Buying a new 6800/X800 means it will become useless in a year or two?

[ForceCalibur]

Lately, I've been reconsidering my decision to get a 6800GT right when it comes out. Why? Because it's going to be an AGP card.

Now I don't know how long it will take for the AGP port to be phased out, but it doesn't seem like its going to be longer than 1 or 2 years even. So that means that If I ever decided to upgrade to one of those future killer rigs (I dont know, Dual CPU, Dual Core, Dual PCi-E GPU ala Alienware ALX, DDR2, BTX, 64 bit etc etc), my 6800GT will become unusable. Best I could do is sell it to someone who still has an aging AGP system.

Anyone else have this consideration? OR any hard information on how long it will take AGP to phase out (if its like 4 years, I wouldn't care at all).

Right now, My rig cna use an upgrade, but it still runs everything just fine and I don't like spending money

But I suppose I could be safe and go with a socket 939 athlon 64 system with PCI-express and buy a native pci-express 6800GT/X800XT.

 

[Genx87]

By time you upgrade to anything serious the card itself wont be something worth keeping just because of the performance. Not because it uses an AGP port.

1-2 years is an eternity. Compare a 6800 Ultra to a GF4 4600 and that is the difference in GPU performance you can probably expect in 2 years when you compare a 6800GT to a 8800 or NV60.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Lately, I've been reconsidering my decision to get a 6800GT right when it comes out. Why? Because it's going to be an AGP card.

Now I don't know how long it will take for the AGP port to be phased out, but it doesn't seem like its going to be longer than 1 or 2 years even. So that means that If I ever decided to upgrade to one of those future killer rigs (I dont know, Dual CPU, Dual Core, Dual PCi-E GPU ala Alienware ALX, DDR2, BTX, 64 bit etc etc), my 6800GT will become unusable. Best I could do is sell it to someone who still has an aging AGP system.

Anyone else have this consideration? OR any hard information on how long it will take AGP to phase out (if its like 4 years, I wouldn't care at all).

Right now, My rig cna use an upgrade, but it still runs everything just fine and I don't like spending money

But I suppose I could be safe and go with a socket 939 athlon 64 system with PCI-express and buy a native pci-express 6800GT/X800XT.

won't be useless.. but definately won't be "top of the line".. it would perhaps ba a low-mid range card by then...

 

[ForceCalibur]

Totally wrong. A 9700 PRo which is MORE than 2 years old is one of the BEST cards out right now.

Looking at how development of cards go and cycles:

We should expect to Geforce 6900 (NV45) (a new core, same architecture, same pipes, faster memory, faster clocks): maybe 10-20% improvement over the 6800 series. PCI-express ofcourse
X890 (R480): Likely to be a slight revision of X880, but nothing major. The ONE thing that might surprise us is if ATI comes out with R500 within the next year, and considering the 2X performance over previous generation cards, I HIGHLY doubt that the R500 will boost performance by that much AGAIN. I bet it will be a good 25-40% though, based on new architecture, PS3, etc. And again, purely PCI-express.

 

[ronnn]

Very good point. A lot really depends on if PCI express becomes the new standard and how long it lasts.

 

[T9D]

If you can drop that much money on an alienware or something why would you bother to even want a 1 or 2 year old card?

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Totally wrong. A 9700 PRo which is MORE than 2 years old is one of the BEST cards out right now.

Looking at how development of cards go and cycles:

We should expect to Geforce 6900 (NV45) (a new core, same architecture, same pipes, faster memory, faster clocks): maybe 10-20% improvement over the 6800 series. PCI-express ofcourse
X890 (R480): Likely to be a slight revision of X880, but nothing major. The ONE thing that might surprise us is if ATI comes out with R500 within the next year, and considering the 2X performance over previous generation cards, I HIGHLY doubt that the R500 will boost performance by that much AGAIN. I bet it will be a good 25-40% though, based on new architecture, PS3, etc. And again, purely PCI-express.

9700 pro is now a mid range DX9 card - and DX9/SM2 is still the "standard".

2 years from now this will not be the case, so i sincerely doubt that these cards will have the longevity the 9700p enjoyed, especially as in 2 years pci-e will be more important.

 

[imported_obsidian]

PCI express offers absolutely zero benefit on current games, period. It will most likely be of no benefit for 3 years.

 

[jrphoenix]

When is the NV45 supposed to debut?

 

[ForceCalibur]

Originally posted by: obsidian
PCI express offers absolutely zero benefit on current games, period. It will most likely be of no benefit for 3 years.

Totally not the point. Every card after X800/6800 is going to PCI-express whether you like it or not.

 

[ForceCalibur]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Totally wrong. A 9700 PRo which is MORE than 2 years old is one of the BEST cards out right now.

Looking at how development of cards go and cycles:

We should expect to Geforce 6900 (NV45) (a new core, same architecture, same pipes, faster memory, faster clocks): maybe 10-20% improvement over the 6800 series. PCI-express ofcourse
X890 (R480): Likely to be a slight revision of X880, but nothing major. The ONE thing that might surprise us is if ATI comes out with R500 within the next year, and considering the 2X performance over previous generation cards, I HIGHLY doubt that the R500 will boost performance by that much AGAIN. I bet it will be a good 25-40% though, based on new architecture, PS3, etc. And again, purely PCI-express.

9700 pro is now a mid range DX9 card - and DX9/SM2 is still the "standard".

2 years from now this will not be the case, so i sincerely doubt that these cards will have the longevity the 9700p enjoyed, especially as in 2 years pci-e will be more important.

I dont see how the 9700 PRo is midrange, unless you consider the 9800 pro/np and the 5900 series midrange as well.

If you are counting X800/6800 series, then ALL 9800s/59XX series are midrange.

 

[ronnn]

I agree 9700pro is midrange, but is still usefull. When I upgrade the card will easily find a home. But if all new computers do not have an agp slot - than is antique. Anyways I am just looking to justify my decision to hold off until this christmas and upgrade the whole works. Sounds better than being cheap. :moon:

 

[vshah]

are mobo manufacturers going to completely stop making models with agp slots? cause that would really really suck, and i don't think it'd be a good business move for them.

-Vivan

 

[ForceCalibur]

Well, not immediately. But I'm worried that in 1 or 2 years they will.

 

[Neurofreeze]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Totally wrong. A 9700 PRo which is MORE than 2 years old is one of the BEST cards out right now.

Looking at how development of cards go and cycles:

We should expect to Geforce 6900 (NV45) (a new core, same architecture, same pipes, faster memory, faster clocks): maybe 10-20% improvement over the 6800 series. PCI-express ofcourse
X890 (R480): Likely to be a slight revision of X880, but nothing major. The ONE thing that might surprise us is if ATI comes out with R500 within the next year, and considering the 2X performance over previous generation cards, I HIGHLY doubt that the R500 will boost performance by that much AGAIN. I bet it will be a good 25-40% though, based on new architecture, PS3, etc. And again, purely PCI-express.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1656

July 18, 2002; the Radeon 9700 Pro was paper launched (I forget when it actually showed up in stores, but it was at least 30 days after release). So no, not more than two years. Less than.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Totally wrong. A 9700 PRo which is MORE than 2 years old is one of the BEST cards out right now.

Looking at how development of cards go and cycles:

We should expect to Geforce 6900 (NV45) (a new core, same architecture, same pipes, faster memory, faster clocks): maybe 10-20% improvement over the 6800 series. PCI-express ofcourse
X890 (R480): Likely to be a slight revision of X880, but nothing major. The ONE thing that might surprise us is if ATI comes out with R500 within the next year, and considering the 2X performance over previous generation cards, I HIGHLY doubt that the R500 will boost performance by that much AGAIN. I bet it will be a good 25-40% though, based on new architecture, PS3, etc. And again, purely PCI-express.

9700 pro is now a mid range DX9 card - and DX9/SM2 is still the "standard".

2 years from now this will not be the case, so i sincerely doubt that these cards will have the longevity the 9700p enjoyed, especially as in 2 years pci-e will be more important.

I dont see how the 9700 PRo is midrange, unless you consider the 9800 pro/np and the 5900 series midrange as well.

If you are counting X800/6800 series, then ALL 9800s/59XX series are midrange.

i see the 9700/9800/5900 as midrange, the X800 is high end

 

[skiddy]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Totally wrong. A 9700 PRo which is MORE than 2 years old is one of the BEST cards out right now.

Well actually to be exact, the 9700pro is LESS than 2 years old since it came out in mid-august of 2002... sorry to get nitpicky though .

I do agree though that the 9700pro is still one of the best cards out. It is not a mid-range card.... those still clearly belong to the 9500/9600 & 5600/5700 cards (hell even the GF4ti's). I would catergorize the 9700's on the lower side of the high end cards though. Thats just my opinion of course.

As for the original topic, I was planning on getting a 6800GT when it first came out, but I think I've decided to wait until the fall. I am anxious to see what PCI Express does (although I don't think it will do all that much) and I still can't justify spending $400 on a video card.

 

[SickBeast]

I'm pretty sure that if you buy an AGP card now you will be fine for the next 2 years at the least. I'm fairly confident that there will be chipsets available that support AGP. I've heard of boards that will have both AGP and PCI-E. I don't think you have much to worry about. The worst case scenario is that you will have to sell the card at a slight loss at some point if you must upgrade.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
I dont see how the 9700 PRo is midrange, unless you consider the 9800 pro/np and the 5900 series midrange as well.

If you are counting X800/6800 series, then ALL 9800s/59XX series are midrange.

easy.. and i do.

my 9700pro is about 10-15% slower than my 9800pro (the disparity is more pronounced when both cards are overclocked), and 20% slower than an XT. my x800pro runs at 1600x1200 settings my 9700pro struggles to run at 1024...

price wise they're certainly midrange, tho it seems the huge premium in price would put the 9800XT on the low end of the of the "high end" cards, while performance is more the high end of the "mid-range" cards..

the 9600 to me would be entry level DX9 cards.. the <$100 "budget" DX9 cards don't really run DX9 games well enough to really be considered (need to run @ DX8 to be viable).

that being said, i still think the 9700pro is a great card - i still have one. it will however be replaced by an nv40 in the immediate future (i'll keep the 9800 a bit longer).

 

[kylebisme]

also, the 9700pro isn't more than 2 years old, it still has another few months to go before it hits that mark.

 

[Chebago]

I still have motherboards in computers that still run great with ISA slots, when was the last time you had an ISA device? Now apply that to AGP and I think your safe for awhile yet.

 

[James3shin]

PCI-E to me is just a gimmick like 8x agp...just my 2 cents

 

[RSanders]

I don't read up on all this information but here is my 2 cents.

I think they will be making AGP cards for atleast 3 more years. I just think that if they stopped making them soon like people are saying, then they will start losing money fast because the majority of people are going to still have the AGP slots.

Thats my 2cents.

 

[The Green Bean]

PCI-E to AGP convertor??? Since AGP is fast enough for the faster cards?

 

[Cat]

Originally posted by: obsidian
PCI express offers absolutely zero benefit on current games, period. It will most likely be of no benefit for 3 years.

This is probably untrue. Games that do framebuffer reads, or render-to-texture ( image-space blurs, bloom, lens flare) might benefit nicely.