Was going to buy Geforce4.. now going to wait too?

[mfavin]

I don't think Nvidia and other companies intended on announcing and/or leaking information about their products so early, but now one has hard choices to make about playing the waiting game or not.

Nvidia's CEO leaked that the Geforce 5 won't be out for X-mas but instead as soon as August, probably on the expectation of imminent announcements of Geforce 4 killers by competitors.

3dlabs made their PV10 announcement yesterday, weeks ahead of planned (probably due to the Geforce 5 move up to Q3 ship)

ATI will be out with a Geforce 4 killer soon.

Matrox supposedly will have a Geforce 4 + level card soon.

What is one to do?!?!

 

[John]

<< What is one to do?!?! >>



Depends on what you do with your computer.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

I'd say get a GeForce 4 and stop worrying.. when the other cards come out there'll be something else new on the horizon to wait for. I can't think of a game that exists that runs slow on a GF4 on a decent system anyways, so even if Matrox makes their card everyone's wetting themselves over, your GF4'd still run everything just fine, but at 150fps as opposed to the 165 that the Matrox one might get.. oh noooo!

I'd wait for ATI and Matrox, etc.. only if you needed the features their cards'll offer. If you're just looking at speed, there's no real reason to wait.

 

[apoppin]

Depends what you want it for?

If you want to play today's current games and tomorrows, a Geforce3 is fine.

If you are looking for a card that is a little more future proof (i.e. will be good through 2003's games), wait a bit.

I still find my last gen Radeon 64 still plays all the games I like satisfactorily . . . I will wait a bit longer.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I'd get the geforce 4.

 

[tokamak]

like MistaTastyCakes said, if you wait for something better to come out before you buy, you will always be waiting for something. I think the best idea would be to buy whatever suits your needs right now and not worry about whatever may come in the future.

 

[Zukatah]

But don't buy a GeForce4 MX if you plan for the future!

 

[MasterHoss]

What card are you using right now? If it's not a GeForce3 or Radeon8500, it's worth the upgrade to a GeForce4 Ti series.

 

[Adul]

i am on a geforce 2 and I plan on waiting for the next round of new cards to buy

 

[Milliamp]

The 3Dlabs is the first of a next generation of high end, more programable cards to support the DX9 and windows longhorn. Longhorn is also moving windows GUI to the graphics subsystem raising the min. hardware specs for cards. Longhorn is likely not to be out till 2004. The 3D labs card is to first be introduced near the $800 mark and not hit the consumer market for another couple of months after that release. I think the GeForce 4 represents the best of todays generation cards and the next stuff will not go main stream for a while yet, so I'd say go with the GeForce 4 Ti if you have a slow card, and wait for the next gen stuff if you are running a GeForce 3 Ti 500. There will be some new competition in the market but I'm not expecting nVida to go down without a fight, should get interesting.

 

[Mem]

I`m still using a GF2 Ti ,I too am going to wait for the next round of cards,it really is down to what games you play etc,my GF2 Ti is doing fine for the games I`m playing at the moment.I say wait if you feel your current card is not doing too bad with current games.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< `m still using a GF2 Ti >>

Maybe Morrowind will change your mind.

If you need more HP now, buy the GF4. It's gonna last a long, long time. Unless of course the next generation Unreal and Quake engines really stress the GPU. But again who cares? Just upgrade again when you need the speed.

 

[SteelCityFan]

If money is even partially a concern, just stay one step behind the best. I bought my last $300+ video card when I bought the Voodoo 5 5500. I just picked up a Radeon 8500 that will smoke that and all but the GeForce 4 cards, and it only cost me $150.

If it was me, and I had a card I could use now, I would not by the GeForce 4 until the 5 came out. You save hundreds of dollars that way. Nothing drops in value faster than PC parts.

 

[jm0ris0n]

<< Maybe Morrowind will change your mind. >>



No joke! This is truely a next gen game. Looking at the water on my radeon 7500 and 1.63GhzAXP makes me think of playing quake2 in software instead of glide One thing im for sure though, games are about to make a jump they haven't made since around 1997. I mean even a ti4600 on a P4 2.4ghz or 2100+AXP can't punch out 60fps at 1024 or higer with all details maxed. Detail and beauty come at a price, and it is something we haven't had to pay for in a while

 

[BFG10K]

What is one to do?!?

If you need/want to upgrade now, do it.
If you don't, wait.

It's quite simple.

 

[kgraeme]

My Radeon 64 is still holding quite nicely for me. Previous to that I was using a TNT. I like skipping a generation or three between upgrades in order to get the most out of my money.

 

[WyteWatt]

I am still on a Voodoo 3 2000 pci video card which works fine for me still. It suits my needs in all games i played. Even played Max Payne fine with it. I thought that was pretty good. I know sooner or later i will need a new video card but so far the 2 to 3 years i had this voodoo 3 2000 pci video card it is still providing me with performence that is fine to me. But yeah i do want a new video card.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

Well put BFG...
I'm in much the same position having a Radeon 7200.
I want the dual head features of the GeForce 4x00, but by the sounds of things all the next-gen cards will also have that.
It's simply going to be a question of what I can get in three months time for about £200.

 

[Zukatah]

I was in the same situation as you and I believe that paying the extra money for the fastest card out here isn't worth your money in the long run. I paid a very hefty price when I bought my TNT2 Ultra (same card I have now until my GeForce3 arrives by the mail) and I regret it very much. Sure it was very fast at the time but 6 months later something much better was out. I now try to stay 1 generation behind and buy other people stuff. Geez I bought the Gainward at 1/4 of it's price 6 months ago and it will be powerful enough for today's games. Instead of buying the top of the line and keeping it for a long time, I decided to buy more mainstream and upgrade often. That way, you have something faster every 6 months and you still have some money left. I'll probably sell my GF3 in 6-8 months and buy a GeForce4 Ti 4600 at a ridiculous price

That's what I decided to do, you may not like it but it's a suggestion.