few quick questions

[ak_smallz]

i need a few questions answered

how much longer will agp last?
how long will the 6600GT last (be able to play games at modest settings)?
how long will a 9600pro last (be able to play games at modest settings)?

thanks for the help

 

[waynejkruse10]

companies will continue to produce AGP for at least a year from now. The 9600 pro may last another 4 months bieng able to play games on modest settings. The 6600GT will probly last 2 years +

 

[Nubius]

No one besides game developers, motherboard, and graphics card makers could possibly answer questions like that.

For all we know within 6 months they might have some 'huge breakthrough' and graphics just jump through the roof inwhich a 6600GT would perform like a Gf3 now-a-days.

Of course thats an exaggeration but you get my point

 

[Sui]

honestly I'd expect agp to be produced for another year, or 2 with a continual climb in pricing as the market falls away

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

We cannot accuratly tell the future

9600pro can barely play some games at modest settings
6600GT has at least a year as well.

 

[gsbtech]

Consider this. I can still buy decent PCI graphics cards. Most of all, graphics card manufacturers want to sell a lot of graphics cards. Only a very small fraction of currently used consumer systems have PCI express. Furthermore, gaming (and perhaps video editing) is the only reason for current home consumers to upgrade - and that's an expensive upgrade when you consider that consoles will cost a couple hundred. As long as AGP is a billion dollar market, there will be AGP cards supporting new graphics processors.

Morever, software developers want to sell a lot of games. Even a year or two from now, an overwhelming percentage of consumer systems will still be running AGP. However, game developers have been known to push the limits more than card manufacturers. The economic reason here is simple, the cost of producing cards scales with the number of cards - not so for copying a piece of code.