On the NVIDIA front, there will not be any "New" products so to speak in the next few months, I would not expect to see any of those for at least 5-6 months, and they will be nothing more then a die shrunk and nuetered version of the current GT 280/285 and GT 260. I would expect them to be value parts with names like GT 240, 230, 220 etc.
A "Clean sheet" or heavily modified version of the current core is probably not going to be out till around christmas, given that they just released 55nm refreshed higher clocked versions of the GTX 280 (Called the 285) and a 55nm GTX 260.
As for what you can buy very soon, NVIDA did the "Rebadge old hardware and give it a new name" trick again...calling it the GT250. It's realy just a slightly tweaked version of the 9800GTX+, wich was a tweak of the 9800GTX, wich was tweaked from the 8800GTS 512, oh..and that was a tweaked 8800GT, and I should mention that was a cheaper derivative of the 8800GTX!
The 1GB version did however get a new smaller PCB and slightly faster ram over the old 9800GTX+ 1gb, and uses less power..and they cut the price to 150$ (512MB is 130$) but your basically getting a nearly 2 year old card, wich has its roots in the now ancient 8800GTX.
You can read the "Full version" of that on the front page here at Anand.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3523&p=1
Thats not to say it's a bad card though...it's DX-10, and is not a hell of alot slower then my GTX 260 192SP I bought in October for 250$, wich now goes for around 200$ (There is also that 55nm GTX 260 wich 216 SP for around 225$, wich is a bit faster)
For the price of admission (130-150$) the GT250/9800GTX+ rates fairly high on the FPS/Dollar menu, on par with the 4850.
DX-11 cards (ATI or NVIDIA) will be the true next gen cards, I would expect to see a few high end cards hit the shelves in time for christmas.
NVIDIA near future product rumors are below:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inq...0925/nvidia-tapes-cpus
On the ATI front...that 4850/4870 truely looks "Modern" next to the heart of a GT250, and is about the same age as the GT 285/280/260...but they are still DX-10 or 10.1.
ATI is switching over to 40nm, and what will be released soon will still be based on the 4850/4870...it will just use less power, run cooler, and likely a small increase in clock speeds.
There is a preview of the first 40nm ATI, the 4750, wich is performing just a touch below a 4850, but is going to be under 100$ and might be one I would consider, it should hold you over well into next year (Or beyond) when lots of DX-11 midrange cards are out at reasonable prices. I expect it to be a hell of a bang for the low buck card....and will probably be the "Placeholder" of choice for many till DX-11 cards ship in mass quantities that don't rape you for "Being the first one on the block" pricing.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/...0-review-preview-test/
There are rumors of a 4870 on steriods called the 4970..but who knows when you will actualy be able to buy one..and it certainly won't be as cheap as a 4870!
http://www.theinquirer.net/inq...1/amd-rv790-stuck-55nm
Bottom line, other then price cutting of current models, and a few tweaked version of what's allready out now, the GTX 260 (216 and 192 SP versions) 4870 512 and 1GB (I'd get the 1GB card if you plan on hanging on to this for 2 years) or a GT250 1gb are the current midrange choices for the next 6+ months, what you pick just depends on your budget (Sub 100$~ 200$+) and how long you want it to last.
Oh, and P.S. don't expect DX-11 to "Be all that" anyways, it's realy gonna be more like DX 10.1+ and won't be as big of a leap as DX9~DX10...think Vista to Win 7. A refined, slimmed down and tweaked version of what you can get now, and those minor gains are something that won't actually show up in large numbers of games for at least 1-2 years.
Remember, there a still a few new AA title games not out yet like ID softwares "Rage" and the fairly recent hit "Left 4 Dead" that will/are still DX-9 based!
That is my opinion though, a preview of DX-11 had this writer/developer kinda exited...I will wait another 2+ years (I had a 6800 Ultra SLI set up) before upgrading again when the games hit the shelves I actualy want to play (Doom 4 is scheduled to be DX-9, lol, and maybe out about then)
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3507&p=1
Facebook
Twitter