVIDIA would bother with a new high end model without a corresponding ATI card to compete against. On the CPU side, there is a simple pattern - whenever Intel or AMD unveils a faster model to the market, it is priced the same as the previous king of the hill, and each slower variant is bumped down by one step, with the slowest model getting the axe. At the low end, for the foreseeable future, you should just pick the fastest model you can get while staying within 20-30$ of the cheapest one out there. At the high end, the 3GHz Core 2 Duo E6850 with the "Conroe" core is getting replaced by February - the new 45nm "Wolfdale" E8xxx series of Core 2 Duos is going to be unveiled late January, and should be in stores in February. They effectively replace the current 65nm E6xxx range and the Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.166GHz) will be the model that replaces E6850 at bit under $300. So while our suggestion for a high end system is valid for today, in this case it may be worth it to wait a couple of weeks - if nothing else, you'll be able to get a 3GHz dual core (Core 2 Duo E8400) for around $200 instead of $280. As long as the pricing structure of quad core processors stays like it is today, they remain questionable choices for pure gaming. You are effectively trading performance in older CPU-limited single-threaded games for unneeded extra performance in multithreaded games, and the pricing doesn't seem like it's going to change anytime soon. Even the upcoming "Yorkfield" 2.86GHz Core 2 Quad Q9550, expected to arrive by late March, is going to be priced at over $500. Until AMD Phenoms are competitive at the high end, Intel has no reason to sell their quads any cheaper. When to Buy?Ah, the age old question - "when to buy?" - it always seems that if you wait just a bit longer, something cheaper, faster and better is going to come out. This is the cheapest option - you never buy anything while waiting for the next best thing, but it also means you rapidly run out of new games to play as your old system isn't getting any faster while you wait. Right now (in January 2008), if you seek a high end system, it may be worth waiting for the "Wolfdale" chips to arrive as they are just a couple of weeks away, but beyond that, there is little in the horizon that is "worth the wait", so to speak. My personal rule on this age old issue has been that I never upgrade anything that is under 12 months old, but when I do, I go for the fastest reasonably priced product available, discounting the Extremely Expensive Ultra Specials that offer 10% more for twice the price - and that has served me pretty well over the past six years.
Prices and models mentioned in this article are current as of 16th of January 2008. Prices are based on data from CNET and Pricegrabber, and do not include taxes or shipping.
If you wish to comment on this article or offer your own suggestions, please click right here (registration not required).
Related StuffTags |
 
 
See if your PC can handle the latest games:
 
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
News: 
