Wait for the r520 or buy a 7800gtx?

[abercrombiestar]

Man im so confused I dont know what to do should I buy a 7800gtx or wait till the r520 comes out? and when will it come out around september? Will it be much faster than the 7800gtx?

 

[fstime]

Man im so confused I dont know what to do should I buy a 7800gtx or wait till the r520 comes out?

I'd wait unless you're an impatient person. There isn't a reason not to wait unless you MUST buy somthing now

and when will it come out around september?

We don't know

Will it be much faster than the 7800gtx?

If it has 32 pipe lines and the planned 600+ Mhz core, yes, it will be noticably faster.

We dont know the specs though, like I said, we know what you know.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

There's always something better around the corner, the R520 isn't scheduled to be out before mid to late september, and everything you've heard about performance is speculation at this point. Keep this in mind when making your decision.

 

[VIAN]

I would say get it now. I think the only reason to wait is to get the price drop that I think Nvidia will do when ATI comes out with competition. If you don't care about price, I would get one since they're gonna be similar in performance. And even if ATI releases a faster card, I don't predict it to be that much faster.

But really, who knows how the architecture of ATI flows. Either way though, the 7800 is a very powerful card and is touted as being one of the biggest boosts in performance compared to previous generations. ATI will have to work hard to match it.

If it has 32 pipe lines and the planned 600+ Mhz core, yes, it will be noticably faster.

We dont know the specs though, like I said, we know what you know.

These specs aren't official. And Although 32 pipes and 600Mhz would produce a lot of fillrate. This means very little as you can see that the X850 XT has enough fillrate to kill the 6800 Ultra, but X850 XT isn't as fast as the fillrate shows it to be.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: abercrombiestar
Man im so confused I dont know what to do should I buy a 7800gtx or wait till the r520 comes out? and when will it come out around september? Will it be much faster than the 7800gtx?

There are two problems here:
1. We don't know what the rest of your system is.
2. We don't know anything about the R520, including when it will be out.

So it's an impossible question to answer.

Only you can judge whether it is worth it to buy the level of performance currently available at the current price, or wait and see what the R520 will cost, what it will be and when it will be available.

If you're going to wait for the MIA R520, you should factor in the rumored 7800U as well.

 

[imported_Rampage]

This is a revolving question.

If you were ready to buy now, and had the cash.. you'd just buy a 7800GTX.

Its not a slow card, it blows away anything from the last generation of cards. If you are expecting a future unannounced ATI card to match its price, and beat its performance in September (if its even here then).. you will be sorely mistaken.
You have to consider all the events surrounding the R520 and that will give you the best indication of what is going to happen.

Its going to be an expensive card (like the 7800GTX) but unlike the GTX it could be a total flop with poor drivers or just poor performance.

The ONLY thing you can go off of is whats available today, and like I said its going to be extremely hard to top the 7800GTX performance for the same price with the R520.. and if you find your GTX to be molasses slow, then pop in a 2nd one..
SLI is mature and stable.
Sure, you might spend as much on two GTXs as one R520, but THAT will surely not be topped by a single R520.

Though its ridiculous to say a single 7800GTX wont meet your needs.. but SLI is pretty awesome so you DO have alternatives rather than having to rip the card out and pop in a R520 if one blows the GTX away (which it probably wont, and if it does it will have its own flaws like poor driver support, high power requirements, or dual slot cooling).


Bottom line considering you detailed NOTHING but about your rig?

Its impossible to beat a nice, single slot, cool, efficient 7800GTX today.. and will be unlikely that you will regret purchasing one.. no more than anyone who shells out cash for any killer video card has in the past.. I never have regretted it due to the gains that come from every new generation being sufficient.. esp with the Geforce6 and 7 lineups.

 

[WA261]

Never wait. Buy the best you can now. When something new comes out sell and buy.

 

[jam3]

Originally posted by: BouZouki

Man im so confused I dont know what to do should I buy a 7800gtx or wait till the r520 comes out?

I'd wait unless you're an impatient person. There isn't a reason not to wait unless you MUST buy somthing now

and when will it come out around september?

We don't know

Will it be much faster than the 7800gtx?

If it has 32 pipe lines and the planned 600+ Mhz core, yes, it will be noticably faster.

We dont know the specs though, like I said, we know what you know.

This is absolutly spot on.

The main issue has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with price, the 7800 gtx and the r520 will mostly likely have similar benchamrks. In fact the most likely outcome is that the r520 will performa a bit worse than the 7800gtx due to the rumors of yield problems with the 24 pipeline chips . Chances are your going to see a 16 pipeline r520 with worse power consumption and heat and higher cpu and memory speeds than the 7800 gtx, and most likely similar benchamrks, maybe a bit worse/better in various marks.

The standard assumption is that once u see the r520 released Nvidia will immediatly drop its price on the GTX as well as shortyl thereafter releasing an ultra version of the 7800 to continue beating ATI's head in the door this round. So if you want to save some money and can wait a couple of months you can cut prob $100 or more off the current price of the 7800GTX.

The thing thats killing me is that ATI has already lost this round, they took a huge hit in prototyping costs for moving to 90nm (like everyone else did) and because of leakage problems are having delays that are causing Nvidia to cream them in the market (which is alot more than just us enthusiasts u know). This is a FACT and the ATI folks seem to think that somehow the r520 is going to be this amazing pancea that comes along and fixes ATI's problems THI YEAR. Ain't going to happen, if your waiting on some monster ATI r520 and money isnt an issue then buy now, get the extra mileage out of having the new technology today. The other thing people forget about choosing when to buy is that the opposite end of waiting for the newer technology is getting more mileage out of what you can buy now. Buying right now with dual core chips, next gen video cards, etc is going to last til the next major shift which will be 2007 with quad/tri core chips, i.e. the sooner u buy the more mileage u get. In the interim u can expect minor speed increases in CPU and memory, a move for AMD from DDR to DDR2, and SLI2 which will allow 2xPCI 16x and differing bios. In other words not much and you have to wait til Q1-Q2 06' for it to hit and Q3 06 for it to be available and reasonably priced. My advice is upgrade now, or in a month if you want to save $100 or two on the 7800 GTX, and plan your next upgrade for Q2 07. That gets u a kick but machine for everything coming out this christmas season, all next year, and then some into 07 when you should be watching out for the next major steps in multi-core.

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: BouZouki

and when will it come out around september?

We don't know

Will it be much faster than the 7800gtx?

If it has 32 pipe lines and the planned 600+ Mhz core, yes, it will be noticably faster.

We dont know the specs though, like I said, we know what you know.

Originally posted by: jam3
This is absolutly spot on.

The main issue has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with price, the 7800 gtx and the r520 will mostly likely have similar benchamrks. In fact the most likely outcome is that the r520 will performa a bit worse than the 7800gtx due to the rumors of yield problems with the 24 pipeline chips . Chances are your going to see a 16 pipeline r520 with worse power consumption and heat and higher cpu and memory speeds than the 7800 gtx, and most likely similar benchamrks, maybe a bit worse/better in various marks.

How can you possibly say "absolutly spot on" about Bonzouki's statements of "We dont know the specs" then immediately launch into a bunch of guesswork?

 

[jam3]

"the most likely outcome"

"rumors of"

I think I was at least pointing out that it was guess work.

And actually there are various sources giving out this information all around the net and it is a FACT that they delayed their release and have lowered their earnings expectations for Q4, 05. Also its not just ATI thats had problems with 90nm so a rumor saying that their yields are poor from their new 90nm process, along with lowered earnings and delays lends quite a bit to the possibility of those rumors being true.

 

[Ramsez]

Keep in mind R520 is still about 2 months ahead.

If you have the money and want the performances ASAP, get a 7800GTX.

If you want to wait and compare the two, wait a little.

7800 GTX is one hell of a card, and you can get one NOW.

 

[fstime]

Originally posted by: VIAN
I would say get it now. I think the only reason to wait is to get the price drop that I think Nvidia will do when ATI comes out with competition. If you don't care about price, I would get one since they're gonna be similar in performance. And even if ATI releases a faster card, I don't predict it to be that much faster.

But really, who knows how the architecture of ATI flows. Either way though, the 7800 is a very powerful card and is touted as being one of the biggest boosts in performance compared to previous generations. ATI will have to work hard to match it.

If it has 32 pipe lines and the planned 600+ Mhz core, yes, it will be noticably faster.

We dont know the specs though, like I said, we know what you know.

These specs aren't official. And Although 32 pipes and 600Mhz would produce a lot of fillrate. This means very little as you can see that the X850 XT has enough fillrate to kill the 6800 Ultra, but X850 XT isn't as fast as the fillrate shows it to be.

Like I said, If it has the planned 32 pipe lines and 600+ Mhz core, I never said those specs were confirmed by ATI

 

[Liver]

That is a life question. Wait or not wait. You can extrapolate that to greater questions in life. In the end, it still ends. I would get it now.

 

[fstime]

The ONLY thing you can go off of is whats available today, and like I said its going to be extremely hard to top the 7800GTX performance for the same price with the R520

Hard?

The rumored specs show it will blow it away with ease, 600 mhz core clock and 32 pipe lines.

Like I said, the specs are not confirmed by ATI.

I will admit the Inq has been right many times recently.

if it does it will have its own flaws like poor driver support, high power requirements, or dual slot cooling).

I have used ATI drivers, probably more than you, they seem fine to me.

Power requirments? You know nothing of the R520's power requirments, I bet many people thought the GTX would suck a whole lot of power, its actually cooler than the 6 series.

From my experiance, ATI drivers work fine.

.. but SLI is pretty awesome so you DO have alternatives rather than having to rip the card out and pop in a R520 if one blows the GTX

You were just complaining about power requirments and noise, now your reccomending SLI?

Bottom line, power should never be a problem because you should always have a good power supply, it is one of the most importent things in your computer.

Its impossible to beat a nice, single slot, cool, efficient 7800GTX today.

Yes, the GTX is god's card, it is unstopable at this point.




Your entire post was just you assuming things without evidence, GTX is imposible to beat, R520 will drain power, driver problems, blah blah blah.

If the R520 turns out to be a pile of crap, let it be.

I see no reason in not waiting for the R520, if it turns out to suck, oh well, if it turns out to be a whole lot better than the GTX, it will make you happy that you waited.

 

[Drayvn]

Well if your a buyer of the 7800GTX or the R520, then you should automatically have a good power supply or know that you should get one 😛

 

[fstime]

Originally posted by: Drayvn
Well if your a buyer of the 7800GTX or the R520, then you should automatically have a good power supply or know that you should get one 😛

This man knows what he is talking about.

Obviously someone with a 7800GTX is going to have a high end system.

From what I see, high end systems use a lot of power,

A good PSU is a MUST, if you have a good PSU, you shouldn't need to worry about power requirements.

I myself had a 600W OCZ Powerstream even before purchasing my 7800GTX's.

 

[BFG10K]

I'm waiting for the R520 and then I'll decide whether I want it or a 7800. No need to rush when I have a X800 XL to hold me over.

 

[Zebo]

Check this out I would'nt wait.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=1648270&enterthread=y

 

[Drayvn]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I'm waiting for the R520 and then I'll decide whether I want it or a 7800. No need to rush when I have a X800 XL to hold me over.

Im in the same boat as you, ive got an X850XT-PE.

In terms of upgrading, i dont think i would need to until maybe christmas, and hopefully there will be deals out also!

My GPU is definitly gonna last me till then. Since i bought it in Feb, i bloody well should get at least 11 months out of it!

Other things to upgrade is to get more ram and a newer CPU, probably an X2!

Tho i need a better monitor, i think weve used this one for the past 3 years i think...

 

[imported_X]

I've never regretted waiting, but there have been times I wished I had waited. So I err on the side of waiting. I say, push it as long as you reasonably can, until something comes out that demands an upgrade. Then go for whatever is best at the time.

 

[hans030390]

R520, well...we don't know when it will come out. In fact, we're not even sure if it will have 32 pipelines or not.

Your best bet will be a 7800gtx. it's the best card out now, and the R520 might not be available for a while even after it's release...so just get a 7800gtx.

 

[lifeguard1999]

IF your system is powerful enough to drive a 7800GTX...
IF you have the cash...
IF you have games that can make use of the 7800GTX...
IF you can't wait....

buy the $473 BFG OC 7800GTX.

IF you have twice the cash, buy two and go for SLI.

That is a lot of "IFs" 🙂

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: lifeguard1999
IF your system is powerful enough to drive a 7800GTX...
IF you have the cash...
IF you have games that can make use of the 7800GTX...
IF you can't wait....

buy the $473 BFG OC 7800GTX.

IF you have twice the cash, buy two and go for SLI.

That is a lot of "IFs" 🙂

Not as many as with the R520:
You could say for that:
IF your system is powerful enough to drive a R520...
IF you have the cash...
IF you have games that can make use of the R520...
IF you can wait....
If they release it at all.....
If it's even worth buying in comparison........

 

[KeepItRed]

I'd wait. No point in getting a 7800 🙂

 

[imported_Rampage]

Originally posted by: BouZouki

The ONLY thing you can go off of is whats available today, and like I said its going to be extremely hard to top the 7800GTX performance for the same price with the R520

Hard?

The rumored specs show it will blow it away with ease, 600 mhz core clock and 32 pipe lines.

Like I said, the specs are not confirmed by ATI.

I will admit the Inq has been right many times recently.

if it does it will have its own flaws like poor driver support, high power requirements, or dual slot cooling).

I have used ATI drivers, probably more than you, they seem fine to me.

Power requirments? You know nothing of the R520's power requirments, I bet many people thought the GTX would suck a whole lot of power, its actually cooler than the 6 series.

From my experiance, ATI drivers work fine.

You have a R520 with Septembers driver release??

WOW you a fkin awesome.

For all we know it could have horrible drivers, you dont know and neither do I. I'm just saying all the variables that could affect the R520..

and sometimes its good to keep the possible problems in mind, it shows just how exceptional the 7800GTX is TODAY.
Its drivers ARE great, it IS cool and requires little power and IS a single slot solution. And at a reasonable price at that.. with SLI support, the only dual graphics solution available... which is also mature and stable.

This is all up in the air for this R520.

Sorry.