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Buy ghetto card and wait for next gen, or buy good card now

OS

OS

Lifer
Should I buy a 6200 ($125) and wait for next gen stuff, or just buy a 6800GT ($340) and be done with it for the next 2 years or so?

This is all AGP, but also for a computer I only use on weekends. I am a casual gamer.
 
Reason being, if you get a sub $150 card you're going to need to upgrade next year to play the new games. That'll be another $150. In essense you'll be paying the same price over two years for consistently average performance.

Getting a 6800gt this year will let you enjoy top knotch gaming this year and good gaming for most of 2006.
 
hmm, i guess i could do that. It just seems like if I'm already sinking 250, another 80-90 isn't that much more, so just get a 6800GT.
 
FuturePowerPC.com and GameVE.com have them at ~340. Newegg is at $365.

Also FuturePowerPC.com is selling the PNY version.
 
oh yeah another thing, I have a mediocre monitor. Some 17" mitsu diamondtron. It was a pimp $400 thing back in the day, but now it's on the shafty side.
 
Why didn't you say so 🙂. Don't think about getting that fancy GPU without getting a great monitor to show it off on! A good 19" CRT would work wonders for you and only be $100-$170.

I tried being cheap on the monitor "What's the difference". The picture quality when I got my 19" flat screen CRT blew my mind! I was on a 17" old style crt.
 
Originally posted by: Amplifier
Why didn't you say so 🙂. Don't think about getting that fancy GPU without getting a great monitor to show it off on! A good 19" CRT would work wonders for you and only be $100-$170.

I tried being cheap on the monitor "What's the difference". The picture quality when I got my 19" flat screen CRT blew my mind! I was on a 17" old style crt.
Click to expand...


Well, it's still a high quality flat 17", so it still looks good, it just doesn't have the viewable area of those big ass monitors these days.
 
It's not about viewable area as much as usable resolution. If you can get 1280x960 or 1280x1024 out of your 17" at a refresh rate high enough to keep your eyes from watering (85Hz for me), then a 6800GT won't disappoint. If you're stuck at 10x7 or 11x8, might as well save your money and limit yourself to a 6800 or 6600GT. Heck, even a plain 6600 that you OC the heck out of may be enough to tide you over.

Otherwise, the rumor is that ATi's next gen will hit around May/June. If it's 300+M transistors, as the Inq "reported" (*cough cough* 😉), then I'm expecting a big performance boost. Before that tranny count, sites like Hardware.fr were speculating at only a 30-50% performance hike. But 300+M transistors in June on 90nm low-k could make things interesting for nVidia.

Don't forget that a 6800GT appreciates read: may require) a good 350W PSU, so factor that into your price if you need to upgrade. The 6800 actually uses less power than a 9800P, and the 6600GT not much more, so you probably won't need to worry about your PSU with either.
 
There will always be a next generation, so waiting is pointless. However, it seems like this generation will be pretty short, so it might be good to wait. Soon mobo's will come with integrated dx9 graphics thanks to ATI, so getting a cheap hold out card won't be necessary anymore.
 
I ended up getting an EVGA 6800NU at CC for ~220.

This card . . . is freaking insane. It seems to unlock everything and on top of that, overclocks to 850+ on the memory. My monitor does 1280x960x85Hz, I keep increasing the resolution, features, filtering in Halo/Doom and the frame rate counter doesn't seem to change. It's almost like the card is laughing at my sad attempts to bring it down. 3dmark03 boots out on the sound test, but it still gives me 10433 3dmarks.

 
Buy a ghetto one now and go top notch tomorrow. Next cards will have 32 pipes. That means double the speed of todays top notch cards.
 
Originally posted by: Noob
Buy a ghetto one now and go top notch tomorrow. Next cards will have 32 pipes. That means double the speed of todays top notch cards.
Click to expand...

Normally I would recommend that, but if the OP is only on a 17" CRT, I don't think next-gen cards will really be necessary. On the other hand, my system (with a 6800GT) already feels slower than I'd like at 1680x1050....🙂

Edit: Note that he already made his decision too 😛
 
Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Originally posted by: Noob
Buy a ghetto one now and go top notch tomorrow. Next cards will have 32 pipes. That means double the speed of todays top notch cards.
Click to expand...

Edit: Note that he already made his decision too 😛
Click to expand...

Oh. I just replied right away without reading. 😀
 
Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
Hmm, Circuitcity.com has the EVGA for $249 after $50 rebate. Musta been a local special or something.
Click to expand...

yeah they had a 5 hr special where it was an extra 10% off.

 
Originally posted by: OS
woohoo 11120 3dmarks now, 390/870
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

I think that's pretty much what I get in 3dmark03 with my 6800GT (maybe mine is a bit over 12k...I really don't remember). You did say you unlocked the other four pipes, right? Not bad at all for $220. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Originally posted by: OS
woohoo 11120 3dmarks now, 390/870
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

I think that's pretty much what I get in 3dmark03 with my 6800GT (maybe mine is a bit over 12k...I really don't remember). You did say you unlocked the other four pipes, right? Not bad at all for $220. 🙂
Click to expand...

yeah, rivatuner said 16 pipes, 6 vertex. Good times.

 
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