The R600/G8x dilemma

[SH64]

Anybody with a high-end card right now (79xx/X19xx) having a hard time deciding what to get as a next-gen DX10 card ?
the situation looks very complex for those people as there are many options & none seem to be certain.
my friend has a X1900XTX right now & wants to upgrade .. he has the cash now & really confused what to do & so do i! here are the options (or some of them) :
1) Get 8800GTX now , but if 8800Ultra comes out in April it will be a bad decision.
2) Wait for 8800Ultra , but if it didnt come on April 17th .. again it will be bad.
& if it came on time , what if the R600 turned out to be even better than the 8800U ? :confused:
3) Wait for the R600/8800U benchmarks & then settle but again we dont know when the r600 will come . it may takes time (May or June). he want to upgrade soon.
4) Wait for 8900GTX that might come out & beat the R600 right after its lanuch but no one's sure about that too.
5) Wait for the 8850GX2/8950GX2 & this is still unconfirmed product.

seriously the situation is pretty complex & i dont know what to tell him :confused:

lose/lose situation ?

[shabby]

The solution is simple, wait till all cards come out and choose the faster one. Its not like every game is unplayable with the x1900.

[mullet]

SH64, I am in the same boat man. I want to get a 8800GTX so bad I can taste it but I am using all my will power to WAIT till the R600 and the 8900 comes out and after some benchmarks. The wait is driving me nuts. :headexplode:

shabby, I hear what your saying and your right just hard to do. lol

[rhink]

You can always play the waiting game, these days there's almost always something new just around the corner. I'm personally waiting a little longer, but I'm pretty pleased with the performance I get out of my 7950 GT for most stuff. If you're not so patient and you have the money, it's hard to go wrong with the 8800's. The R600's are a complete unknown at this point, both on release dates and performance. It's hard to make a decision based on that!

[Wolfhound]

It depends on how much pacience you have, I have little so...

[Heinz68]

No dilemma here, when the R600 is going to be released I simply going to get the best deal, but if I did know in November the R600 is going to be so much delayed I sure would have get the 8800GtX.

Now am I sorry that I didn't get the 8800 few months ago ? Not really, I believe NVIDIA is going to get a new card to spoil the ATI release, the rumors are either 8800Ultra or 8900GTX which is going to give me more choices.
In the mean time I was able to play all my games with the overclocked X1900XT without any problem, sure not all at the highest setting.

[SH64]

The solution is simple, wait till all cards come out and choose the faster one. Its not like every game is unplayable with the x1900.
Problem is my friend has the cash now & he knows that he's going to spend it somewhere else if he waited for too long.

i have no problem waiting though. i already got the 8800GTX early & enjoying its power right now. (Stalker , TDU & all that)

[slaWter]

One word: G90!

[Mojoe]

Guess the problem will be, when the R600 is here it will get a short life aka the X1800, then we will have the R650 at 65 nm to take over ......... and we get a lot of pissed people.

[Redeemed]

I'd recommend that your friend get the 8800GTX for right now. Not a super fancy one, just a stock 8800GTX. Or, maybe save some $$$ and go with a 640MB 8800GTS. That is still an insanely powerful card compared to his current X1900XTX. With just one 8800GTS in my girly's s754 3400 rig, I'm running FEAR at 1600x1200, 8xAA, 16xAA, GCAA, TAA, vsync+tb, and all in-game options maxed without a problem. It stays 45+ fps the majority of the time only dipping to around 30fps in just a few spots.

I'd say he should go for a single 640MB 8800GTS for now. Then, when R600 is released see what is the best option then. If the R650 will be just a few months later, with the refresh to the 8800GTX soon as well- then he could just use the 8800GTS to last him untill all the refreshes are out. That's what I'd recommend. Once the refresh cards (G81, R650) are available, sell the 8800GTS for one of the new top of the line cards (which ever is best).

That's just my opinion though. ;)

[Zelda_fan]

I bought an 8800 a month ago, and if the R600 destroys it, I'll sell it and buy the R600.

[tieros]

I'd say he should go for a single 640MB 8800GTS for now.


I agree, especially since it's what I just did :)

A base 8800 640MB GTS should retain the highest percentage of its value when the new cards from both camps are released relative to the other cards.

I'd suggest going with eVGA so the stepup program would be an option if the 8900 turns out to be the winner of this round, and the performance gain over the 8800 is too painful not to upgrade :D

[methimpikehoses]

Get the EVGA GTX now, for ~$550, and less with the MIR. That is $65 less than MSRP. Then when the 89's come out you can upgrade if you want with the stepup, and the price difference will be small.

Or, if the GTX's drop drastically in price, just buy another one when they do and go SLI.

That's my plan.

[FastRedPonyCar]

The waiting game sucks. I waited well over a year to upgrade my system and finally just said F it and bit the bullet last week.

The only question mark I still have is the video card. I got a 7600GT to use temporarily until I know what will happen this summer.

In my opinion, there's no sense in buying now when I don't NEED it. All the games I play are running at very high if not maxed out graphics settings and it won't be until alan wake, biosphere and of course crysis come out that I'll want to see benchmark tests of the latest, greatest cards. Which ever is the fastest running those games will get my money.

the step up option is an alternative but not one that particularly interests me becuase, as I said, what I've got runs most games as high as I want them to go and a slight bump up in fps or a few details turned on here or there aren't worth that extra $450 to me right now.

Once Crysis cripples my 7600, then I'll step up.

With a 1900XTX, your friend isn't exactly suffering. I'd tell him to just wait it out until all the cards are on the table so to speak, look at the benchmarks, see what people think.. ie driver issues, overheating, power consumption (if applicable), etc.. And then make a decision.

[DRen72]

If the R600 is even close to being as fast as the 8800GTX and has stable fast drivers that actually work in Vista unlike the 8800GTX, then I will gladly move back over to the ATi. I am not partial to any brand...just whatever is best at the time. Right now I'm not happy with nVidia or Microsoft because of the Vista fiasco.

[snilloconator]

You'll never have the latest and greatest!!! Soooo keep waiting one day you will own a R6000 or maybe a 89000GTX/ULTRA/GX2....LOL Just by a damn card already. I think the bench marks between all these latest cards will be minimal regardless.

[NrGx]

Just get a G80 as soon as you have the money. Waiting for hardware is useless. Oh and btw, the X2900XTX beats the 8800GTX by...3% albeit on beta drivers.

Enjoy the best card on the market now!

[LORD-eX-Bu]

get an EVGA 8800 GTS, when the 8900 GTX comes out you can step it up:D

[v3rninater]

One phrase (rly...) 8950GX2

kthxbai:headexplode:

[SeriTonin]

I'm waiting for some dx10 games before I pay for sh*t. :thumbdwn:

[Amuro]

At this moment, it's better just wait for R600 and the nVidia refressh. If it was 3 months ago, I'd have recommened to get a 8800 series card.

[fivefeet8]

At this moment, it's better just wait for R600 and the nVidia refressh. If it was 3 months ago, I'd have recommened to get a 8800 series card.

I agree. If you waited this long already, might as well wait until you see what both camps offer in the few months ahead.

I'm glad I didn't wait 6 months ago. :P

[walterman]

Think it's worth to wait for some DX10 titles.

We still dunno how performs the G80 with DX10 in any game.

[Woodelf]

I'd say, if this is a once in a life
time oportunity, then get the high end DX10 card before he misses out.
If I had the money, I'd do the same and replace My x1900xt with an 8800gtx. Since I have to save up for my stuff, I'm going to get all i can out of this x1900xt by waiting till the end of 07 for my next upgrade. But then I'm more about gameplay than eye candy.

[grey_1]

Just my humble opinion, there is always going to be something within the next few months. Grab the GTX if waiting isn't an option. Either way I doubt there will be any disappointment with IQ and power.