Anand says don't buy an expensive video card before April/May.

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

What's a 64 bit video card?

A POS budget offering that is only good for 2D applications- the cheapest FX5200 boards as an example. I don't think that that should have actually said a 64bit vid card, the R9700 and up and the FX5900 and up are 256bit boards.

That wasn't the context that Madrat was using 64bit. At least I don't think so. It sounded more to me like he thought it took some special hardware to make the card compatible with 64bit CPU's, which didn't make any sense.

 

[jbond04]

Originally posted by: Pariah
What's a 64 bit video card?

64 bit color

 

[MadRat]

64-bit color supporting 64-bit OS's is what I meant. :beer::beer:

 

[sd]

Originally posted by: mastertech01

Originally posted by: sd
IMHO, don't buy an expensive card now or later.

Well actually you should ALWAYS buy an expensive video card...... when they are no longer expensive.. Its a blast to test drive the ones people are throwing out the door after they run 3DMARK a couple hundred times for a fraction of retail.

right on! exactly what I meant.

 

[sandorski]

I read somewhere, about 2-3x the prformance gains with the next gen cards. However, I don't recall if this was across the board or for just certain features. At anyrate, I'm not planning on a new vidcard for awhile, maybe towards the Fall.

 

[UlricT]

are we gonna see 64-bit color on this? I don't think so, coz nothing on the horizon seems to need it...

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: sandorski
I read somewhere, about 2-3x the prformance gains with the next gen cards. However, I don't recall if this was across the board or for just certain features. At anyrate, I'm not planning on a new vidcard for awhile, maybe towards the Fall.

Marketing would like you to think "double".

However, the 'hints' that are appearing here and there points to some impressive improvement. By then - we'll see the 9800s drop in price and have to decide if we want the latest and greatest for $400-500 or 2nd best for sub $200 . . . also very very interesting to see what nVidia is offering (not as much pre-hype as years past).

 

[Pocatello]

So this expensive videocard or cards that is coming out April/May can render life-like animation? Or does it cook a good breakfast?
Another rule that I usually tend to ignore, wait for the game to be on the shelve first then buy the videocard, and forget the hype aka Half Life 2 in September 2003. By the time HL2 comes out, I bet you can get a Radeon 9800 Pro for under $200, I paid $250 for it in Oct 03 (a very good deal back then).

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: sandorski
I read somewhere, about 2-3x the prformance gains with the next gen cards. However, I don't recall if this was across the board or for just certain features. At anyrate, I'm not planning on a new vidcard for awhile, maybe towards the Fall.

What I think they really meant was that PS2.0 would run 2-3 times faster

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: biostud666

Originally posted by: sandorski
I read somewhere, about 2-3x the prformance gains with the next gen cards. However, I don't recall if this was across the board or for just certain features. At anyrate, I'm not planning on a new vidcard for awhile, maybe towards the Fall.

What I think they really meant was that PS2.0 would run 2-3 times faster

Could be, makes the most sense anyway.

 

[Darkhawk28]

I guess this GF3 will hae to last another few months

 

[Darkhawk28]

I guess this GF3 will hae to last another few months

 

[Darkhawk28]

I guess this GF3 will hae to last another few months

 

[merlocka]

How long will the GF3 have to last?

Anyway, it's good to hear that S3 will finally be releasing DeltaChrome in April/May

 

[nycdude]

Originally posted by: Boonesmi

Originally posted by: Pocatello
I never buy a videocard that is over $250.

gezz thats still over my budget

the most ill ever spend is between $100 and $150

Same here.

 

[Sideswipe001]

Well the last card I bought was my 9700 Pro (about a month after it came out, paid around $320 -but then again it only "cost" me $250, since I sold my GeForce3 to help pay for it). It's been a good long run with this card, but when the PCI-Express ones come, It will be time to make the 64 bit jump and get me an A64 and a PCI-Express video card. DDR2 can wait.

 

[Maverick]

Originally posted by: Sideswipe001
Well the last card I bought was my 9700 Pro (about a month after it came out, paid around $320 -but then again it only "cost" me $250, since I sold my GeForce3 to help pay for it). It's been a good long run with this card, but when the PCI-Express ones come, It will be time to make the 64 bit jump and get me an A64 and a PCI-Express video card. DDR2 can wait.

I'm in the exact same boat as you...same story. Sold a GF3 for an ATI 9700 Pro and haven't seriously looked at upgrading the vid card since. I doubt I'll ever get to keep another card as long as I've kept this one.

 

[AnMig]

I must say I love my 9500NP softmod----->9700. This has got to be my best bang for the buck video card purchase. It might actually last me 2 years.

I hope they offer something similar with the next batch of cards.

I usually wait for a 30-50% increase in speed before I deem it worthy to upgrade my video card.

Voodoo 3--> geforce 2mmx (this was my lemon)--->ATI radeon 32mb sdr (hacked to ddr)---->8500------->9500 NP (softmod 9700)--------> ?


peace

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: nycdude

Originally posted by: Boonesmi

Originally posted by: Pocatello
I never buy a videocard that is over $250.

gezz thats still over my budget

the most ill ever spend is between $100 and $150

Same here.

Well, you get what you pay for... A $200-250 RADEON 9800 Pro is going to smoke a $100-150 RADEON 9600 Pro. Obvioulsy, if you get the absolute top of the line card from either nVIDIA or ATI, you get the fastest cards, but your bang for the buck is seriously reduced. I personally don't set a hard limit to what I'm willing to pay for any component - it's all a matter of what I want, what I can afford at the time, and what kind of deals can be found.

 

[XBoxLPU]

$200 is usually my budget for a video card

paid $70 for Kyro 2
$180 for GF3
$180 for GF4

but I did spend $325 on an ATI 9700 Pro over a year ago. I still have no need to upgrade. This card is awesome

 

[Zarick]

I get so frustrated with this.. everytime I get to the point I have money to upgrade everyone says..wait for the new tech just a few months away.. so here I still sit two years later with my 1.2ghz ahtlon, 512k a pc133 and a ti500.. and now people are once again saying.. wait wait...

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Zarick
I get so frustrated with this.. everytime I get to the point I have money to upgrade everyone says..wait for the new tech just a few months away.. so here I still sit two years later with my 1.2ghz ahtlon, 512k a pc133 and a ti500.. and now people are once again saying.. wait wait...

Well, you have to learn how to wait. Like right now is a good time to wait; in a few months just about everything will be replaced with something newer/better, at which point you can buy that high-end upgrade. Last year however was not a good time to wait; once the GeForce FX and the P4C went on sale, there was no point in waiting other than price drops.

 

[Zarick]

And how many of the new tech items will be able to be had for a budget upgrade?

 

[dullard]

Zarick:

1) This discussion is really focused on the high end - expensive - video cards. There could be multiple reasons why Anand mentioned this. It could be a drastic increase in performance on the high end, it could be a drastic price drop on the high end, or it could be the next great game won't run well even on today's high end cards. None of those reasons will have a significant impact on the low end (budget cards).

2) If I had what you have, I'd feel no reason to need an upgrade - you can run everything fine but you might have to turn off some of the bells and whistles. So waiting a bit probably won't hurt you. However that is always a personal opinion, yours will vary from mine.

3) I think you are waiting improperly. People post every day with your same complaint: "something is always coming thus I'll sit here forever and never buy". That is the wrong attitude to use - you are chasing a moving target that will never be in your reach. Here is what I do: (A) I determine what component I want that will make me very happy. (B) I determine the price I am willing to pay for that component. (C) If that current price is under the price I set, I buy immediately - if not I wait until the price on THE COMPONENT I WANT drops to the price I set. There is one and only one exception: if a price drop is certain (not just a rumor) to come in a short time (a few weeks or less) then I'll wait and save the money. Do not wait on rumors and do not wait months on end hoping that something might happen. Note the part I highlighted - that is a fixed target that I buy when it is affordable. You seem to have a moving target - always wanting the top of the line and with each new release you change what you want to match the new top of the line. But you want it at a budget price - it'll never happen.

 

[Zarick]

good point.