# How long should I wait for new tech releases before upgrading my PC?



## KKSlider1337 (Jun 7, 2020)

Hi all,

I've had my current PC a while. It's served me well but I'm keen to upgrade it to be able to manage a solid 1080p 144fps, to match my new monitor. I also get stutter with some games unless I turn settings down. That said, I'm not desperate - it still works fine - so I wanted to know how long I should wait for upcoming AMD and Nvidia releases (and hopefully some improvement in Covid-related part pricing and availability).
Current build:

CPU: i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Mobo: Gigabyte Z87-HD3
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600mhz
GPU: GeForce GTX 970 4GB
HDs: 250GB SSD, 4TB HDD + 1TB HDD
PSU: Corsair CX 600
Case: NZXT Phantom 410
I'm not looking for anything top-of-the-line. I'd recycle the drives, case and PSU, and would hope to spend no more than £700-800 on new parts (I'm from the UK) - the lower the better, really.

From what I understand, we'll get new AMD CPUs and GPUs and new Nvidia GPUs all around October-ish time? Though, will these new AMD and Nvidia GPUs be the top range ones? I'd probably be looking more upper-mid/lower-high range.

Of course, if you don't think I need to wait, please let me know! Thanks for the advice.


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 7, 2020)

Towards the end of the year ought to be a good time if you're not in a hurry, by then we should supposedly have the Ryzen 4000 series and new graphics cards from both the red and green teams. No-one really knows what they'll launch, but keep in mind when new products arrive, older products come down in price.
Might want to get an NVMe SSD now though, as there are indications that the price of flash memory is going to be going up later in the year, assuming it's something you're interested in getting.
RAM prices are also fairly good right now, although there might be a shortage of some products due to shipping related issues.


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## KKSlider1337 (Jun 7, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Towards the end of the year ought to be a good time if you're not in a hurry, by then we should supposedly have the Ryzen 4000 series and new graphics cards from both the red and green teams. No-one really knows what they'll launch, but keep in mind when new products arrive, older products come down in price.
> Might want to get an NVMe SSD now though, as there are indications that the price of flash memory is going to be going up later in the year, assuming it's something you're interested in getting.
> RAM prices are also fairly good right now, although there might be a shortage of some products due to shipping related issues.



Hey, thanks for the tips. That's interesting to know about flash memory prices. To be honest, an NVMe SSD wasn't something I was planning to prioritise - I was thinking of getting one later down the line. This is a total guess, but I feel that they may become more valuable for gaming in a year or two when the Xbox Series X and PS5 are more established and their fast drives have influenced game design. Please correct me if that's nonsense 

It's my birthday in a couple of weeks and I was actually wondering whether to chuck RAM on my list. Price/quality of RAM is unlikely to improve in a few months' time, then?


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 7, 2020)

RAM isn't going to change until we move to DDR5 (which might be in 2021 or 2022), so you can safely buy something now.
If you're going Ryzen 3000 (obviously no-one knows about the 4000-series yet), go with at least 3600MHz memory with CAS16 latencies for best performance.

Right now there's no high demand for RAM, so prices aren't likely to change much either. However, due to a lot of other things than computers using NAND flash, indications are that prices of the actual flash memory is set to go up this year, it's not just clear when this will happen.

Don't expect a new chipset from AMD to go along with the 4000-series CPUs either, so what's out there is pretty much what those CPUs will go into, based on what I've been told by friends at the motherboard makers.

It's really tricky making suggestions on future hardware purchases when we're talking un-announced products though.


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## KKSlider1337 (Jun 7, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> RAM isn't going to change until we move to DDR5 (which might be in 2021 or 2022), so you can safely buy something now.
> If you're going Ryzen 3000 (obviously no-one knows about the 4000-series yet), go with at least 3600MHz memory with CAS16 latencies for best performance.
> 
> Right now there's no high demand for RAM, so prices aren't likely to change much either. However, due to a lot of other things than computers using NAND flash, indications are that prices of the actual flash memory is set to go up this year, it's not just clear when this will happen.
> ...



This is super helpful, thank you. I was looking at RAM and saw some Corsair 3200 C16 on Amazon at a decent price, but then I spotted reviews saying that with their Ryzen CPUs their PC wouldn't boot at 3200 and they had to lower speeds to 3000 or under. I didn't even know incompatibilities like that between CPUs and RAM were a thing. I'll take your advice and look at 3600 C16, and pay close attention to reviews. The 4000s aren't going to introduce more incompatibilities, are they?


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 7, 2020)

As long as it's not Corsair LPX modules if you're going for Ryzen, as a lot of people have had problems with those.
Not sure why, but I used to own a set myself and they would never work at over 3000MHz. 
In general it's not, but there's something going on with the LPX modules.
Other RAM from Corsair appears to work fine.
Personally I use these, which are quite affordable and perform well. 





						Viper Steel DDR4 Performance Memory | Best RAM For Gaming
					

Patriot Memory’s Viper Steel memory modules are designed with true performance in mind. Built for the latest Intel® and AMD™ platforms. Shop today.




					viper.patriotmemory.com
				




Well, first we have the 4000-series APUs which are out any time now, which are still Zen 2 based, but we don't know if AMD has made any changes to the memory controller. As for the 4000-series CPUs which are meant to be based on Zen 3, not much is known yet.


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## oxrufiioxo (Jun 8, 2020)

By then Rocket lake may be out and if you're prioritizing gaming intel might be the way to go especially for rock solid 144+ refresh rates. 

I'm not sure what games you're trying to play but currently the best gaming chip that isn't stupidly expensive is the 10600k but gpu wise averaging 144hz in games is gonna take at least a 2070 super and probably more than that. 

Whenever you do decide to pull the trigger make sure whatever you're using to compare you look at 1% lows. 

if you were gaming at 1440p/ultra settings the cpu you pick would matter a lot less and even something like a 3600 would be perfect at least until we get something that is 80-100% faster than a 2080 ti anyway.


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## KKSlider1337 (Jun 8, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> As long as it's not Corsair LPX modules if you're going for Ryzen, as a lot of people have had problems with those.
> Not sure why, but I used to own a set myself and they would never work at over 3000MHz.
> In general it's not, but there's something going on with the LPX modules.
> Other RAM from Corsair appears to work fine.
> ...



Ah yes, I think it was the LPX I was looking at that people had reported that issue on. I'll steer clear of those. 

Thanks for the recommendation, I've made a note of those Viper Patriots. Maybe I should sit tight for a bit - on one hand, if I asked for RAM for my birthday now it could save me money on the upgrade later this year but I probably shouldn't risk it in case the RAM I get isn't ideal for whichever CPU I end up getting. Though I don't know how common of an issue that is.


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## Hyderz (Jun 8, 2020)

usually end of the year because some mad sale, but i suspect this year might not have a good sale due to weakened economy around the world.
cpu - good time to buy now if you want intel/amd or wait just a little bit and get the amd cpu refresh 3900xt, 3800xt, 3600xt

gpu - wait for october when you get new amd/nvidia gpus


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## KKSlider1337 (Jun 8, 2020)

oxrufiioxo said:


> By then Rocket lake may be out and if you're prioritizing gaming intel might be the way to go especially for rock solid 144+ refresh rates.
> 
> I'm not sure what games you're trying to play but currently the best gaming chip that isn't stupidly expensive is the 10600k but gpu wise averaging 144hz in games is gonna take at least a 2070 super and probably more than that.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the input. To be fair, maybe I overemphasised how important a solid 144FPS is to me. It'd be nice, but not essential for every game by any means. I'd just like improved performance and visual fidelity overall - I play a wide variety of stuff from indies to AAA, single-player and multi. Oh, and it'd be good to have adaptive sync, as my 970 doesn't support it.

One aspect I didn't touch on before is that I'd like to be somewhat future-proofed for VR also. I currently use PSVR and obviously my current PC wouldn't be great for VR, but I'd consider getting a headset in the future. 

I'd never actually heard of the phrase '1% lows,' that's something for me to consider and look into.


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## dgianstefani (Jun 8, 2020)

Comet lake is best for gaming now, but lacks a couple of things like a new architecture (technically relevant, but practically not, since comet lake is still better than any Ryzen for gaming), but rocket lake will be better for gaming and productivity due to new architecture, plus niceties like PCIe 4 (relevant in maybe 2/3  years), and Zen3 will be strong too. 

I would either buy a z490 platform now, with a low end comet lake chip like 10600k, and upgrade to 11xxxk later. Or wait for Zen 3.


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## KKSlider1337 (Jun 8, 2020)

dgianstefani said:


> Comet lake is best for gaming now, but lacks a couple of things like a new architecture (technically relevant, but practically not, since comet lake is still better than any Ryzen for gaming), but rocket lake will be better for gaming and productivity due to new architecture, plus niceties like PCIe 4 (relevant in maybe 2/3  years), and Zen3 will be strong too.
> 
> I would either buy a z490 platform now, with a low end comet lake chip like 10600k, and upgrade to 11xxxk later. Or wait for Zen 3.



Thanks, this seems like solid advice. I wasn't aware of PCIe 4 before, having support for that would be good - I'm not the type to be constantly upgrading my PC, at least not with total overhauls, so future-proofing appeals to me.


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## dgianstefani (Jun 8, 2020)

If you want to future proof, get the 10700k instead if you're not planning on swapping out the 10600k when rocket lake is released. 8c/16t is future proof for next 5yr.


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## Deleted member 197986 (Jun 9, 2020)

Wait for developments after 2nm (30 years or so)


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## Space Lynx (Jun 9, 2020)

Hyderz said:


> usually end of the year because some mad sale, but i suspect this year might not have a good sale due to weakened economy around the world.
> cpu - good time to buy now if you want intel/amd or wait just a little bit and get the amd cpu refresh 3900xt, 3800xt, 3600xt
> 
> gpu - wait for october when you get new amd/nvidia gpus




AMD already announced Big Navi will be here in September. not october


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## Hyderz (Jun 9, 2020)

lynx29 said:


> AMD already announced Big Navi will be here in September. not october



but i think it will be announced in september, in terms of available stock might have to wait a bit


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## Space Lynx (Jun 9, 2020)

Hyderz said:


> but i think it will be announced in september, in terms of available stock might have to wait a bit



You underestimate Lisa Su, my young young padawan. Much to learn, you still have.


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## KKSlider1337 (Jun 9, 2020)

Hyderz said:


> but i think it will be announced in september, in terms of available stock might have to wait a bit



Yeah, makes sense. Either way, I think I should wait until around October anyway to find out all the different options that'll be available for CPUs and GPUs


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## JustAnEngineer (Jun 9, 2020)

When a brand-new CPU hits the market, it's usually safe to buy it on launch day, assuming that a decent motherboard is available.  With brand-new graphics cards, it's sometimes better to wait a month for the slightly cut-down version that performs within 10% of the top-of-the-line card but costs 20-25% less.  If you don't want to go with the reference board and cooler design, you'll have to wait another one and a half to two months after that for custom cards and coolers to appear.

If it's something that's going to be in high demand (and I'm certain that the new GPUs will be), then you sometimes pay less buying on launch day than you will a month later when Newegg's and Amazon's auto pricing adjustments have pushed prices up noticeably over the launch price.


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## KKSlider1337 (Jun 10, 2020)

JustAnEngineer said:


> When a brand-new CPU hits the market, it's usually safe to buy it on launch day, assuming that a decent motherboard is available.  With brand-new graphics cards, it's sometimes better to wait a month for the slightly cut-down version that performs within 10% of the top-of-the-line card but costs 20-25% less.  If you don't want to go with the reference board and cooler design, you'll have to wait another one and a half to two months after that for custom cards and coolers to appear.
> 
> If it's something that's going to be in high demand (and I'm certain that the new GPUs will be), then you sometimes pay less buying on launch day than you will a month later when Newegg's and Amazon's auto pricing adjustments have pushed prices up noticeably over the launch price.



Damn, thanks for this - I hadn't even thought about reference GPUs vs custom. That complicates matters a bit. Sorry, what did you mean by the slightly cut-down version? Are you referring to lower models e.g. the 3060 or 3070 vs the 3080?

I can now see the possibility of waiting until October for the CPU/mobo/RAM but sticking to my 970 and waiting a little longer still for the ideal GPU. Unless 2070s etc. have a good price drop at that time and I decide to just go for one of those.


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## milewski1015 (Jul 6, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> As long as it's not Corsair LPX modules if you're going for Ryzen, as a lot of people have had problems with those.
> Not sure why, but I used to own a set myself and they would never work at over 3000MHz.
> In general it's not, but there's something going on with the LPX modules.
> Other RAM from Corsair appears to work fine.
> ...



I would imagine those problems arise from the generally lower-quality bins on the modules for LPX.  While quite long, this video from Buildzoid is a nice informative watch: 








To summarize: for set and forget Zen 2, get the cheapest 3600 C16 kit you can find. For cheapskate overclockers, 3000 C15/3200 C16 Crucial Ballistix. Patriot Viper Steel 4400 for more serious overclockers. 

I personally run a 2x8 kit of 3000 C15 LPX. Actually had to get it replaced as one of the sticks from my first kit failed (but Corsair's advanced RMA policy made it basically a non-hassle). Definitely not the best kit in terms of performance though. I think I have it running at 3000 C14. After watching the BZ video I'm tempted to get myself some Ballistix, but like I mentioned in a thread about system upgrades, I'd probably be best served to just hold off for AM5/DDR5. The LPX kit is good enough for my purposes.


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## John Naylor (Jul 6, 2020)

Generally, wait until you are unhappy with the performance of the components you are using to accomplish the assigned tasks.  Before going on, hoping thats a 165Hz G-Sync monitor w/ ULMB as that gives you options worthy of new hardware.

Given the situation described, you have three  issues of concern:

1) New CPUs MoBos and GPUS coming before the Autumn / Winter holidays
2) Pandemic and trade situations (here in US anyway) have spiked prices as much as 20 - 40% as products are not moving and arriving at points of sale.
3) Will your anxiousness get the better of you ?  Being the 1st one on the block with new tech gives ya bragging rights but it also leaves you on the bleeding edge, dealing with immature BIOSs, 1st stepping bugaboos and significantly less chance of getting one of the top performing pieces of silicon.
4)  To a smaller extent, elections in US (and UK ?) may have impact on trade and tariffs, if applicable

Bugs will be caught during the 1st steppings; more during the 2nd.  Production line improvements / tweaks will mean more CPUs hitting the highest clocks.

Given the above, we have been advising our users to at least wait till late in the holiday shopping season..... tho at that point aan extra month or 2 pause may be warranted.

Speculating on what the relative performance and price of the new products will be by then is futile


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## blu3dragon (Jul 7, 2020)

Is your current RAM a 2x4gb or 1x8 configuration?
Adding 8Gb might solve the stutter and tide you over for a little while.  However, be aware that will need to be DDR3 RAM, which you won't be able to use with a new system.

Have you overclocked that 4770K?
If not, then you should... it should do 4GHz on all cores pretty easily and likely more depending on your cooling and luck of the chip draw.

At 4GHz all core, and with 16Gb RAM, your GPU will be the limiting factor most of the time.
For that, it is better to wait at this point for next gen Nvidia or AMD cards.


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Jul 9, 2020)

Upgrade the ram and gpu. Your processor can still chug for an additional two years


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