Wait before buying new card?

[Darkmatterx]

With ATI set to launch their new card soon(ish) is now not a good time to buy? We don't even know for sure how powerful ATI's card will be. I'd like to upgrade my 9800pro but with so much up in the air right now I think it'd be best to wait. Unfortunatly theres so little good info out there on when ATI will actually launch their new card(3Q Aug-Sept?), what its spec's will be, how it'll stand up to the 7800... I feel like I'm in buyers limbo atm... The last thing I want to do is buy a card now and have it blown out of the water in 1-2 months...

 

[HardWareBoss]

From what little I've seen. Most of the new cards are PCIe. You may want to upgrade your rig now.

 

[KCjoker]

Unless you're loaded with cash I'd get the 7800 GT that's coming out very soon instead of the GTX. The GTX and ATI's top 520 card will be CPU bottlenecked like crazy anyway.

 

[shawnlizzle =]]

it really depends on ur urgency to upgrade, if u are not that much in a hurry, i would say wait until christmas, why? because the combination of new releasing cards and holidays will drive down prices a lot, so hold ur horses if ur gonna upgrade.

<font color=red>gforce mx100/200 @ 230/440 =]</font color=red>

 

[pauldh]

It all depends on the prices you get and what your current system specs are. R9800 pro is still a decent card if the rest of your system can keep up with it.

A GF7800GTX through Dell for $500, is hard to beat. Of course for half the price, a X800XL would more than tide you over til R580/G80 come out and would be a nice holdover card if you want to step up the system to A64 PCI-e now. It's always a bad time to buy as new hardware will come out that will blow away the current top of the line. Yet it's always a good time to buy too as you'll get more for the same money today than you would have 2 months ago. We could play the what if game over and over. That said, it may be worth waiting for dual core cpus to take off, and next gen vga cards to come out, if your current system is adequate for your games.

Basically, upgrade when your system starts to disappoint you in a game you want to play. Then take a little time to find out the best current hardware in your price range, and then find the best deal you can. Don't worry about R520; If your budget is that unlimited that you can afford that card and a system to match, then what is a $100 loss selling off the 7800GTX or X800XL and upgrading later? That's my 2 cents anyway.



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[julius]

what i would do is keep your system, and buy an agp x800xl. it will last till the middle of next year, when you can get a socket m2 65nm x2, and a more mature crossfire setup, or at least crossfire capable. the r520 is almost bound to outperform the g70, but ati cant have another paper launch cause of the nvidia standard, so its waiting until its yields permit mass production, so it probably wont come out until the fall.

 

[Gamer_369]

I would absolutely wait to purchase a new card until the R520 is released, and any surprise from nVidia, as well. Hopefully, this will take place later this Summer/Early Fall. By the way, you don't have to wait until ATI releases their high-end card in early 2006, because I can already guarantee to you that it will be a 32 piped card with clock speeds surpassing any other card.

Honestly, if money is an issue, the 7800 GT seems attractive at this point (even though it hasn't yet been released). Compare it to whatever ATI releases as a competition, and whichever performs best, get it.

For next generation, I wouldn't get anything lower than a 24 piped card, because heck, you could just get a 6800 Ultra right now. Although the low-end R520 is supposed to feature SM3, so perhaps rethink your options on that.

The only advise I can really tell you at this point would be to just wait things out...I think you can manage just a couple more months with your 9800 Pro. Once ATI releases their cards, making a decision will be *much* easier. Right now, though, there's not much concrete info to offer.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Well as HB asked, are we talking AGP? If so, that's not going to be out until about Oct/Nov for ATi, and maybe never for nV, so your wait will be long regardless.

If you're unsure, then get an X800XL or GF6800GT for now, and then sell it for the difference once you're sure of what you want to replace it with. Between now and then there will be changes in CPUs, MoBos, maybe memory, and definitely lotsa changes in cards.

By that time there may even be the intro more future-friendly MoBos too, with features like PCIe-150W.

Also consider the launch of the GF7800GT too.

But once again this is all future/navel-gazing.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <A HREF="http://www.redgreen.com/" target="_new"><font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red></A> GA to SK

 

[Darkmatterx]

Wow! First I want to say thank-you to everyone who took the time to answer me, I really appriciate it!

Second, yes I am working with AGP for now. Over the past couple days I've given much more serious thought to buying one of the "last year" cards to save money and as you all know, most games won't even tax those unless I go crazy with the res and FSAA.

I do have a couple questions. Since I would prefer to stay ATI, why does everyone suggest the X800XL? Isn't that quite a bit slower then the XT series? I also was wondering if I should get the X850XTPE. Obviously more money, but how much faster is it then the X800XL? Im hoping that the release of the R520 will bring the X850XTPE down in price a bit too. But I dunno, maybe the 800, or 850XT aren't worth the money, maybe the X800XL is the best bet for performance vs cash? Thats why Im asking all these questions.

Thanks!

 

[mofofosho]

heres an alternative approach if youre considering buying into ati sometime into the future...buy its stock instead.
rumor has it theyre up fer grabs. so heres a tip, buy some, keep some and use the gains to get yourself what you need.
be forewarned though, this is not the gospel truth nor is it the gospel of gold to everything else that may follow.
so stick with all the abovementioned forum gurus advice and pennyworths dished out to you, its all good, but if it
confuses you, then stop, drop and roll...that way you'll have ample time to think it tru'...heck, patience and prudence never killed anyone, YET.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Isn't that quite a bit slower then the XT series? I also was wondering if I should get the X850XTPE. Obviously more money, but how much faster is it then the X800XL?

The Most recent and ongoingly updated lists are from Digit-Life/ixbt.com ;

<A HREF="http://www.ixbt.com/video2/itogi-video.shtml" target="_new">http://www.ixbt.com/video2/itogi-video.shtml</A>

Unfortunately they still haven't translated their latest 3D digest, but if you look at the benchies you should get a feel for what the performance difference is.

Th main advanaage of the XL is price/value/performance, not overall performance. If you want just speed then the X850XTPE is the fastest AGP card out there.

The thing about the value of the XLs is that some of the X800XTs are droping in price and they threaten the overal price/performance of the XL, so it comes down to preference. If you can get an X800XT (or above) or an X850XT (or above) for the same or nearly same price, then go for it.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <A HREF="http://www.redgreen.com/" target="_new"><font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red></A> GA to SK

 

[HardWareBoss]

Since your staying with ATI. X800XL AGP best card for the money. You have lots of $$$$$ X850XTPE is the way to go.

 

[HardWareBoss]

How soon before you upgrade your rig again?

 

[pauldh]

Yeah but in AGP, the X800XL is over $300 vs. $250 for PCI-e. <A HREF="http://www.actbuy.com/details.asp?item=AT10X850XT" target="_new">And the X850XTpe is $399 in AGP</A> vs. $475 for PCI-e.
In PCI-e the step from X800XL to X850XTpe is $225, but in AGP it is under $100 to step up. If he wants to do AGP, the X800XL isn't a bargain IMO. High end AGP best buys are GF6800GT, AIW X800XT, and X850XTpe. Plus the XTpe is still the top AGP card for bragging rights. :tongue:



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<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pauldh on 07/11/05 04:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pauldh]

Let me ask again; what are your current system specs? (mobo, cpu, RAM) Is your system worthy of a $300-$400 AGP card or will it be a major bottleneck of overall performance.

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[Darkmatterx]

P4 3ghz with HT, Abit IC7 MB (800FSB) 1 gig of Corsair ram, 9800pro

When will I do a full upgrade? Not sure, Ofcourse I can always buy better stuff, but my system is holding up pretty good for being (thinks) 2years old?

Probably will upgrade to Duel CPU, PCI-E when I have the money/need more power. But neither is likely to happen to soon.

 

[HardWareBoss]

Wow. Nice price on the X850XTPE. That would be the way to go. Since X800XL are $350 in AGP.

 

[HardWareBoss]

Have you bought from them?

 

[pauldh]

No, Not yet. But I will if you want to buy a BFG 6800U OC.

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[pauldh]

That is still a nice system. If I were buying it would be the BBA X850XTpe for $399. You need to at least do a X800XL or GF6800U to make an upgrade worthwhile. GF6600GT or GF6800 12 pipe is just not a big enough upgrade from a 9800 pro IMO.


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[Darkmatterx]

A couple others caught my eye today.

1. The liquid metal cooled X850 by Saphire

2. the new x800 AIW card. I've never had an AIW card but I read over the details and they seem pretty cool. Can the card pick up free TV over the air or something? The descriptions don't really say...

I got to many damn choices! lol

Edit: Is there any reason NOT to consider the AIW? I used to hear that the AIW's don't perform as well as the non-AIW cards, is that still true, and if yes, how big is the difference?

Thanks<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Darkmatterx on 07/13/05 03:04 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[mofofosho]

price for one...and the "terminator" comes to mind, saying which, you pay a hefty premium for the kitchen sink...only thing is, its neither a kitchen nor a sink, so the good thing is, its in the form of their improved proprietory theatre chip.

 

[Crashman]

The AIW X800 XT performs identically to the standard X800 XT. But you're refering to the new AIW X800 XL, which hasn't been reviewed yet.

Formerly, the AIW 9600 Pro performed BETTER than the standard 9600 Pro because it came with higher memory clocks.

Way back in the AIW 8500 days, the AIW 8500DV was clocked slower than the standard Radeon 8500.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[mihasya]

i have been paciently saving money to build a new rig for past 3 years,i havent been able to play new games for some time now and still compiling the list or hardware i will need, but it seems the longer i wait the more confusing it gets with video cards, originaly i was going to get the Rosewill X800XL for $269.00 from newegg but now they dont sell it anymore, all off sudden it disapeared from there database, now i am trying to find another one for for around the same price($300), problem is i dont know which one.

what you think about this X800XL?
Brand HIS Hightech
Model P-ICE80XN-2I-ZAM
Chipset
GPU Radeon X800XL
Core clock 432MHz
PixelPipelines 16
Memory
Memory Clock 1000MHz
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Type GDDR3
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 2.0
Interface
Interface PCI Express x16
Ports
D-SUB 1
DVI 1
TV-Out HDTV/S-Video/Composite Out
TV Tuner No
General
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048x1536@85Hz

$288 @ new egg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161132)

 

[Rugger]

It's the one I would have suggested. You can always cruise <A HREF="http://www.bensbargains.net" target="_new">Benbargains.net</A> or <A HREF="http://www.techbargains.com" target="_new">Techbargains.com </A> to look for some good deals, too.

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