Advice for video card late march/early april?

[Caanon]

Other than the fact that the 9700pro is the best out now, and that the new reviews for the GeforceFX don't seem all that great, I haven't really been following what is going to come out in the near future, or what Nvidia's/ATI's plans are.

So I want to upgrade in about late march/early april and get pretty much the best card I can at a decent price(under 300, but I'm flexible). Although all my past cards have been Nvidia(and 3dfx before that) with the current situation I'm considering a ATI 9700pro. What I basically want to know is if there is something else I should consider, or something else coming out soon after that time I should wait for.

I have pretty good speed now, but want good Image quality/AA/AF etc along with speed.

Maybe some relevant info about system/games:
Future games I will be playing:
Doom3
Star wars galaxies

current:
Playing through RTCW single player right now
America's army
JK2 stuff like that.

system:
p4 2.53@2.85
512mb @ DDR400 cas2
right now I have a GF4 4200/128mb at 305/575mhz (use 2x QC AA)

Thanks

 

[cmdrdredd]

the 9700Pro is an excellent card and will serve you well. If you wish to get the top of the line in march then you'll be getting the R350 most likely. If you want to save a few bucks go with the 9700Pro

 

[SickBeast]

the rv-350 MAY be out by then, but little is known about it aside from the fact that it will be 0.13 micron and more of a budget card.

if it were me i would get a 9700 non-pro, unless something more interesting is out by then.

also keep in mind that nvidia will be releasing some mainstream cards based on the gffx. i'm pretty sure you'll want to go with ati at that time tho.

 

[Caanon]

oh also....how well do 9700pros tend to overclock? pretty well? or not worth doing?

 

[cmdrdredd]

well, some people can get the core to 400Mhz up from 325Mhz and the memory has been clocked up from the default by about 60Mhz or more

 

[AnAndAustin]

Things could be very different come April. GF-FX will easily be out in final hw with final drivers by then and may (or may not) improve over the tiny lead it currently has over Rad9700PRO, at least prices of both GF-FX & Rad9700PRO will be confirmed. Rad9700PRO using a faster core clock (400mhz?) and DDRII (800mhz?) should also be out by then and should be much faster again. nVidia should have at least released details of the 'budget' GF-FX line but these will obviously perf below a Rad9700PRO. Having various GF-FX out if not Rad9700-DDRII should make the current King, Rad9700PRO much cheaper and that will probably be the one to get. Rad9700PRO like all 'top of their technology' (eg GF4TI4600, GF3TI500, Rad8500, Rad9000PRO) will never show the kind of o/c'ing gains that the lower cards can do, but you are guaranteed a high minimum perf and in the 9700PRO's case free & easy o/c'ing thanks to ATI not locking the clocks.