Do the Math
Ameya Dalvi, Jan 17, 2008 1727 hrs IST
Are you sure that's an investment you are making? Think again!
A lot of acquaintances often approach me to suggest them a PC configuration that would last 4-5 years without the need for an upgrade. Understandably, they are willing to invest a premium amount for the fastest hardware, but I must say, it's for all the wrong reasons.
My advice is rather simple - no hardware out there is future-proof, irrespective of how powerful it may seem today. So there's absolutely no need to pay a hefty premium for the fastest components available, just to avoid an upgrade a couple of years down the line.
Buy the fastest, only if you really "need" that much processing power, or if you have enough money to splurge to simply flaunt the hot-stuff. Don't buy it thinking that you'll actually save money by not upgrading it for half a decade; that's like buying a diesel car hoping to save on the operating cost because diesel is cheaper. Now what's wrong with that, you may ask. Nothing, other than the fact that in all probability, you've already paid for the fuel you were intending to save your money on. Confused? Let me do some math for you.
Let's take an example of any B segment mid-sized car. The cost of the diesel version on an average is Rs. 1.2 lakhs higher than its petrol variant. The cost of petrol and diesel in Mumbai is roughly around Rs. 48 and Rs. 36, respectively. Let's consider the average fuel economy of the petrol car as 12 Kmpl, while that of the diesel version to be 25% higher at 15 Kmpl. Not considering the cost of spares and maintenance and other expenses, the operating cost per kilometer for the cars is Rs. 4 (petrol) and Rs. 2.4 (diesel), respectively. Thus, the diesel car will save you Rs. 1.6 per kilometer. So in order to justify the extra 1.2 Lakh, you paid upfront for the car, you will have to use the car for 120000/1.6 = 75,000 km to break even.
In other words, you will save on the operating cost, only if you use the car beyond 75,000 kilometers, else there are going to be no savings. Mind you, I have not taken into consideration the higher maintenance cost for diesel cars which will stretch the 75,000 km mark further.
To cite another example, this time from the hardware segment; let's go back to early 2006. The fastest graphics card back then was the Nvidia Geforce 7900GTX selling for roughly around 35K. The 7600GT back then was selling for almost 14K, it supported all the features that the 7900GTX did and was capable of handling most of games at playable frame rates. Today, the resale value for both is not much and neither support DirectX 10 (DX10). A Geforce 8800GT sells for around 14K today and is DX10 compliant.
Those who opted for the 7900GTX back then as a 4-year investment, spent 35K on it and won't be able to enjoy DX10 games today. On the contrary, those who bought the 7600GT back then and upgraded to an 8800GT now, did not miss on any of the DirectX 9 action over the past 2 years and now have a DX10 card that is clearly faster than the 7900GTX. All this at 20% lower cost. The same logic holds true for the future too.
Now, that's enough math for one day. The point I am trying to drive is that before you buy any piece of technology, you better have a good enough reason to buy that particular thing. Do look at the bigger picture and have a long-term plan in place, but don't try and plan too far ahead for a future that you cannot foresee.
USER COMMENTS
Put something new ... its been posted for yeas ....wt happen to you Ameya ,,, grow up
by anonymous, India, on Apr 23, 2008 01:56 PM, Report abuse Reply
Change the topic, its killing looking at the same topic in techtree from last 3 months.
by Akash, Mumbai, on Mar 11, 2008 02:00 PM, Report abuse Reply
yeah, now make it to 4 months.
by Rahul, hyderabad, on Apr 16, 2008 07:52 PM, Report abuse
by nitesh trivedi, mumbai, on Mar 25, 2008 06:34 PM, Report abuse Reply
Good job...the diesel car example really true...what with everyone opting for diesels over the better performing petrols...
by Srt, Mumbai, on Mar 24, 2008 05:41 AM, Report abuse Reply
This stupid article is for people with more money than sense. what follows is a quote from the article "Those who opted for the 7900GTX back then as a 4-year investment, spent 35K on it and won't be able to enjoy DX10 games today"
by ravi, Mumbai, on Mar 14, 2008 11:38 PM, Report abuse Reply
Guess Techtree doesnt pay you Ameya. You need more salary, B seg mid size petrol car, go and tell them directly. They will not fire you. Dont you think that your article is the core reason why all new tech stuff comes to india pretty late, coz we are not ready to purhase it.
by Rocks, Mumbai, on Jan 18, 2008 12:27 AM, Report abuse Reply
haha - funny. But seriously, Ameya has a point. Why would one want to buy "all the new tech stuff" as soon as it is released in the world? I think Indians are smart in this if they don't go for the hype. They wait for the reviews and then go for the purchase if it suits them. another reason is the money. New tech stuff costs more and again, may not really be required by the user. Thus, Indians provide a stable market for proven goods. I'm rather happy about it. I'm also happy about not being able to purchase whatever comes to the market.
by Kaushik Das, New delhi, on Feb 24, 2008 01:42 AM, Report abuse
I say dont buy anything... not even cloths.....Save money and then die.......!
by Krish82, Chennai, on Feb 26, 2008 04:02 PM, Report abuse
True, if its electronics .. just get what you badly need and dont try to invest in future ..
by mrr, hyd, on Feb 21, 2008 08:18 PM, Report abuse Reply
Extremely good piece of work. And your maths was near perfect, as new generation diesel cars of today requires the same maintainence as of petrol cars.
by Aashish Agarwal, Mumbai, on Feb 05, 2008 12:35 PM, Report abuse Reply
thanks chandra very much 4 ur reply and advice.
by Aashish Agarwal, Mumbai, on Feb 10, 2008 08:57 PM, Report abuse
d equations pretty simple to me. u buy depending on wht res u r gonna play games on n not how long u want to play games for. so if u r satisfied playing at 720p den a midrange card like 8600Gt is good enough. den every yr u upgrade to d new midrange card. dis way u will have d best gaming experience and will be hell lot cheaper dan buying a 2 8800 Ultra right now. in 2-3 yrs time u will have midrange cards dat u can buy for 5-6K which will be faster dan 8800Ultras in SLi. cost of gaming is directly proportional to d resolution at which u want to play them
by debamit, charlotte, on Feb 09, 2008 04:54 AM, Report abuse Reply
i completely agree with the you Ameya, its doesn't make sense spending tens of thousands of rupees on GPUs, its gonna become obsolete within a year or maybe a few months, and there will be a new game which would require more processing power,and then you regret your old investment, and many cases ppl buy higher end gpus only to get a few fps more which doesnt make sense either, all we need to do is make the right decision based on our needs withouth burning a hole in our pockets
by woozydevotee, mumbai, on Jan 17, 2008 06:11 PM, Report abuse Reply
Hey just a sec..thats not wot ameya means. He hasnt said dont buy expensive gpu's. He is saying something more sensible. Buy what u need now. dont buy for future. so if u want to play high end games which require a high end gpu right now and u can afford it, then go ahead wit it. but dont buy thinking u cud play higher end games in 'future'. Kaizan...just in time managment..
by madjack, mumbai, on Feb 06, 2008 02:59 PM, Report abuse
Hey guys, please suggest me whether I should buy a DVD writer (SATA) with a converter to connect with my IDE motherboard or a normal IDE DVD writer? I am confused since I think at a later date I may upgrade to CORE2Duo from my present P4 and then the IDE writer will be a waste. I know now a days there is a single IDE port available in SATA boards but still. What do you all say?
by Aashish Agarwal, Mumbai, on Feb 05, 2008 12:41 PM, Report abuse Reply
As you rightly said, holding on to a converter (SATA to IDE) for a few days is way better than buying an IDE device and later converting it to SATA (that would not make your transfer speeds faster. It will just ensure that your device fits into the SATA port) or using it in the (almost obselete) IDE port of the new spanking mobo (this way you use up an extra resource. You are better off disabling such legacy ports in the BIOS). SATA is faster and it is highly recommended to buy such future-proof devices.
by Chandra, Chennai, on Feb 06, 2008 01:35 PM, Report abuse
Be Happy with what you have, be it a Rs 5000 Graphics card or a Rs35000 one, be it a petrol or a diesel crdi-Thats more important.Money will come and go but the age to play games and drive fast will not be the same.I am not much interested in gaming now than i was before i wished i just had a faster card then than now.Now i have the money but...
by Krishna, Chennai, on Jan 21, 2008 02:58 PM, Report abuse Reply
by su30mki, Delhi, on Jan 24, 2008 11:48 AM, Report abuse
yes ,...very true..we lost the ZEAL of playing n ENJOYING game as we grow old
by satyanjoy, ahmedabad, on Jan 30, 2008 06:45 PM, Report abuse
by WilderNess, Pune, on Jan 23, 2008 02:59 PM, Report abuse Reply
yes a very valid point and has hit the nail on its head.
by jayaram, mumbai, on Jan 21, 2008 03:33 PM, Report abuse Reply
Be Happy with what you have, be it a Rs 5000 Graphics card or a Rs35000 one, be it a petrol or a diesel crdi-Thats more important.Money will come and go but the age to play games and drive fast will not be the same.I am not much interested in gaming now than i was before i wished i just had a faster card then than now.Now i have the money but...i dont mean to get fastest but there are plenty of options now.
by krishna, chennai, on Jan 21, 2008 02:55 PM, Report abuse Reply
SO very true. with a good example. i had come across the graphic card comparison while i talked to fren of mine who is into graphics. I would like to add another component to the example of the car. We also need to consider the time factor, as it would take us about 2-3 years to complete 75,000km mark which is the break even point....and two years is too long a time by which there are another 100 more efficient cars on the road... thne the resale vale...and the repairs and....
by Satish Poojari, Las Vegas, on Jan 19, 2008 04:57 AM, Report abuse Reply
Technology is ever evolving. Any electronic equipment that you buy today gets better within 6 - 12 months. Buying a laptop/PC depends on the budget that you have in mind, the configuration or the kind of applications or nature of work that you are going to do on the device. Bottom line is that nobody can suggest a laptop/PC. One can provide reviews but it's to the end user to judge what he wants.
by Ranganath.K, Bangalore, on Jan 18, 2008 02:17 PM, Report abuse Reply
ameya so sorry to know that someone beat you up yet again, (judging by your picture) get well soon.
by rohon nag, navi mumbai, on Jan 18, 2008 04:16 AM, Report abuse Reply
well said ameya. agree with u completly on this...once again a pleasure reading...
by Vishal_Kadakia, mumbai, on Jan 17, 2008 09:10 PM, Report abuse Reply
by > ^ r K, Mumbai, on Jan 17, 2008 07:37 PM, Report abuse Reply
by hardnet3, mumbai, on Jan 17, 2008 06:04 PM, Report abuse Reply
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