Upgrade graphics card question...

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The answer:

NEVER, EVER upgrade for FUTURE SOFTWARE.
This is ALWAYS a waste, as graphics hardware gets faster and cheaper over time.

In addition, software gets delayed... remember all the folks who upgraded for Doom3, and it was released 6 months late... when faster hardware was released?

Get the software FIRST, and THEN if your hardware isn't fast enough... THAT's when you upgrade!

The answer:

NEVER, EVER upgrade for FUTURE SOFTWARE.
This is ALWAYS a waste, as graphics hardware gets faster and cheaper over time.

In addition, software gets delayed... remember all the folks who upgraded for Doom3, and it was released 6 months late... when faster hardware was released?

Get the software FIRST, and THEN if your hardware isn't fast enough... THAT's when you upgrade!

Thanks for your opinion, and true to all that. Yeah i guess I'll do excactly that. However, if I do wait, i'd wait for the next-gen gfx cards, and when they release, which i guess would be @ the end of this year, their prices would be pretty high, so I'd basically have to wait til Q1-Q2 2008 when the prices come down a bit.

Okay, people will call me a fanboy, but why not wait till Agena to see if it's the equal of Penryn? I can see updating the GPU right now, but not the CPU. Is your case really two small for an 8800GTS? Why not just transfer the motherboard?

The X2 4600+ is great for everything I do, but if I'd known the performance of the 8600 that I was waiting on, I'd have gotten a 7600GT last February instead of the 7600GS. So much for saving money for a few months!

Since the 8600 wasn't up to par, I had almost decided to get an 8800GTS in September, but I think the next refresh will be in December, so what's a few more months? It's not like there are any DX10 CRPGs out right now anyways.

I'm still stuck with Vista, but it hasn't been as bad as everyone says, though it might be like Windows ME compared to XP when the next Microsoft OS comes out in 2009.

I would say save your money in this case, until better stuff comes out.

lets face it, there is no game you cant run, only games you cant run at maximum detail.

so instead of buying either a conroe or a newer athlon, just wait for penryn or agena. you'll be spoilt for choice - new architectures that should soon drop in price to compete with each other.

and ATI should bring out its 65nm 2950, and nvidia should bring out its 9800GTX.

if I had a computer already, I wouldnt have bought now. but I didnt have one (living in a new country and all) so I took the plunge. parts arrive monday/tuesday.

The reason I have to get a new mobo is because I have, flame me all you want, a dell dim E521, which has a BTX case and mobo. The 8800GTS/GTX don't fit in the case like many 2 slotted cards, so I am pretty much obligated to buy a new case+mobo. But, yeah, I'll likely wait for the next gen cards.

Okay, I understand. I won't flame anyone for getting a Dell, Gateway or HP; though I might if they get an Emachines. I build my own PCs, but I've made mistakes that deserved flames.

When I built this system last February, I originally got the barebones at Newegg for $89 and got an X2 3800+ bundled with another K96SGM-V for $179 at Fry's. Well, after I had it up and running, I had the bright idea of using MSI Live to update.

Well, it was 4 in the morning and when it asked if I wanted to make a backup for the bios flash part of the upgrade, I clicked on "no" (didn't have a diskette drive). It turns out there's no new bios for this motherboard, but MSI Live started installing the wrong bios (I saw Via scroll by during the update). When the PC automatically rebooted, it was dead.

So, I used the spare one from Fry's. Later, I got an X2 4600+ in June because I thought the X2 3800+ was too slow for games, but would make a good HTPC CPU with the repaired board. That's why I have "Don't Flash the Bios" in my signature (at least not with MSI Live).

I know better, I've flashed bios's before. I had diskette drives back then. Guess I'm going to have to get a USB stick that I can boot to, since even an external diskette drive runs into the problem of actually finding diskettes down the line.

Compared to that snafu, you buying a Dell is no big deal.

...OR you could get an 8800/2900 after the next cards are released, saving tons of cash and getting awesome performance when these games are released - and you actually need the horsepower. :wink:

I dont think its wise to upgrade to anything but a quad core soon if you plan to use the system for more than 2years.



But as one guy said, patience   Personally I think there is so much hype over "2nd gen" dx10 cards and they wont be much better than the current ones on a price/performance ratio. But the one good thing their release will do is knock a lot off the price of current cards.

Eventually there will have to be cards that can do geometry shaders. Right now, the developers are pointing their fingers at ATI and Nvidia and the GPU companies are pointing their fingers at the developers.

They should both be pointing at Microsoft. It's just like them to implement new features that hardware can't yet support. Added to the fact that DX10 won't be released for XP (unlike prior generations), they've dropped the ball since Vista came out, at least as far as games go.

Well, I figured since I can more than easily sell my current system for around $600, I can just add $200 to that and get myself a kickass system. With a E4300 I can easily push it to 3Ghz. Here is the list: https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wis hlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumbe r=3911829&WishListTitle=%241%2C000+J uly+22+build

If you think about it, I am really only spending $200 for a full upgrade. What do you guys think?  
Edit: and thanks to step-up if a new line of cards come out around late October, ill just step up