Wait for 64 bit cpu:s before buying..???

[Danne]

I am on my way to buy a new pc.

I have heard that 64bit processors are on its way to the market..

Should I wait to buy a new pc until the 64 bit processors will be on the market or should I buy a pc with a 32 bit processor now?

Will I be able to play the new generation games with my 32 bit processor??

[Michal[mt]]

Hi Danne,
There are few articles floating around the web, here on the overclockers.com site too, that are explaining which advantages the new architecture can bring and if it is really necessary changing our systems right now.
Only consider this: 32 bit is really more scalable than 64 bit and it seems the pretty early implementation of the new arch. suffers of the lack of a good heat dissapation.

[Krowa 02]

Dont allow 64 bit to get in the way of your buying. 64bit has a long way to go before it will actually become completely mainstream. I bet my buck that this wont happen until intel will go 64 bit themselves, however I am a firm believer that AMD will survive and there will always be the 64bit option, but not in the near future. Either way however, it wont be a cause for upgrade, as it really isnt anything big yet (there is no pressing need to move to 64 bit just yet.

[Jarlax3]

But will the release of the 64-bit chips and the Prescott drive prices on current P4's and Atholon XP's down considerably?

When will the new chips come out? If they will come out in October then it makes good sense to wait if you can. If they are coming out in 2004 then that is a different story. Well at least to me who hates to wait!

[c627627]

If Athlon 64 CPUs are released on September 22nd...
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=222585

[ajrettke]

64 bit isn't for the standard gamer yet. 64 bit has a while (I say 2-3 years atleast) before it will be neccesary. A lot of people ahve brought up great points like it has a long way to go, no need, don';t let it influence ya etc. They are all right, I don't ever think i'll wait for "this to come out"...because when "this" does come out, there's always wait for "that" etc...your not gonna win, just upgrade now :)

[Jarlax3]

Well I agree that waiting is usually pointless as things change so fast there is always something new around the corner. But I heard that the Prescott chip release was going to drive the Intel chip prices down 30% across the board. If this is true then waiting a month or two is worth it unless you *need* it today.

[mata2974]

If yu can afford it when released in September, why not. Its good investment..Go for it

[Power Unknown]

well when pci-x comes out with the new r420 from ati, that will be the time to upgrade for me. hopefully both companys will have 64bit version of cpu and there will be 64bit windows. and some reports say the r420 it will do the same this the 9700pro did to the 4600ti only now to the 9800pro. 50-100% increase in performance.

[JoJoMoJo]

http://home.comcast.net/~jojomojodfl/roadmap1.JPG

[AS3]

QUESTION: Wait for 64 bit cpu:s before buying pc..???

VERY SIMPLE 2-PART ANSWER:

-if you buy in a year, YES
-if you buy now, NO

[c627627]

http://www.pbase.com/image/18657503/original

JoJoMoJo's map is old.

[JoJoMoJo]

kool thanks.

[Overclocker550]

"and some reports say the r420 it will do the same this the 9700pro did to the 4600ti only now to the 9800pro. 50-100% increase in performance."

only with fsaa and aa enabled, without that it was like a third over a ti4600........

[Cyberwiz01]

Originally posted by c627627
http://www.pbase.com/image/18657503/original

JoJoMoJo's map is old.

Where do these maps come from? Are they mostly speculation or has all the stuff in there been announced by Intel already? It seems to me that unless every manufacturer plans on shipping their cases with phase change cooling built in, those speeds would not be attainable. I don't know a whole lot about Intel's plans for the future, but arent they planning to jump to 64 bits soon? And at that point, i doubt the new 64 bit chips would be running at the clock speeds of current processors. They would have a drop in clock speed for in increase in bandwidth and processing power. It would be the only way to keep temperatures at a managable level while still having an increase in performance. So i'm wondering, where on the map does the transition to 64 bits come in? I dont see any note of it.

[bigfoot]

thats the thing, i remember hearing something somewhere saying that intel doesn't plan on doing anything 64-bit realated for mainstream until 2007 or somewhere way out there.

[Benno]

I'd be willing to bet though if amd starts to take up market share on intel and there is a trend to want the "newer technology" as there always is in today's world then we will see the next processor after the prescott being 64 bit. My 2cents

[Is_907]

intel is being stupid by putting off 64bit... i don't think those CPUs will be mainstream for a year or two but Intel needs to jump into the game now if they want to keep up with AMD ;)

btw, i'm not planning on buying 64bit until it's been out at least a year... that's my advice to most everyone else who doesn't need something that's beyond bleeding edge tech. (punctured artery, is more like it ;) )

[c627627]

Originally posted by Cyberwiz01
Where do these maps come from? Are they mostly speculation or has all the stuff in there been announced by Intel already?

Not mostly -- entirely. All future CPU types & speeds are nothing but speculation. They change all the time.

Want to know what the current speculation is on what's coming? That's what the maps are for. I doubt there will ever be such a thing as Pentium 5 or Pentium 6. There is zero speculation on the future Intel CPU names so Pentium 5 and 6 are there to represent names for fundamental core changes of those future CPUs.

[LBJGH]

I am a big AMD supporter and hope only good things for the Athlon64. Unfortunately Intel holds the majority of the market share and Intel will prevent the release of any 3rd party, 64bit software until Intel has it's own 64bit solution. I doesn't matter if the apps will be available or not... we aint' gonna get our hands on it. :(

[c627627]

Retort:

Microsoft is releasing beta version this year with final release Q1 2004.

I have a tough time imagining the rest of the software industry forgoing profits.

Not only did Intel know about Hammers from the get go, it had (and still does) its own 64 bit CPU project code named Yamhill.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10847

[Lord_MiL]

You may want to wait for the new chips before building your new system because the prices should drop at least somewhat. However if you are thinking of going with a Prescott when it comes out, I would say you definitely need to wait for the next core revision. The latest official documents from Intel state that the 3.4GHz will dissipate over 103W. If you thought AXP's or P4's ran "hot" then the Prescott is a flame thrower! Also, as most others have said you won't really *need* a 64bit chip for a while just because software always lags a bit behind hardware. So it depends. Are you gonna build a monster system in 6 months then in another 6-12 months when 64 bit picks up speed and all your friends are bragging about their huge FPS increases due to 64bit are you going to want/have the money to upgrade again?