Originally posted by: Blackjack2000
ATI came out with the 9700 pro in August of 2002. It's almost 2005 now, and the 9700 pro can still play every game on the market, and play them well. 1200x1600 with AA and AF at 60 FPS? No. But it can still make Doom 3 look very pretty on a large monitor. And Doom 3 is by far the most graphically demanding game now, or in the foreseeable future.
Yes, they've made faster cards since then. Guess what? You don't have to buy them to play all the new games.
You don't think that games today are better than the games of the 80s? Fine, go play Super Mario Bros. while I play HL2 and Far Cry (both will run beautifully on a 9700 pro btw)
I just don't understand people that complain about the advance of technology. Nobody has to participate, heck, right now I'm downloading a linux OS to install on a 5 year old Aptiva. Then I'm going to install open office, and guess what? It will be perfectly functional as a basic work pc.
Like burning CDs? What about multitasking? Playing music through your pc as you work? Editing, and printing digital photos that are just as sharp as 35mm? watching DVDs? how about having your road trip mapped out in seconds right in front of your eyes, or doing your income taxes in seconds? I understand that you don't need a cutting edge system for any of these things, but guess what? Not too long ago, they were cutting edge. As hardware and software gets better, we're only going to find more useful applications for PCs. Yeah, 90% of it will be word processing and browsing, but the other 10% will be excellent and worth it.