I can't believe the money people are spending on video cards.

[Hammer]

i refuse to spend more than $200 on one on principle

 

[Booster]

Huh, just quit playing games and any integrated video would be plenty for you. If you don't game, it doesn't matter whether your PC has an 845G video or a Radeon 9800 - the speed would be exactly the same. For example, I have a Radeon 7000 video card and it makes me sorry I blew $35 on it (64MB DDR). I could use integrated chip and save those $35. 🙁

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
People are talking as though $150 for a video card is nothing. With $400 and $500 cards it may not seem like much, but when you consider the cost of some computers being < $300 (for everything but monitor), $150 is 50% of a computer.

I learned once the hard way. I spent a lot of money on a Pure 3D video card years ago. Within weeks, the card was considered old and was no longer anywhere close to as valueable as when I bought it.

I know every piece of computer equipment suffers from severe depreciation, however video cards are the worst. Why do people continually upgrade? Why don't people stop buying them as fast and force video card makers to slow down releases?

What am I missing?

Bad choices?

Voodoo2 12MB and K6-II 350
$209 vs. $150 (at best)
Great Quake2 machine after I went to WinNT4.

GF2 GTS and Duron 800
$128 vs. $250 (+tax)
...then $200 on a new mobo and memory. Even better and Tribes was great, even w/ 2x FSAA.

GF4 Ti 4200 and XP 1800+.
$170 vs. $140. Now Quincux and AF x2 is minimum.

...and know what? I consider my GF4 my best computer purchase to date!
Sure it gets dated, but w/ most games running on GF2 era cards...the high end is too much.

Oh, and $150 isn't nothing. It's the low end of maximum price, IMO 🙂.

 

[Sid59]

if i had money to burn .. i'd prolly buy those expensive cards.

 

[Storm]

Well I shelled out about $320ish maybe a little more for a Geforce 256 DDR in late 1999. I'm still using it. 🙂 Granted I haven't really been playing games for about two years. And the card showed its age after a year and a half. The thing is I didnt need to upgrade since Im on hiatus from gaming.

Coming this fall there are some neat games coming out so I may go back to gaming. Who knows? The max I would spend on a vid card is $350. $400-$500 is too much imho. Then I can retire the Geforce 256 to a home theater pc. 😉

 

[MustangSVT]

that's why I try to get best bang for the buck..

last thanxgiving , i purchased Geforce4 ti4200 128mb 8x for $70 😀 and no rebates!

 

[0roo0roo]

20 miles a day x 7 days a week = 140 miles a week. 140 miles / 15mpg =9.3gallons. 1.50(i'm being generous, its 1.80+ here) per gallon = 16.79

$907 a year for your gas. alone assuming you drive an suv and only 20 miles a day commute 🙂