TR Forums

I would like to change my HTPC HW. The options are:
- Get a MB Asus P5Q-EM with a Q9400
- Wait to get a ¿?¿? MB with an i7-920

My main concern is that it seems that they are changing the socket, so if I get the p5q+q9400 my upgrading options in the future end just there... Also, maybe in a month or so I could get for the same price as today "the latest and greatest"...

Are you aware of any uATX MB that supports i7s??? I could not find any...

Thnx!!!

I guess it depeds on what you plan to do with your PC, the new i7 will have a price premium, the new MB + CPU + RAM, will probably have a price premium of around an addition 300 bucks. If you like buying the latest and geatest and need all that horse power (professionally or whatever) then get it. Also affordable choices might not be available till later in '09, there may also be issues with the new chipset+cpu so definitly wait for the reviews (not just engineering samples). Also the cost of DDR3 will probably shoot up a bit when the new systems become widely available. Another reason to wait is that the new DDR3 is constantly improving, the latency is high right now but it still performs very well. If I were you I would get the Q9400 and then maybe in a year or so sell that stuff on ebay and then get the i7.

mATX boards that support i7 will probably arrive same time as the CPUs themselves. The thing is, do you need the system now? If so, buy now, but if you can wait, then do so.

When in doubt, hug it out!

wait for the i7 reviews from TR then you can make up your mind...would save you the time, money...not to mention your sanity

It is for home... basically play games...
I read somewhere (http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15673) that the 920 will pop up in a month at around the same price as the q9400 now. The uATX MB (when someone make one if ever) should be around the price as a G45... I could trade 4GbDDR2 for 3GbDDR3 so I think I can keep things in budget.
I think that all this stuff will arrive in a month and not in a year + I am not in a real hurry, so I could wait for a month or 2 to renew the system...
Yes, It might be wise to wait 45days and take a decision then. If I am not decided to get "the latest" I am pretty sure that at least "the old stuff" will have much lower prices...
thnk you all