Upgrade Crossroads...Opinions Appreciated :)

[vYktYm]

Hey guys, I just ran into a small upgrade dilemma. I currently have an Athlon 1800+, running on a shuttle ak31a board, 512mb PC2100 ram, and a GF4 Ti4200. As many people have advised on these forums, I'm waiting on my next major upgrade to see how the A64 socket 939 launch effects the market to get the best overall value/longevity combo. I originally planned to build a whole new rig except I would keep the GeForce 4 card in until Doom 3 or HL2 came out to get the best price on the Radeon 9800 Pro...but the most current Best Buy promotion will ultimately allow me to buy a Radeon 9800 Pro for $180 if I purchase it with Lineage 2 ($20 instant savings + $50 rebate).

This seems like a really good deal to me, although the card would be pretty bottlenecked on my current cpu/mobo...should I jump on this deal, bottleneck and all, or stay with my original plan and wait on the video card upgrade until either d3 or hl2 is released?...Do you think the Radeon 9800 pro will be down to $180 by then due to the x800 launch? Any advice appreciated and thanks for the help in advance guys!!

~vYk

 

[Mik3y]

dont get it. wait a couple weeks when the new line of vid cards come out. the radeon 9800 pro should hit $150 or so retail. since the huge performance increase from the new cards are soo strong, the radeon 9600 series will become very low end.

 

[MidasKnight]

should I jump on this deal, bottleneck and all ?

I would. These cards have come down in price quite a bit the last couple months or so. I jumped on a Sapphire 9800 Pro OEM recently @$225.00 and feel great about that price. But it depends on you really and how die hard you want to be about getting the lowest price possible.

 

[wetcat007]

Your cpu and motherboard are prolly almost bottlenecking ur current video card...

 

[vYktYm]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
the radeon 9800 pro should hit $150 or so retail. since the huge performance increase from the new cards are soo strong, the radeon 9600 series will become very low end.

Does anyone else see this big of a price decrease happening in the next couple/few months?...it seems a little too drastic to happen so quickly (although the performance increase with the new cards is pretty huge).

 

[Markfw]

Go for it at $180. I don't think they will drop much more than that.