What's a good hold-me over video card until Doom 3 is released?

[rwilloug]

I'm building a new gaming rig today (P4 2.8 800 FSB, 512MB RAM, 865 mobo, etc). Right now, the best video card I own is an original GeForce 3. While I'd like better video for my current games (Enter the Matrix, etc), I wanted to take Anand's advice and wait until right after Doom 3 comes out to upgrade to a top of the line graphics card, with hopes that even faster (and cheaper) hardware will be out by then. What I'm trying to decide is: should I just live with the GeForce 3 for now or should I buy some kind of hold me over card and if so what card? I've been looking at a Radeon 9500 Pro, but $180 seems a lot to spend on a video card for only 6 months. Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks in advance,

Rich

 

[BoomAM]

Use the GF3. It aint exactely slow. OC it as well to speed it up a bit.
Then the money you`ve saved by not buying another video card, can go towards something else. Like some games to show off your new video card when you get it.
Or some more memory. I think 512k ram, will just about run doom3. lol. I think you mean 512MB.

 

[BoomAM]

Welcome to the AnandTech Forums BTY!!!

 

[rwilloug]

Doh! Corrected the memory count. Thanks for the input and the welcome. I was leaning towards not buying anything, but wanted a second opinion...

Rich

 

[Genx87]

If you really dont need to upgrade wait. GF3 is a good card for 85% of the games out there.
Once Doom3 gets closer to release we will all know which cards are good and which arent. Judging from the Anand review of the 5900. I dont think even the 9500 Pro would run it with all the bells and whistles.

 

[eklass]

i would say don't buy anything, or buy the best thing now (that will last your longer than 6 months)... i.e. 9800 Pro

 

[Tavoc]

I would say that you shouldnt really buy anything, but if you must have something thats a little faster than your current card, yet wont break the bank, I would suggest one of the GeForce 4 TI4200 128mb 8x cards. You can find them for as little as 120 dollars including shipping some places.

 

[T9D]

..

 

[jm0ris0n]

halflife 2 looks amazing ... all I can say is, W0W ! (And I even saw the doom3 trailer @quakecon). Really giving doom 3 a run for its money. Hurry up ID and release the thing !

 

[Pete]

If you're not entirely happy with your current video card, I'd sell it and get a ~$215 9700 non-Pro. The 9700 will be plenty fast until HL2/D3 are released, and if it's not fast enough for those games, you can sell it then (it should still be a very competitive card with its 256-bit memory bus) and buy a faster one. In the meantime, you'll be playing with a very good card, which is probably worth the $50 or so difference in price between what you pay to buy it and what you'll get for selling it (keep in mind you should get about $50 for your GF3) .

 

[oldfart]

Yeah, I get tired of all the "Doom 3" stuff. It should be a great game, but Half-Life 2 should rock! This is the game I'm most looking forward to.

Sept 30 is the day.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Stop saying things like "the 9700 will be good enough for Doom3" when Doom 3 is meant to run on systems with GeForce 3s and Radeon 8500s, you make it sound like the 9700 will get you by with lowest setting and lowest resolutions and just a hair above slide show performance. That is completely false considering I was able to take the extremely buggy alpha for a small test drive on my 8500 which after "playing" it for a few minutes I'm sure my 8500 will be just fine with the final version, it will be "good enough" and probably then some as the game still looked really really really good, and if an 8500 is "good enough" then a 9700 will be that much better off.

Definately wait as long as you can otherwise you'll be short $180 which is half of your payment for a new card once Doom 3 arives, or even HL2 like someone already mentioned. If you can't wait I'd recommend looking into snagging a low priced 9700 or 9700 Pro as they should do the trick for just about any game there is out there and should be more than just fine for games like Doom 3 and HL2. I say this now because the 9800 Pro is priced too high for its benefits over a 9700 or even a FX 5800. If you can wait I'm going to go out on a limb and say you'll probably end up with a 5900 or better for probably less than $400.

 

[1ManArmY]

Wait, upgrade once Doom 3 is released hopefully thats in November but if your really impatient upgrade Oct 1 2003 for HL2. Just make sure you get a card that supports DirectX 9a.

 

[FacelessNobody]

bunnyfubbles has the right idea. No company with as much sway as Id would limit their products use to the small part of the market, i.e. those of us with Radeon 9700 Pros and above. Id wouldn't be able to reach out to many people as they could unless Doom 3 could run decently on even your GeForce 3. Stick with your GF3 and upgrade later. Or upgrade to a 9700 Pro/9800 Pro now. Either way, you'll have fun playing Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. This is the eternal problem with computer enthusiasm. There's ALWAYS something better around the corner, and if you place your spending habits there, you won't end up with anything fun .

 

[nRollo]

Faceless:

bunnyfubbles has the right idea. No company with as much sway as Id would limit their products use to the small part of the market, i.e. those of us with Radeon 9700 Pros and above. Id wouldn't be able to reach out to many people as they could unless Doom 3 could run decently on even your GeForce 3

I disagree. Here's why:
1. I seem to remember "needing" the best card out when Qi/Q2/Q3 came out. I don't think Carmack cares about limiting his market, I think he cares about pushing the envelope forward, and making an engine developers will want to license for years to come.
2. The benchmarks we've seen so far are pretty sad for every card, even the ones currently unreleased. (i.e. 5900) I don't think it's going to go out the door and we'll all say, "Wow! This thing runs great on GF3, even though a GF 4 wasn't running it a few months ago.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Rollo
Faceless:

bunnyfubbles has the right idea. No company with as much sway as Id would limit their products use to the small part of the market, i.e. those of us with Radeon 9700 Pros and above. Id wouldn't be able to reach out to many people as they could unless Doom 3 could run decently on even your GeForce 3

I disagree. Here's why:
1. I seem to remember "needing" the best card out when Qi/Q2/Q3 came out. I don't think Carmack cares about limiting his market, I think he cares about pushing the envelope forward, and making an engine developers will want to license for years to come.
2. The benchmarks we've seen so far are pretty sad for every card, even the ones currently unreleased. (i.e. 5900) I don't think it's going to go out the door and we'll all say, "Wow! This thing runs great on GF3, even though a GF 4 wasn't running it a few months ago.

What do you mean SAD? From my point of view, they were nice enough. I'm going to run at 1024x768 with 2x or 4x AA and 8x AF. Have you even read Anand's review? He clearly mentions that the game will be playable on 8500 and GF3 cards and above, maybe not the highest quality settings, but even a low setting for Doom 3 will be very nice.

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: Rollo
2. The benchmarks we've seen so far are pretty sad for every card, even the ones currently unreleased. (i.e. 5900) I don't think it's going to go out the door and we'll all say, "Wow! This thing runs great on GF3, even though a GF 4 wasn't running it a few months ago.

I hardly call 50fps sad. One of the Doom3 benchmarks ive seen for the 5900 says 50fps. Hardly jerkovision is it.
Actulally, a few months ago, the only other card bar a 9700pro to be seen by the press running Doom3 was a GF4 Ti4600.

 

[wasssup]

i usually "waste" my money by buying stuff when its relatively new, yet my cousin waits till they're DIRT cheap (or free), and it just pisses me off. I know this isn't exactly the advice most of us like to listen to, but i'd definitely say wait.

My cousin takes it to a whole new level though...he's 25, and still doesn't have his license because he's too cheap to pay for insurance. It's kind of sad, since his mom has to drop him off and pick him up from the train station every day

 

[xNoodles]

I say go for the 9700 Non Pro. That way you won't even need to upgrade when Doom 3 is released, and you can enjoy the benefits of AA and AF right now.

 

[Rogozhin]

9700 non pro

rogo