No, wait until 2023. They are faster then.

 

LOL

You always get what your money (300 $) can buy at the moment.
If something "revolutionary" comes out, it will cost you more than 300 $.
So waiting is a (sort of) non-sense.

EDIT : when I say "it will cost you more than 300 $", I meant that even if you pay 300 $ next year for a new technology, you must add to these 300 $ all the benefits you've lost without having bought a 300 $ I7 today, because this one year gap have a cost.

 

From Wikipedia :

"DDR4 SDRAM will be the successor to DDR3 SDRAM. It was revealed at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco in 2008, and is due to be released to market during 2011. The timing has varied considerably during its development - it was originally expected to be released in 2012,[8] and later (during 2010) expected to be released in 2015,[9] before samples were announced in early 2011 and manufacturers began to announce that commercial production and release to market was anticipated in 2012. DDR4 is expected to reach mass market adoption around 2015, which is comparable with the approximately 5 years taken for DDR3 to achieve mass market transition over DDR2."

So, even if DDR4 comes out next month, are you sure it will be compatible with next month's motherboard ?
I'm not.

 

Bleeding edge technology is always a total rip off.... in my opinion. Buy the top of the line of the current tech (i7, DDR3) and I think you'll be getting a much better deal, and wait a few years until the price of whatever the next gen stuff is will come down to reasonable levels. Buy it then. And yeah, the 3D architecture stuff that Intel is developing is going to be awesome, I think

 

To stick to your example: the reason why it is good to know if DDR4 comes out in two months, is not so much to buy DDR4 then, but because the prices for DDR3 could fall. So it can be useful to wait, for this reason.

Like with the buy of a new car, if a new model comes out, you surely get a discount on the remaining previous models.
But it is not guaranteed, of course, that the price falls.

 

Yeah, lottery is far more easier than buying new pc. For 300$ I'd put amd's options on the list also. Depending bit what are you getting.. is it just new motherboard and cpu, maybe memory.. with 300$ you can get the combination at the both camp to last couple years both gaming and music making wise. Except amd's solutions would be considerable cheaper.

 

Don't buy cutting edge because you have to pay a substantial premium to do so. The wisest place is behind the wave: it's cheaper and the kit is mature and proven. Don't, don't....don't believe the hype. Unless you have money to burn. Just buy what you can afford now.

 

As G-String said.

Also, I worked in Central Govt for 20 years in IT and we never bought cutting edge.

Stay one (or even 2) 'releases' behind the curve and you will get pretty much the same performance - especially if you are simply using a DAW with multiple VST's etc.

In that case even a moderately fast CPU will be able to handle the workload - it's fast RAM you really need to be thinking about and DDR2 is still more than capable.

 

Many good points have been mentioned here.
However, it's also pretty good to take a look around in the studio and think what will I used the computer for and how do I use it.
Like, a fast mean machine with lots of ram and brutal speed drive would probably do it for most things when it comes to work with software and multitracks.
While a less fast machine with not that fast cpu lots of ram and fast drive would do it better if you're working with hardware and multitracks.
I think it's good to perhaps not go for the latest unless you really need to upgrade and it's been a long while since you did so and you're beating the horse to death everytime you start a new project.

I mean for one purpose I have an old [email protected], 4gb RAM plenty of HDD space and it can swallow 16 hardwaretracks recording simultaneous and it doesn't complain a bit.
But whenever I jazz up a bunch of powerful VST I almost choke the damn thing.
So it's also a matter of how you're planing to use the computer aka DAW ;)
However, the sandy-bridge -series seems to be jaw dropping! I would probably fly that kite next time I upgrade.
Good luck mate
/Xiny6581

 

The 2600k is a very fast (and competitively priced) option from Intel. I was tempted to go with a Sandy Bridge (LGA 1155) Core i7 CPU but decided to wait after I found out a few things. First - Native SATA 6GB/s via the intel chipset versus a third party controller will be incorporated into the new platforms coming out in 2012 (called Ivy Bridge). Second - these new platforms will also be on a 22nm die, meaning less heat and less power consumption, and likely will be fast enough that you will be able to perform moderate gaming without the need for a video card. Third - More support / ports for USB 3.0 and likely Thunderbolt (important for audio/video editing).

I would say these are moderate leaps in technology, especially with thunderbolt, so you would be future-proofing yourself for a fair amount of time. Obviously technology gets better each year, but with the X58/P67/66 platforms we are seeing the very end of them, so at any rate I would wait for these new Ivy Bridge series to come out which will substantially drop the price of the Sandy Bridge.

 

upgraded to a asus p8-p67 pro i5-2500 with 8gb 1600mhz ram and an ssd a couple months back. my advice would be go for it, noticed a huge bump and aint managed to max out cpu makin anythin yet with ableton.... and ive tried! do it already, you'll be glad you did

 

Personally I'd ease back on that motherboard and put the cash towards more RAM, an SSD drive, a better audio unit, speakers, whatever. Do you really need all those features? It's an expensive board, and you could get the features you need (considering it's for audio) at maybe 1/3 the price(?)

If you find a decent board at £60 instead of circa £180 you'd have saved half the money for a decent USB audio unit - or even an entire cheap but decent amp and speakers setup (from Richer sounds) for £100. Depends what you want.....but there's always this "pressure" to get "the best", when it really isn't necessary. I'm a big fan of quality over quantity, but....if the point is to get good audio gear, it seems unwise to spend dough on stuff that isn't audio, no matter its quality. But up to you, of course. ;)

* at ebuyer your board is £140-£160, whilst the cheapest i5 board is £35. Always avoid the cheapest stuff, I'd say, but.....it's worth bearing in mind that the money can be spent elsewhere (on audio stuff) if that's the real purpose.

I would rather pay the £150 for this

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/18832048/Focusrite-Saffire-6-USB-2-In-4-OutUSB-Audio-Interface/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cat:18832048|prd:18832048

and try to find £50 for a M/B......or some such. :D

 

Well, Core i7-2600K is the top CPU of the existing LGA1155 solutions.

There are three features that distinguish it from the other processors on Sandy Bridge microarchitecture. First, it has four computational cores and supports Hyper-Threading technology. As a result, the operating system sees it as an eight-core processor, which is exactly why it belongs to the top ranks in the Core i7 family. Secondly, it has the highest clock frequency of all LGA1155 processors – 3.4 GHz. I have to say that if we leave the Core i7-990X Extreme Edition aside for a second, it will be the maximum clock frequency of all Intel desktop CPUs period. And thirdly, its L3 cache is 8 MB big. Other quad-core Sandy Bridge CPUs from the Core i5 series has a 6 MB L3 cache.

http://hardware-review24.com/load/cpu/core_i7_990x_extreme_edition_vs_core_i7_2600k/1-1-0-43

and gigabyte motherboard for best latency

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1415783

Ram

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996981

 

i agree with others point here...

I probably go for Yesterdays Top Notch Technology..their way much Cheaper...and Certified tested By Public and Lots of Review...

*yes*

 

Hi,

Stay away from ASUS for a DAW.
They are great for gamers but not for audio.

Go for a high end gigabyte board. ( not the first models chips sucks )
Make sure the firewire chipset is made by Texas Instruments if you want to plug a firewire audio device.

The motherboard is the most important part of a DAW if you want a rock stable system.

Hope this helps.

bye

 

What a nightmare!
And I have to DIY by myself!