Decisions, worth it to go R800 or Geforce 300 series?

[VampD]

I'm asking myself this question since I'm planning on upgrading from my 9800 gtx+. It can pretty much handle anything I can throw at it as of now, but with prices dropping so low ( a GTX 275 for $150 at frys a few weeks ago! ) I think its time for an upgrade come around Dec/Jan. However since the new R800 and Geforce 300 series are coming out ( direct x11 capable ) they will be at a premium price while the previous generations will all drop in price correspondingly. Since the R800 and Geforce 300 series have new architecture its near impossible to tell just how big of a gap in performance it will have.

Do you guys think its worth it to either upgrade to the previous generation for a good deal ( something around a hd4870 or gtx 275 ) or pay a premium and go with the new stuff and hope direct x11 is more then what lame dx10 was. ( well lame in my opinion in that it wasn't that ground breaking and games rarely used it )

so I guess mainly its an issue about:
1. How big will directx11 be, and will it become the standard unlike directx10? ( I'm guessing xp won't be dx11 compatible like it wasnt with dx10 )

2. How big of a gap of performance will the newer generations be from the old ( I know you guys can't tell the future but speculation won't hurt )

3. How much cheaper will the previous generations get come the holidays and will it be worth it to get the previous generation once you factor in future longlitivity

 

[philbar71]

1. no DX11 for XP, vista and win 7 only. and DX11 is supposed to be pretty big jump from DX 10. like the jump from DX8 to DX9

2. what i am hopeing for is a jump from the 7950gt days to the 8800ultra. but i doubt we will see that much of a jump. what i think is we will see a jump like from the 9800GTX to the GTX 280.

3. i doubt that the current gen cards are going to get much cheaper. the GTX 285 might come down to $250 but i doubt we will see it that low.

but all this is extreme speculation. and it depends on how much cash you have when the new cards come out and how much they are.

 

[VampD]

1. no DX11 for XP, vista and win 7 only. and DX11 is supposed to be pretty big jump from DX 10. like the jump from DX8 to DX9

2. what i am hopeing for is a jump from the 7950gt days to the 8800ultra. but i doubt we will see that much of a jump. what i think is we will see a jump like from the 9800GTX to the GTX 280.

3. i doubt that the current gen cards are going to get much cheaper. the GTX 285 might come down to $250 but i doubt we will see it that low.

but all this is extreme speculation. and it depends on how much cash you have when the new cards come out and how much they are.

Will DX11 really be that big though? I ask this because they REALLY hyped up DX10 which really turned out to be a few more added details and rocks. I'm wondering how long it will take for programmers adopt. If cards are coming out just this christmas that can do DX11, then I predict we won't see any games that really take advantage of DX11 at least until 2011...anyone agree?

Also will prices really not drop that much? The gtx 285 is still pricey because its relatively new, but doesn't seem that much ahead of the GTX 280 and the newer gtx 275. Won't prices of the GTX 280 and 260 plummet below 150?

 

[philbar71]

AnandTech: Revealing The Power of DirectX 11

and the reason the prices will not drop by much is because the GT200 cards are very expensive to make. the GTX 260 might go below $150 but i doubt it. and we will be lucky to see the GTX285 at $200. i mean, look at old cards like the 2900XT, those are still at $300.

 

[VampD]

AnandTech: Revealing The Power of DirectX 11

and the reason the prices will not drop by much is because the GT200 cards are very expensive to make. the GTX 260 might go below $150 but i doubt it. and we will be lucky to see the GTX285 at $200. i mean, look at old cards like the 2900XT, those are still at $300.

so in other words, the evga GTX 275 for $150 at frys was a very rare deal and I shouldn't expect prices to drop that low again?

 

[Slaymate]

I've upgraded from (2) 7800GTX's to (2) 7950GX2's to (2) 8800GTX's to (3) 9800GTX's to (2) GTX 280's. The jump from the 8800GTX to the 9800 GTX wasn't much, but a 3rd card helped and they were fairly cheap for a new "Series" of cards. I expect to see a pretty big boost from Nvidia. I'm not so sure about ATi, they just released the 4890 and while it's a good buy for the Dollar it really isn't that fast of a card. It almost seems like ATi is only concerned with the Budget Minded Shopper. Which is fine, they'll get more profit per research $ as there are alot more low to mid range PC's than there are High-End PC's.

As for pricing, it's hard to say what the new cards will cost and what the old ones will drop to. But you'll probably be able to get a good deal on a used card when the new cards come out. I'll have (2) GTX 280's for sale and they have been Verified as KicK Arse. As a pair they've beat up quite a few GTX 285's

 

[Apokalipse]

We don't know which cards will be faster (5870 or GTX 380)
We just know that ATI's will be released first, and are likely to be cheap to manufacture (the same way RV770 was)

I've upgraded from (2) 7800GTX's to (2) 7950GX2's to (2) 8800GTX's to (3) 9800GTX's to (2) GTX 280's. The jump from the 8800GTX to the 9800 GTX wasn't much, but a 3rd card helped and they were fairly cheap for a new "Series" of cards. I expect to see a pretty big boost from Nvidia. I'm not so sure about ATi, they just released the 4890 and while it's a good buy for the Dollar it really isn't that fast of a card. It almost seems like ATi is only concerned with the Budget Minded Shopper. Which is fine, they'll get more profit per research $ as there are alot more low to mid range PC's than there are High-End PC's.

I don't now what you mean by it being "not that fast of a card". It is a very fast card compared to other single GPU's.
I mean okay, it's not a huge jump from a 4870. But it's not meant to be.
The same way that a GTX 275 or 285 is not a huge jump from a GTX 260 or 280.

ATI's strategy with the 4000 series was to have fast cards, but at the same time to have aggressive prices. They did that by making the die small. GDDR5 + a 256-bit bus played a large part in that.

 

[Slaymate]

I don't now what you mean by it being "not that fast of a card". It is a very fast card compared to other single GPU's.

It's the ATi Flagship single card solution yet it's just a mid-range card as far as performance.

 

[Apokalipse]

It's the ATi Flagship single card solution yet it's just a mid-range card as far as performance.

It's almost as fast as a 285, which is Nvidia's fastest single GPU card. Probably better when both are overclocked.

 

[meat_helmet]

DX11 brings in Tessalation among things - that is going to help graphics a fair bit but dont expect games to use it properly for a while. DX11 looks to be much better than 10.

I doubt the GTX285 to come down much in price. Top end cards never really do, plus the die size on them is so big that nVidia couldnt affor to sell them much chear than they do.