Video Card Longevity? (How long will your card last??)

[FearoftheNight]

Ok guys you all know about the 6 month product cycle. Now how long do you think that our current products will last us till? When will the day come that we say "Oh my Radeon 9800 Pro is video lagging the hell out of me!". I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. How long do you think it'll last me?

 

I havent had a video card go out on me yet, then again i upgrade fairly often. I would assume that your 9700 will last a long time. Unless you overclock them and then it would depend how much you stressed it. If something were to come up im sure you could rma it.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: Phocas
I havent had a video card go out on me yet, then again i upgrade fairly often. I would assume that your 9700 will last a long time. Unless you overclock them and then it would depend how much you stressed it. If something were to come up im sure you could rma it.

that's totally not what the poster was asking. Well, I still have my GF3 TI200 in one of my gaming rigs and its still going strong, about 2.5 years old. and it wasn't top of the line at the time either (was GF3TI500) It'll probably last another 6 months to a year for decent gameplay.

So I'd say the 9600 pro (not yet released) will be good until late 2006.

 

[CheapTOFU]

I got a 7 year old (I think) video card from ATI..

It's got 4 megs of ram and no driver support from ATI..

Of course, it's got no 3d support..

 

Ya i know thats not was he was asking,

So I'd say the 9600 pro (not yet released) will be good until late 2006.

Ya, maybe if you are playing solitare.

 

[yhelothar]

lol 3d solitaire with advanced pixel shaders..

 

[FearoftheNight]

Bump...Keep in mind guys that w/ the 6 month product cycle with about a 25% increase each time video card abilities double each 18 months.

 

[Spicedaddy]

My last one lasted 2 years (GF2 GTS), but that's not happening again... Now I'm on a 1-year cycle.

 

[nta]

my tnt2 has lasted a good 6 years

 

[zodder]

I bought my 9700 Pro with the intention on keeping it for about a year. However, I think a lot will depend on how it can keep up with future games. It smokes through everything I play now, and if it continues to give great framerates at high resolutions in a year, I'll definitely keep it longer. If it can't keep up, I'll sell like I had planned on doing when I bought it.

 

[Lonyo]

I have a Ti 4400 and got it about a year ago.
I'll probably keep it until the next lot of ATi GPUs are released.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Looks to me like a 9700 Pro should last a good long time. They hit the ball so far out of the park with that card that the competition still has yet to catch up. Any developer who wants to sell a lot of copies of a game still has to target a GF4 at the highest, and really has to run effectively on a GF3. I find it hard to believe that a 9700 Pro will not be useful until at least summer 2004, and very likely useful into 2005.

 

[kylebisme]

it depends on what you try to run and what you consider acceptable performace; even a 9700pro cannot keep games like unreal2 and splinter cell runing constantly above 30fps, asside from on the fastest systems and at the lowest settings anyway.

 

[spanner]

my tnt2 is still chugging along just fine in my dads system. It still runs most modern games at 800X600 or even 1024x768 and its pretty smooth. Video cards don't get worse over time so if you don't desire more FPS and detail then it will last as long as you want it to. Considering that I am not as into games as I used to be I think my G4 4200 will last indefinately

 

[NYHoustonman]

My ti4400 will last about a year I guess, at which point, if needed, I will do some overclocking ...No need now.

 

[BFG10K]

It depends on the user's preference and requirements but for me a high-end video card usually lasts 6-12 months.

 

[FearoftheNight]

bump for more opinions

 

[watdahel]

video cards last forever

 

[slpaulson]

I tend to stick with a video card for 1.5 to 2 years....

 

[BoomAM]

Its hard to measure really.
There have been countless times where a new video card has been reviewed and the reviewer has said something like, "this video card will do you in high res for a couple of years at least", and the fact is, within a years time at most there will be a game that will slaughter that card that the reviewer said will last ages.

 

[Lonyo]

I'll probably get a new CPU before I get a new graphics card.

 

[Bovinicus]

It depends how hardcore of a gamer you are. I game a good few hours per day. I still have a Radeon 8500, and I don't plan on upgrading it for another several months. It still serves me well in just about any game I throw at it.

 

[spanky]

2 or 3 years? actually.. probably forever since all i do is play CS.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I think it purely depends on what games you play. Because even though there is a 6-month product refresh cycle, if your games don't change, there really won't be a need for a video card change. Many people still play good ol' games like Tribes 1 on 400mhz computers and it runs what was silky smooth back them and they have some cheap integrated video card with 4mb ram if they're lucky. Those people still have as much fun without any upgrade.

I think if the video game developers push the games in terms of graphics more, cpu and video card sales will rise, lol.

 

[Wurrmm]

I get a new card every other series or so. I currently run a GF3Ti500 and it has lasted me quite a long time. I plan on getting either a 9800 pro or NV35. Before my GF3 I had TNT cards, Riva cards, Voodoo cards and even a G400 Max. I personally think GPUs/VPUs today will last longer that the older cards did. I use to upgrade alot back in the day but now with such high Vid cards prices it is pointless. The GF3 was the most expensive card I ever bought.