DX10 mid range cards stink!

[Konovalov]

Dear oh dear. First it was Nvidia who brought out their poor mid range Dx10 cards such as the 8600GT which was either equal if not worse than the old 7900GS or 7800 cards that have been out for a long time. And now ATI has responded by bringing out an ever wose performing range of cards that make the Nvidia 8600 series look not half bad. Read the article here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3023&p=1

I am so glad that I held off on my graphics card purchase last Christmas. My Nvidia 7900GS (overclocked) is doing the business for now.

Nvidia and ATI should lift their collective socks up. Not everyone wants to spend upwards of £400 for a top level card. Bring back the days of great priced mid-range performers such as the 6600GT and so forth.

[kiwi_2005]

Yep the 7800GT and 6600GT card owner here for two PC's, but what ive read the 8600 -8800 cards perform pretty well. 8 series cards SLI mode only way to go.

[Takeda Shingen]

Here, here! I've had it with overpriced hardware.

[Heibges]

I'm hoping to get by with my current rig for another year or two.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Heibges

I'm hoping to get by with my current rig for another year or two.

Same for me, that'S why invested in another APG 7900GS last x-mas, hoping to escape needing to switch to a complete new system, which would have costed me even more money.

Thing is I play only rarely now, and have lost most interest in most of my titles I own, there are only three or four that I fire up at times, and I do not feel like this trend is going to reverse again in my life. Since my current rig can handle all that I have in absolutely satisfying ways, I have absolutely zero needs for a stronger system - it would be a waste or ressources, and money.

If it goes like this, in two years or so I will only play chess and SBP anymore - and for that a cheap laptop would be suffient. The bureau stuff like Words, internet and some image adjustments can be done with far inferior systems than what I have now.

I think I will save a lot of money in the near future!

[FIREWALL]

I like others with agp mb were in a delema of whether to upgrade vid card or build new rig.

I went with 7600gs 512mb from a 6600 256mb for $150.00 for the cheap fix for SH-4. And vowed not to spend a penny more till I build a new rig.

A few days ago a computer friend brought a guy over I know slightly who was in a bind for money for his car and had a new vid card for sale.

a XFX 7950 GT 512mb he had paid $245.00 from NewEgg still in sealed box with receipt for $100.00.

I was dubious and asked why he didn't return it since it was still sealed. The truth came out his car was in impound and he couldn't wait.

So you don't need to guess what I did next. Immediatly broke my vow.

I think and hope I can put off and do alot more research on a new mb that will be more able to be upgradeable in the future.

Talk about blind luck.

[SUBMAN1]

ATI and NVidia actually lose money on their top of the line products. They don't sell enough of them to be profitable, yet they still have to have a line open to produce them. The mid range and low priced cards are actually their bread and butter. They simply use the top of the line cards for market recognition.

I have to agree though, the last few round of mid range cards were pretty pathetic. Back when cards like the 9600 Pro and XT models were around, those were some decent mid range boards, along with NVidia's 6600 line. Back then, you could expect at least 75% or better the performance of the top of the line boards, but lately, the mid-ranged boards are pathetic, only offering half or even less of the perf of the top of the line versions.

I broke down and paid $570 + tax for my current x1900 XTX and I wouldn't dream of buying anything less than a top range boards these days. So, I guess they can lose money on me!

-S

PS. I'm skipping this first generation of 8800's and 2900's. They are power hogs! I already think my current x1900 XTX is way more a power hog than I would like.

PPS. Don't bank on the ATI reviews this time around. If I am able to predict anything, AMD will not care to release a top notch card this product cycle. They have more important plans for their resources by cramming a fast GPU into their multi core archetecture - called Fusion. Not sure where this will leave NVidia in the future, but NVidia may be left holding the bag - imagine a GPU/CPU on the same die, maybe even dual core GPU/CPU on the same die with no annoying bus in between. The speed and idea is scary, and should be very scary for NVidia.

PPPS. I wonder if NVidia will be bought up by Intel as a result? Seems like the only logical conclusion. Intel's multi core technology sucks compared to AMD's though, so it won't work as well.

PPPPS. Imagine way fast floating point and way fast integer performance on the same exact die? I need to get my hands on the AMD Fusion!

[JSLTIGER]

I've fallen in love with my new 8800 GTS...very, very quiet...not to mention one heck of a lot more powerful than the 9700 Pro it replaced.

I'm only a fanboy of whoever has the top performance...ATi last time around, nVidia this time.

I am looking forward to Crysis in DX10!

[Reaves]

I currently have a 7600GS 512mb PCIE card which gets the job done. Like many i'm planning on waiting a bit before I get a DX10 card. Once I do that i'll probably splash out and get a high end one so when they go down in price I can get another one and SLI it. Holds off a complete upgrade for a bit longer.

Intel Core Duo 2.4g
2 Gig Kingston Ram
Audigy 2
200g SATA as main drive + 300 g IDE for storage.

[TwistedFemur]

Of course they stink...they are designed for DX10 and its not out yet.
If you are running vista ...no you do not have dx10 you have dx9(r) or somthing like that.....or so ive heard

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by TwistedFemur

Of course they stink...they are designed for DX10 and its not out yet.
If you are running vista ...no you do not have dx10 you have dx9(r) or somthing like that.....or so ive heard

WHo told you that? Vista is built on DX10. Here is the DXDiag from my machine I am on right now - shows DX10:



You can kind of see the transparency in the bar on top!

Incase anybody cares, it works OK on a 2500+, but it is still a bit slow. This is a test machine here. I also have it loaded on a Ferrari 5000 laptop, and another Acer 4400 (which is at home right now) with an ML-30 AMD XP64 mobile + ATI x700. This garbage Athlon 2500 scores better than the Acer does though! I think because the graphics card has 128 MB in this machine is why. The Acer only has 64 MB for it's x700.

-S

[JSLTIGER]

Subman, just curious, what's your WEI score?