Ivy Bridge + Kepler: Match Made in Gaming Heaven?

[Leorwen]

I've been saving and waiting for a couple years to invest into a big desktop upgrade, and the timing of hardware and software releases this summer seems to coincide and present a nice opportunity to take the plunge.

Intel's Ivy Bridge chipset along with Nvidia's new Kepler architecture should both provide substantial performance improvements over their predecessors, and should be jointly available in mid May (I think).

With Guild Wars 2 (like it or not, its a pretty game and my guild will be playing it for sure) coming sometime this summer and Copernicus either towards the end of the year or early next (along with a slew of pretty attractive single-player options like BioShock Infinite) it seems like a pretty opportune time to have some cutting edge hardware.

I know some of you (Fozzik in particular) are pretty knowledgeable in the hardware spheres, so I'd love to tap your knowledge and see if you agree and/or have any reccomendations?

[Bossner]

From what I've seen personally, GW2 isn't going to need anything near cutting edge, so I wouldn't necessarily build it with that requirement in mind although we have been hearing about how amazing Copernicus is going to look so it's probably worth going that route anyway.

[Kurik Lein]

If you plan on doing WvWvW in GW2 I think having a great computer would be pretty beneficial while being able to keep everything on high. I don't know much about the new Kepler Architecture but I've only heard good things about it though I don't know how much it will cost.

[Leorwen]

I'm a very competitive PvP'er, so WvW is 80% of the reason I'm even playing GW2...to be honest I think their lore is crap, their progression model is crap, and their lack of challenging endgame PvE is crap, so I'm very much in it for the WvW and structured scenarios.

To that extent, you are absolutely right, spiky framerates can be a real killer in pvp. As far as cost goes, I've got a pretty decent job, and have been saving for a while. Gaming is my biggest hobby, so I can probably justify the cost as long as it's not excessively exorbitant.

[Bossner]

I'm a very competitive PvP'er, so WvW is 80% of the reason I'm even playing GW2...to be honest I think their lore is crap, their progression model is crap, and their lack of challenging endgame PvE is crap, so I'm very much in it for the WvW and structured scenarios.

To that extent, you are absolutely right, spiky framerates can be a real killer in pvp. As far as cost goes, I've got a pretty decent job, and have been saving for a while. Gaming is my biggest hobby, so I can probably justify the cost as long as it's not excessively exorbitant.

Plus you've been waiting awhile, no? I mean, that right there should justify it.