3dfx voodoo 5... buy now or wait?

[kendogg]

Well just a few days ago i did a price check on pricewatch.com and it was listed around 130~ today the cheapest listing is 116 + 10 for shipping so around 126. Prices seem to be dropping everyday... Should I make a purchase on a V5 now or wait till the next generation of cards come out?

 

[Hue]

From what most sources are saying, it will be atleast 2 months before the GeForce3 will be available for the PC in any decent numbers, and ATI's next card isn't due out until a couple months after that. So I'm not sure that waiting for the next gen will be a factor for you, unless you are willing to wait that long. If the prices keep falling each week though, then you can hold out as long as you can to save more.

You just have to ask yourself how long are you willing to wait in order to save a few bucks, and at what point are you ready to take the plunge and give your gaming a boost.

 

[conlan]

kendogg.... im in the same boat as you and as fast as it is dropping , im gonna wait awhile and see just how far it drops. also i want to buy from a reputable company , have you seen the resellerratings for some of these places that are sellin it for the lowest price?? pretty spooky. im gonna wait till axiontechs price falls to about where the others are now. hope this helps.

 

[Deeko]

If you're willing to wait, Id' say go until the NV20 is released. It's probably not gonna go that much lower though, so getting it now wouldn't be too bad either.

 

[RoboTECH]

for $116, may as well grab one now. that's pretty impressive.

 

[TravisBickle]

wow yeah, are you waiting for a $50 rebate with Kellogg's cornflakes tokens?

 

[Leon]

Sure, Voodoo (5) boards is still a great value.

Leon

 

[Dark4ng3l]

Well the problem I see is that the longer you wait the harder it will be to find voodoo5's since they are out of production.

 

[vlieps]

It would be stupid to wait for something. Soon You wont be able to get one at all. And this is in my opinion one of the best cards. Cheap price, best 2D, excellent 3D and FSAA. You can, of course wait for the Geforce3 but do not forget the price.
I suggest You grab it. I have it and am happy with it.

 

[12Guage]

Been a 3dfx fan since the begining. But I gotta question your reasoning. Why would you buy a video card that has no future driver support? I own a V5 5500, bought it last summer. The existing drivers are rock solid in Win98 and Win2 K and the 2D and 3D are top notch. 4X AA is nothing less than breathtaking in Mechwarrior 4.

If you would have asked 6 months ago, I would have said this is the card to get. Good all around performance and excellent visuals. Today, it's a dead end card (sad, but true). Why waste the money?

I opted for the Radeon 64 vivo. The 2D and 3D are very nice but there are driver issues. I put a GeForce 2 MX in my kid's computer. It's fast, but the visual quality is not as nice as the VooDoo or ATI.

It's your call dude, but if you're looking for a cheap upgrade, get a 32meg Radeon or an MX card.

BTW, I put the V 5 in my other kid's computer. He's playing Turok 1 at 4X AA and can't believe his eyes.

 

[kendogg]

Thanks for the replies... even though 3dfx has gone under and there is no future driver support how bad can this really be? I had a Radeon 32mb ddr and I have had nothing but problems on my abit ka7, athlon system despite the superb 2d image quality the 3d performance wasn't up to par. That was my first experience with an ATi product and will be the last.

 

[XGamer]

Personaly, I wouldnt want any 3dfx card : /. Geforce2's are much faster.

 

[Plester]

get one. it will be a collectors item soon.

 

[Dark4ng3l]

I dont know about voodoo5 drivers but the latest v3 drivers are top notch(never had any problem with anything while using them for like 3 months, maybe more)

 

[tigger80]

depends on the operating system you uses, radeon sucks in drivers, and NVidia cards are stable but bad image quality in all OS. The voodoo5 still have great drivers and it doesn't really need new drivers since the latest will do. And the voodoo5 can be had at a great price. i heard x3dfx.com is still updating the drivers

 

[agrall]

Actually, x3dfx did release a new set of drivers...but that's probably it. No more. They said that they need to take the company in a new direction, as they cannot make any money off of releasing drivers for a product they do not make any money on...

I would be strongly considering this card... (still am thinking about it...) but I'm not sure I want a card that will be worth zilch in the near future...

 

[RoboTECH]

"NVidia cards are stable but bad image quality in all OS."

I'm sorry, but that is a ridiculous statement. "bad image quality" is wrong, just plain wrong.

2d image quality? Okay, it's pretty bad, but it's 3d image quality is excellent. It's 16-bit isn't as good as 3dfx's, and its 32-bit isn't quite as good as the Radeon's, but it still has excellent image quality.

Let's be real here people, all 3 of the "big 3" are excellent cards. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, but each "weakness" is only relative to its competitors, not overall.

 

[WindBoy2000]

remember a card is only good as its driver support.