No Sandy Bridge yet - what now?

[ICIT2LOL]

Am itching to do a build (the 1st) and was going to do one with a Sandy Bridge CPU to compare with my son's AMD "Beast".
Now it seems waiting till April for the board to be fixed but just want to get on with something.
Any ideas on an Intel CPU that comes reasonably close to the SB specs -i5 2500 (and price) so I can get going. I know that it will probably mean having to get a decent graphics card but that's life eh?
Just an average user wanting to build something with a bit of grunt and perhaps a bit of overkill to experiment with. I would also like to have something that isn't going to be obsolete and difficult to get parts for say in the next 2-3 years.

 

[GeneO]

i5 or i7 previous generation P55 or P56 series chipset. But I would wait if I were you, especially if you plan to overclock - the SB appear to run cooler and can be clocked higher than their predecessors.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok might have to wait

Ok Gene I suppose it is better to wait although it's going to seem like an eternity.

The O/C I am not into that stuff - leave it for the young blokes just in it for performance without having to go that far.

Suppose I could build a cheapie (say around $400) in the meantime to get the "feel" of it eh? Hmmmm perhaps even check out the monitor / peripherals with it as well.

 

[SlackerITGuy]

Not so fast...

Intel's fixed chipsets to ship as early as next week | ZDNet

 

[GeneO]

Those likely will go to replace faulty ones. MB manufacturers have to turn the MB around too. But it sounds promising.

What do you mean cheapie? You can't build much for $400. e,g
i3 $100
PSU $70
MB $100
disk $80
MEM $60
case $60
misc $50
----------
$520

Unless you can find a bundle on sale at new egg or something.

Why not spend some time investigating. If your bound to get something now, get a good PSU from a reputable manufacturer, a good case, good hard drives. Those you can reuse. However, if you later want to go to Sandy Bridge it would be new MB, new processor, and new memory - fairly expensive proposition.

but if you are not into overclocking or the extreme, perhaps a good (previous generation) i3 or i5 suit you fine.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

The cheapie

Yeh I know Gene I could get away with a real cheap build but as Slacker has just pointe out the boadds might be ready sooner.

Plus what you said re getting the good basics first make sense as I cannot afford the whole sheebang at the moment anyway. Thanks mate that's such a good piece of advice for an impetuous and impatient old fart like me lol!!

Plus like so many of you blokes in here you are very patient and understanding unlike some of other forum members at times.