When upgrading, do you pick the newest tech or current generation discounts?

[Hi P]

Title pretty much.

 

With the upcoming new tech I'm looking to upgrade and I kinda just want to buy the newest of things.

 

In the other hand, I see other people managing their budget more efficiently (I think) by taking advantage of current generation discounts.

 

Why would or wouldn't you pick the newest tech available?

[Poinkachu]

21 minutes ago, Hi P said:

Why would or wouldn't you pick the newest tech available?

- Budget management / Budget constraint

- New platform might have some issues that i don't know about yet

- Don't really need something as powerful as the newest tech

 

Or a combination of those 3 points.

 

A long long time ago I went for the newest shit for a new PC, and ended up having BSOD left, right, forward, and back.

Sooo I learned to atleast wait for further info before getting the "bleeding edge".

[mariushm]

I only buy if I have to, and not the "bleeding edge" stuff.

 

I managed to wait with my FX-8320 and only upgraded to a 5800x a year ago, because I could still use the FX-8320. 

 

I'm not planning to upgrade to AM5 now, because it's "bleeding edge" - I'm confident it's gonna be better than when AM4 was launched - back then the first Ryzen processors had a less "optimized" memory controller, so the first generation had problems with some RAM sticks and couldn't get very high frequencies (ex more than 3200 Mhz) .. they solved a lot of things through bios and cpu microcode updates.

AMD has much more experience now and I'm sure they're gonna have less problems with AM5 but it's still expensive motherboards, the DDR5 is still a bit more expensive than DDR4, and I'm sure they're gonna need a few bios updates to solve some issues. 

 

I would have been comfortable upgrading to a Ryzen 2600x but then B550 chipset motherboards were announced and decided I could wait some more to see Ryzen 3xxx processors and then just didn't feel like I had to upgrade.

 

I also prefer to buy more expensive stuff because usually it lasts longer, basically I go by the saying "I'm too poor to buy cheap stuff" ...  I either wait until I can afford or take advantage of credit card which has option to split the payment in 6-12 month payments with 0% interest

I could have bought some bronze efficiency psu, but I bought a Seasonic X-650 psu a lot of years ago (I don't even know, it's probably 6-10 years), still works like the first day. Could have bought a B450 chipset motherboard that costs 60-70$ in local currency, went with a good B550 motherboard that's wasn't the cheapest, but had most features I wanted... and so on.

Still use a logitech MX518 at home, because I like it. Needs silicon pads on the bottom though. Could easily buy any 50$ mouse without remorse, but just don't feel like I need to...

[RONOTHAN##]

I've done both. It really depends on what I've got, how deep the last gen discounts are, what's the performance delta between current and last gen, and how much I'm willing to spend. I did go 2700X when Ryzen 3000 released since it was only something like $130 at Micro Center and I could flip my 1700 for $110 on FB Marketplace at the time, so why not? Didn't go Ryzen 3000 when Ryzen 5000 launched though since a) Ryzen 3000 discounts were very minimal and b) Ryzen 5000 was a massive upgrade over 3000, so it wouldn't have made sense to go 3000 anyway. 

 

Basically, it depends. 9900Ks and 10700Ks are the same performance, but the 9900K got discounted something like $150-200 less than the 10700K so it made a ton of sense to go for last gen gear, but the 11700K for the most part stayed about the same price as the 12600K (which despite being an i5 compared to an i7 did still performed better in almost everything) so it made little sense to go last gen instead. With the deals we're seeing on AM4 gear right now I would feel comfortable recommending it, a 5600 and a lower end B550 board is an awesome pairing right now considering the price, but there is definitely an argument to be made for going current gen AMD or 13th gen Intel when it's announced instead.

[SupaKomputa]

If the new chip is on the same platform it's a no brainer to go with older discounted gen, since you can just easily upgrade if that chip get a discount on the next round update.

For intel, discounted 12th gen is great when 13th gen arrived.

For AMD, if you're looking for long term, get the 7000, since the 5000 need a complete overhaul if you want to upgrade.

On a tight budget get 7600 + the cheapest ddr5 4800 (maybe overclock it to 6000mhz if you're lucky).

[Hi P]

12 hours ago, Poinkachu said:

A long long time ago I went for the newest shit for a new PC, and ended up having BSOD left, right, forward, and back.

Sooo I learned to atleast wait for further info before getting the "bleeding edge".

That must have sucked, yea I also tend to wait for reviews, and games... never preorder

 

12 hours ago, mariushm said:

I also prefer to buy more expensive stuff because usually it lasts longer, basically I go by the saying "I'm too poor to buy cheap stuff

This is pretty much what I tend to do, so that I don't upgrade for years hehe

 

12 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

 I did go 2700X when Ryzen 3000 released since it was only something like $130 at Micro Center and I could flip my 1700 for $110 on FB Marketplace at the time, so why not? Basically, it depends. 9900Ks and 10700Ks are the same performance, but the 9900K got discounted something like $150-200 less than the 10700K so it made a ton of sense to go for last gen gear

You pretty much have the wise mindset that I was talking about

 

12 hours ago, SupaKomputa said:

For AMD, if you're looking for long term, get the 7000, since the 5000 need a complete overhaul if you want to upgrade.

On a tight budget get 7600 + the cheapest ddr5 4800 (maybe overclock it to 6000mhz if you're lucky).

I'm thinking on going the 7000 because I just want to upgrade most things and not have to worry about it later

I kinda  want to buy the 7600X then wait and see if the "3D V-Cache" versions are a lot better, so that I can sell the 7600X and buy an 8 core 3dv

[Pickles von Brine]

It really depends. For main components sometimes I go with the previous generation other times I go latest gen. For GPUs I go latest gen. 

[NF-A12x25]

18 hours ago, mariushm said:

I could have bought some bronze efficiency psu, but I bought a Seasonic X-650 psu

The X650 is a good PSU, I have an X750 in a secondary rig, but bronze-silver-gold-plat etc do not denote quality. Just efficiency. Has nothing to do with how well the PSU will perform, just how much energy it sucks from the wall.

[fisterkev]

First, I'm always gonna skip the first gen of a new platform - or at the very least, give it some time to work the kinks out, get BIOS updates, etc. I am not interested in being a guinea pig for tech companies, someone else can play that game for me.

 

Second, I LOVE the discounts that you get towards the end of a current gen. Generally speaking, that hardware is still going to run perfectly fine, driver support / BIOS updates etc will have matured and it'll be very stable, and it'll still do precisely everything that I need it to do. It's also easier to jump a tier with a smaller budgetary impact doing that. 

 

I'd rather buy a higher tier at the tail end of a generation and then completely skip the next gen (or maybe even two) to upgrade.

[wasab]

my advice is gloves off for things you truly need, double down on them since they bring in the most value. In my case it is my current pc which I spent a lot more on compare to any other consumer purchases of the year but considering it functions as my work computer and central to my work from home setup, it is very much justify to spend as much as budget allows so it makes my life easier.
 

For other things I am quite cheap. I still use my one plus 6 which is 5 years old phone by now. It is kinda slow nowadays but still useable. I sent it for a battery swap two years ago to squeeze some more life out of it. My next phone is probably going to be some previous gen flagship. I treat these gadgets like used cars, they are depreciating assets. You still want some good quality so you won’t have to replace them often due to defects and poor functionality but don’t spend beyond your means. These things won’t improve your life as much as you think they do

[Rusty Proto]

For me, it depends on what my intentions are. Historically, I've been one to try to buy a boxed PC, then "recan" it into something better as time goes (as in, usually, a couple years later) though this last run has proven that I may do better with a fresh build due to all the jank I've had to throw together. I'm thinking my next build, I may go through and get all the baddest and best stuff I can afford, though given I use Linux, Team Green is pretty much out when it comes to my GPU. Otherwise, my Ryzen 5: 1400 may stay paired with my Radeon 6700 series in my current Lenovo Ideacentre recan. I will likely run it until it no longer runs what I'm wanting to run.

[Hi P]

On 9/17/2022 at 5:19 PM, fisterkev said:

 I LOVE the discounts that you get towards the end of a current gen. Generally speaking, that hardware is still going to run perfectly fine, driver support / BIOS updates etc will have matured and it'll be very stable, and it'll still do precisely everything that I need it to do. It's also easier to jump a tier with a smaller budgetary impact doing that.

Oh man you just got me thinking over here... because plenty of people have suggested me to upgrade my Ryzen 2600 but stay on AM4, instead of upgrading to AM5, I'm thinking it more than ever but first I want to see benchmarks of 5000 vs 7000 series

[Neroon]

I've never spend full price on top of the line stuff. So either I buy it when it's a lot cheaper, or buy cheaper models.

 

I do notice that while I'm able to save more and more money, that I'm more willing to pay higher amounts. Like my laptop wasn't the very top, but at 2100 euro, it sure wasn't cheap. My previous laptop was like 1100, which was very expensive for me at the time.

[Dedayog]

On 9/15/2022 at 1:36 AM, Hi P said:

Title pretty much.

 

With the upcoming new tech I'm looking to upgrade and I kinda just want to buy the newest of things.

 

In the other hand, I see other people managing their budget more efficiently (I think) by taking advantage of current generation discounts.

 

Why would or wouldn't you pick the newest tech available?

You do realize that EVERY decision I, and everyone here, makes is based on various factors and critical thinking?

 

You cannot and should not simply them into your question.

 

Did you pic your significant other based on their personality or looks?  See, ain't that simple.

 

[Hi P]

1 hour ago, Dedayog said:

You cannot and should not simply them into your question.

Hehe, it's just a question

[IPD]

It's never a question of "only" newest or older for less cost.  Many, many factors go into this.  What is the evolutionary status of the parts in question--eg. DDR4 migrating to DDR5?  What is the generational difference in CPUs--eg. socket type, die shrink, etc?  This has even applied to system bus, GPU interface type, and even things like DP/HDMI generation supported.

 

Right now, for example, 12th gen intel CPU's are out--and the socket isn't projected to change until at least 14th gen.  DDR5 is just coming out--so it will be standard for many years to come.  DP 2.0 isn't yet supported by any GPU's--but will likely be of benefit in the future.  All things to consider.