Wait for Fermi?

Thanks for the response mavanhel, but it really doesn't address my question.

Do you really believe that nvidias new cards won't be better than the ATI5xxx?
Nvidias reputation would be destroyed if the new cards didnt outperform anything on the market.

So once again:
Should I wait for the GTX480 or build a system around a GTX260 and upgrade when they are released. Will I be able to use the 260 as a dedicated physix card beside the GTX480?

Thanks

Well, first off we won't really know how the Fermi cards are going to perform, if you already have the GTX 260 and are planning to build a rig using that card, I would say build it and then upgrade to the Fermi card or whatever when they come out. If you are thinking of buying a GTX 260 to build with and then dumping the GTX 260 for the new card later (GTX 260 will function as a standalone PhysX card so long as you have an Nvidia card for Graphics unless you get hacked drivers.) then I would wait. Unless you really really want to have a PhysX card which I don't think is worth the extra money, it's only worth it if you happen to have an extra Nvidia card lying around.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2521.html

Here's the "winners" from THG's latest (January) GFX Roundup
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: January 2010

$50 - HD 4650
$65 - HD 4670 / 9600 GSO
$90 - 9800 GT
$110 - GTS 250 512 MB / 4850 512 MB
$125 - GTS 250 1 GB / 4850 1 GB
$145 - No winner (HD 5750 Honorable Mention)
$155 - HD 5770
$200 - HD 4890
$250 - 2 x GTS 250 / 2 x 4850
$310 - 2 x HD 5770 (HD 5850 Honorable Mention)
$400 - 2 x HD 4890
$410 - No winner (HD 5870 Honorable Mention)
$520 - No winner (GTX 295 Honorable Mention)
$625 - No winner (HD 5970 Honorable Mention)

The only real criticism I have for the article is that it touts the 5770's DX11 capability over the 260 / 4870 which perform 10% betterin DX9/10 while not addressing one key contradiction:

"Great 1920x1200 performance in most games ....While the new Radeon HD 5770 isn't any faster than its older Radeon HD 4870 cousin (we've found that it's even slightly slower in many instances), it does have something the Radeon HD 4870 doesn't have: full DirectX 11 and Eyefinity support. Indeed, while the Radeon HD 5770 doesn't run away with any performance crowns in this category, it does look good from a longevity/value standpoint."

But THG's Dirt2 review says that the 5770 can't do 30 fps once you turn on Dx11 and that game has only minimal incorporation of DX11 features.

Interestingly enough, the 5770 is the only 5xxx category "winner" in the entire table taking two categories in single and Xfire configuration. The key there is not how many nVidia wins (5) but how many the ATI 4xxx series wins (7).

Unfortunately, the 5770's inadequacies have pushed the 260 from a $155 card in November / December to $200 in January. At that price it's just too expensive to recommend. If you need to buy something and can't wait 2 months, your idea of saving the temporary card for PhysX is sound, but I'd grab a single slot GTS 250 and use that.....but i think it's better to wait till end of March to start building.

As for the rest of your build, Intel's new hexacore is supposed to drop match 16th.....that means price drops on older Intel CPU's, new MoBos and , as you suggested fermi drops about the same time. I'm thinking a Rampage III Extreme (when it drops) will be a good choice for your budget. Also, more non reference designs from ATI should hit the shelves along with ATI's answers to fermi at the same time. All in all....all this action should bang down prices.

Thanks JackNaylorPE for your comprehensive opinion. It sounds like with my budget I might be in very good shape if I wait till the end of March. That was my original plan 3 weeks ago when my gaming PC started to smoke. But weeks typing on a cheap laptop has me looking for alternatives. Perhaps I should wait.

smoogs12, im confused by your response.

Will the 260 be usable as a physix card when I upgrade to one or more 480's?

Yes, the GTX 260 will be usable as a PhysX card If you have an Nvidia Card for Graphics, so you can go that route. I did mention that back in my post before, but maybe not as clearly. Its only an issue should you decide to buy an ATI card for Graphics and use the Nvidia GTX 260 for PhysX, but there are hacked drivers that will get you around that if you can find them.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/n [...] ysx&xtcr=1

Note: requires windows 7

I would stay with the Red team if I were you. They have been on top of their game lately...(E.G. Fixing Gray screen probs, black screen probs on cold boots, etc.) with there 5800 serious and other dx11 cards

I'm an nvidia man myself, but I've got to admit that the new 58xx series are really impressive. Not sure what Fermi will bring to the table in terms of gaming performance quite yet, but if nothing else at least it will bring down the prices of the ati offerings. If i were you i would consider something on the upper end of the ati line up in case Fermi turns out to be a bust.

So you still have a 260? It's not credit? Well sounds like you have a big budget which is nice. But since you have no comp right now, I would recommend against waiting for 480 since there are too many question marks right now. I would recommend building a comp with the 260, and save some money so you can upgrade GPU later once Fermi comes out. And at that time if Fermi is a lot better, get Fermi, if not the ATI 5xxx cards should be cheaper and get those.

One thing to keep in mind is that the new Fermi cards are supposed to be really good at task switching. In other words running graphics and physx on the same Fermi card doesn't incur nearly the same performance penalty it does with a 200 series card.

I'm thinking about 2 Fermi cards myself, if the numbers are good. I do hear it's a little hard to get more than two in a box without a serious cooling solution. If it had come out before winter that could have been a "feature".

The thing about ATI cards is that they are starting to rely on too many gpu's all rendering to a backbuffer queue. That's not good for latency. I like that Fermi is back to a single fast gpu.

My original idea was to build around a graphics card (2xx) that I could reuse as physx when the 4xx comes out. I think the jury is still out on dedicated physx but it could be an excellent use of the recycled 2xx.

I think I should give it a few more weeks. Re-evaluate after some more technical data is (hopefully) released on the 4XX. I would like to go SLI and I will need to cater to power consumption and heat distribution anyway. And there would be no need of that with a 2xx system.

I think I will post a possible build in the appropriate forum in the next few days. I continue to educate myself on the possibities.

I agree Physx may not be worth the $200 but as you may have read I need a computer now. So I figure $200 for a couple of months on the2xx then upgrade and relegate the 2xx to physx.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/n [...] ,9709.html

I cant wait another quarter for these products to hit the shelves so after 10 years of nvidia I may have to go ATI.

So, my next questions is, do current motherboards accept ATI and Nvidia cards? Do some MB work better with ATI or Nvidia?

Cheers