I'm planning on buying a completely new system, starting from scratch. I'm afraid I don't have the time and inclination to build one myself :oops:, so I'll probably just buy from one of the big vendors.

I'd be looking at getting something along the lines of a 3GHz Pentium 4, 1GB Ram, Radeon 9800 Pro, 100GB HD. I'll be using it for both work and play. I'm particularly looking forward to all the big game titles this year.

However, I'm wondering just what impact all these new technologies are going to have and weather I need to wait for them before taking the plunge.

Do I need to wait for PCI Express? Do I need to go for a SATA HD? What about BTX? New graphics cards and memory?

Will all these things be compatible with my system, or would I be buying into a dead end? Is now a good time to buy or should I hold out for a while.

I think u should wiat a little more.But on the other hand when the new things will be out you will be asking yourself the same.Cause every 6 months something new comes out.

you can buy a great system... but i would wait for 64 bit processors, btx, and the new graphic cards.

Not really, as far as graphics cards go nothing new has come since the 9700 Pro.

Yes PCI express is the problem, but ask yourself can you hold yourself until then? If the PCI express card has release would you be able to afford it?
That is the big question cuz always keep everything up to date is quite imposible.

Unless you have truckloads of money. In which case you should be browsing this place

a agree to Kale....anytime u buy a system, 2 weeks later it costs only the half and something new came out.

just get this one ...
SATA is cool but its not essential
PCIX ... na thats a bit too early and won't bring that much ... remeber AGP Overclocking result in zero performance profit
BTX is basically just a new sorting of hardware not something totall awesome or impressive
memory is OK, too ... there is DDR 500 and so one but its not that faster since it always results in lower timings ...
the PC ur planning to buy will run any game up to now (I give shit about AA) you will have fun with that PC quite a while !

Thing is, PCIX will have better cards on. Might not be much of an improvement over AGP, but the new cards will go on that - much like the switch from PCI to AGP.

i want to upgrade, too
but i´m waiting for ISA XP !!

Yes i agree with KillerKebab. just like the PCI to AGP. :beer:

but those new cards can just release on AGP as on PCIX ... remember the difference between AGP4x and 8x is maybe 0,1 to 1% and remember PCIX is basically SLOWER then AGP PCIX 16x is the first to be faster really interesting it gets with 32x (which will be release in quite a big while)
the only card that really could make use of PCIX are RAID controllers and RAMDrives

Problem is, even if there is no difference, companies just won't create cards for older platforms. That costs them money, so the high-end cards will be reserved for PCIX...

but not in the next days ... if ya tell someone to wait in PC buiseness you can't go further then 1 month ... and till PCIX arrives it will take much more then only one ... AGP will rest for a very big while

agreed----AGP was/is a good standard and it will not go so far