Hey all, I know there's lots of questions about GPUs here, but in doing lots of research, I just keep coming back to this...
Would it be really silly to buy a Radeon x1950XT at this point? I want a very good GPU, but do not want to spend more than $250. I have an Asus P5B deluxe, which to my knowledge supports crossfire, but not SLI. I do not plan on moving to Vista for at least a year, unless something changes and many many apps stop offering XP support (not likely - all I know of is Halo 2, which is way old news anyway - I already played the crap out of it on Xbox 2 years ago).
I've heard great things about the Nvidia 8800s, but they're still a bit expensive... any news on new Radeon cards? If I get the 1950XT, am I looking at a useless card in a year? Is it expected that the lower-end 8800s will drop to the $250 mark when the new ATI cards come?
I know a lot of this is speculative, and also subjective, but I'm just looking for your opinions.
"The Geforce 8600 Ultra supports 64 Stream processors and works at 500 MHz core and 1400 MHz memory. It has 256 Mbit memory controller and 256 or 512 MBs of memory. This depends of the Vendor specific designs. Its estimated retail price is suppose to settle around $179 but we recon it will sell for 20 more."
Since you're not upgrading to Vista for quite some time, it's not foolish at all. The X1950XT will still be a good card for quite some time yet, and if you're not upgrading to Vista, you won't need to worry about DirectX10 features. The 320MB 8800GTS is also a very tempting offer, and if it comes out at its promised price point, that will indeed be a very nice purchase. As for the new ATI cards, we haven't seen anything solid yet, so its hard to plan out. If you want to buy this card right now, the X1950XT isn't a bad way to go. If you can wait a bit, a DirectX 10 card is a better option though.
even if you're not gonna upgrade to vista for a while, these cards will support DX9, so with 48 stream processors, they are theoretically more powerful than the 7900 GTX, minus the 512 MB VRAM.
When is there a good time to buy graphics cards? None really, only when you absolutely need one. Has or is there going to be any time that you'll feel safe about your purchase like in the processor market, with the outstanding Core2 duo being a reason to upgrade, knowing that you won't need to upgrade any time soon.
I was in the exact same position as you except i was going to upgrade to vista (Which i've done). So i decided not to spend too much on a directx 9 card and wait for directx 10 market to mature abit before making my big purchase. So i chose to go with BFG 7900GS instead. Great card and seems to be handling all the games fine
How would it compare (do you think) to the x1950 - nevermind DX10, let's just compare apples to apples - so in raw DX9 gaming, how do you think the 8600 will compare? Is it normal for the next-gen mid-range card to out-do the previous gen top (or near-top) range card? What about in other applications (like 3D modeling or GPU accelerated plugins)?
I suppose I should add to this that I won't be needing to go over 1280x1024 with this card (hopefully the next one, though!)... and I don't need to buy RIGHT now, but within the next few weeks definitely.
Thanks for all of your input already, I wasn't expecting this much this fast - you guys rock!
When is there a good time to buy graphics cards? None really, only when you absolutely need one. Has or is there going to be any time that you'll feel safe about your purchase like in the processor market, with the outstanding Core2 duo being a reason to upgrade, knowing that you won't need to upgrade any time soon.damageisking
I generally agree with this statement, but with the release of Vista and the upcoming release of DX10 (and with the 8800 out and 8600 1 month out), I think this is a good time to wait just a little bit. Vista and DX10 will be with us for a long, long time, and if waiting 30 days can get you a DX10 capable card, i would do it.
[QUOTE="ZBoater"] I generally agree with this statement, but with the release of Vista and the upcoming release of DX10 (and with the 8800 out and 8600 1 month out), I think this is a good time to wait just a little bit. Vista and DX10 will be with us for a long, long time, and if waiting 30 days can get you a DX10 capable card, i would do it. The 8600 is due out in 30 days? Then I'd definitely wait, scratch what I said earlier.
I still can't decide. While the 8600 sounds nice, anyone have any speculation as to how it will compare to the x1950xt for DX9 at 1280x1024? Really I don't plan to go to Vista for some time, and by then bigger and better (and cheaper) DX10 cards will likely be out. I really like the idea of HDR and AA simultaneous that the x1950 offers - and with the rebate at NewEgg it is only $219 right now. So what besides DX10 will the 8600 offer me? Why should I wait if DX10 is not in the picture?
I still can't decide. While the 8600 sounds nice, anyone have any speculation as to how it will compare to the x1950xt for DX9 at 1280x1024? Really I don't plan to go to Vista for some time, and by then bigger and better (and cheaper) DX10 cards will likely be out. I really like the idea of HDR and AA simultaneous that the x1950 offers - and with the rebate at NewEgg it is only $219 right now. So what besides DX10 will the 8600 offer me? Why should I wait if DX10 is not in the picture?
BihgPoppah
The 8600U should also be able to do HDR+AA at the same time,and the 8600U has more shaders so that will increase performance as well so just get a 8600U,even if you're gonna use DX 9.
How about the 1st generation-factor? Since the 8600U is a first-generation (or 1.5 generation if you wanna count the 8800 as its own gen) is anyone concerned about buggy drivers? I'm not really the type who is going to want to fiddle with too many settings - I'd really like it to just work. Does anyone know if there's a history of buggy driver/performance with brand new technology in this area? What about the fact that they are DX10 cards, so pretty much designed for Vista? I dn't plan to use Vista, so can I expect the XP drivers to be solid and well-supported?
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