High-end becoming low-end.

[TheOtis]

So, I know that new computer parts come out all the time, always faster and better and whatnot. Right now I have a 7800GT. Now when I bought this back in oct., it was considerd a high end card, only a step down from a 7800GTX (before they came out w/ the 512mb version).


Anyone on here an expert on how long it takes for a high end card to become a mid range to low end card? I know the 7900's are coming out in awhile and they're suppose to be insane, but i'm, not sure how big of a performance jump they'll offer.

 

[Waphlez]

Well the 7900GT is going to perform like a 7800GTX for a cheaper price, and the 7900GTX is pretty much just a pumped up 7800GTX 512MB. The 7800GT still has quite a lot of life in it but I'll say it already is upper med-end becuase of newer cards, X1900XT, 7800GTX 512MB, and the 7900GTX are out (except the 7900's which come out by next week). But those cards are very powerful and right now the 7800GT can play games with max/high settings so I say if you have a 7800GT it should last you the rest of the year before you need to upgrade.

 

[TheOtis]

Oh very nice, thanks alot of such a quick response also. That'd be nice. Ill probably wait to upgrade until the new socket from AMD has been out for awhile and the new windows, depending on what I hear about it that is. I wouldn't mind upgradeing again for the 939. I mean, so far i';ve heard the only real benefit to the new socket is its support of DDR2. Which wont really mean anything until they get faster timings. I wonder how much longer the 939 will be supported with new products? If it's gonna be awhile, id consider getting an even 2gigs of ram. But my reason for an SLI mobo, besides the fact that I got it at an extremely low price, is that later on, when the 7800gt becomes an actualy mid rage, possbly adding another one for SLI, depending on what cards are out at the time .

Plus i'd really like to keep my X2 for aslong as possible, itll come in very handy once games support dual cores, maybe thatl help out my 7800gt when games beomce more power hungry.

EDIT: I dont wanna sound like i think that you cant use a 7800gt w/ the new AMD socket haha, i was only saying that because i like to upgrade in cycles, so I dont have a PC component thats a bottleneck.

 

[003]

The 7900 series is not such a huge jump from the 7800 series... The 7900GTX is only susposed to be 8-10% faster than the 7800GTX512.

 

[Annoyed_Flanker]

But the 7800GTX-512 is only a little slower than the X1900XT, so a 10% increase over that could be significant.

 

[Waphlez]

But the 7800GTX-512 is only a little slower than the X1900XT, so a 10% increase over that could be significant.

That is in non-shader intensive games, or games biased to nvidia software. In heavy shaded games like FEAR the X1900XT is like 15-25% better then the 7800GTX 512MB.

 

[Annoyed_Flanker]

That only happens when you turn on Anisotropic Filtering. In FEAR, on 1280x1024, with AA and AF off, the 7800GTX-512MB beats the X1900XTX.

And compared to the X1900XT, with AA and AF on, the 7800GTX-512MB is not that much slower...not 15-25% worth.