New Gfx, buy now or buy later?

BeatFreak · 15-09-2003 12:40pm #1

Right I've decided im sick of this Ti4800 cause Desert Combat is only just playable @ 1600x1200 - 32bit and i need more performance. Soooooo I've decided ,like many, to change teams and go with radeon (sorry men just the figures dont lie) but heres the thing I know the new 9800xt is on its way soon. Any idea when? and if you guys had the money would you wait or just go with a 9800 Pro now? Please keep in mind that im incredibly impatient so now works for me.

Oh and one more thing which brand to go for? Well anything that Komplett stock obviously I'd need it next day 8)
Cheers Dev

Creamy Goodness · 15-09-2003 12:54pm

u have three options

1. buy a radeon 9800pro now
2. wait til the 9800XT comes out (meant to conicide with HL2 release (30 sept.))
3. wait til the 9800XT comes out and buy a 9800pro they will come down in price.

i myself have a ti4200 and i'm waiting til the 9800XT comes out to see what that is like and if it's worth the extra money over the 9800 pro i will get it

but if youre really impatient i recommend this

hope this is of help to you

Sir Random · 15-09-2003 2:36pm

If HL2 doesn't go gold today or tomorrow, it's unlikely to make Sep 30th.
If it's put back to Nov/Dec, there's a good chance that there'll be an even newer rendition of the 9800XT, maybe even the 9900. Nvidia may have a new card too, although it'll be the same FX chipset with same PS2 probs.

Buying a card now means getting a card that's already months old. By the time you get to use the DX9 features, it may even be out of production. Can't you play Desert Storm @ 1280x1024 for a few weeks?
I don't buy Gfx cards often, so I want my new card to be state of the art for at least a month or two

Creamy Goodness · 15-09-2003 2:39pm

sir random what do u meant by half-life2 going gold?

i'm not up on tech terms lol it's probaly something simple

Dooom · 15-09-2003 4:34pm

going gold basically means its ready for shipping. its got the majority of all its bugs ironed out and should ship in a coupla days or weeks. and hl2 will not be out on the 30th. valve have said now that it'll be out for "the holiday season" but im sure itll be out well before xmas

astrofool · 15-09-2003 4:49pm

as in the final code base is ready and going to be sent as a master for the production copies to be released.

Creamy Goodness · 15-09-2003 4:55pm

spike valve has said they are sticking to that release date

if you want to ask valve them selves mail the top guy gaben@valvesoftware.com

Dooom · 15-09-2003 5:02pm

did you email him? and if so could you post up the email? i know the publishers are sticking to the 30th but the dev team are saying otherwise...and don't you think they would've had a bit more advertising/marketing campaigns up by now if it was to be released on the 30th?

Ryo Hazuki · 15-09-2003 6:53pm

Always Put off buying a new Card untill the last second.

Id say buy a 9800Non-Pro , some copper Ramsinks and a big fan, around the time Deus Ex 2 Comes out (or Half-Life 2, whatever floats your boat, so to speak)

BabyEater · 15-09-2003 8:15pm

I would go with Ryo buy the 9800 non pro it will overclock to greater than pro speeds with stock cooling. Flash it to a pro and you have saved youself a lot of cash.

The saphire are a good brand as they have the samsung 3.3ns RAM which is nearly as good as the 2.8ns RAM as the 2.8 seems to be just handpicked 3.3. My 3.3 done 780mhz with no ramsinks when i flashed to the pro bios.

Sir Random · 16-09-2003 2:27pm

HL2 could be released via steam within seconds of going gold (Gold master CD created).
ATI could release the 9800XT on Sep 30th with a unique CD number allowing free download of HL2 via steam. It would be a lot cheaper for ATI and allow them and valve to meet the Sep30 deadline.
The retail boxed version could follow a few weeks later.

The Recliner · 16-09-2003 4:07pm

Hi Guys

Newbie here so be gentle

Thinking of getting the 128MB nVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Personal Cinema because of its tv tuner capabilities.

Games wise is this card decent or am I wasting my money bearing in mind I want to be able to play HL2. Doom 3 and Max Payne.

Thanks in advance

Fidelis · 16-09-2003 5:02pm

I bought a second hand GF2 64MB DDR Ultra almost 2 years ago for €120 & it's still great today

As Ryo Hazuki said, wait 'till the last second, paying €400 for a new card is just plain silly.

Creamy Goodness · 16-09-2003 5:07pm

Originally posted by The Recliner
Hi Guys

Newbie here so be gentle

Thinking of getting the 128MB nVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Personal Cinema because of its tv tuner capabilities.

Games wise is this card decent or am I wasting my money bearing in mind I want to be able to play HL2. Doom 3 and Max Payne.

Thanks in advance

you'll be better off getting a radeon 9600 if your going to play half-life2

and spike i have emailed him once but not about this topic it was about would half-life2 be on DVD of Cd's

i hope it's on dvd myself.

loads of half-life2 fansites have emailed gabe newell and he has given replies check their sites he said that they are still working towards sept 30th

Dooom · 16-09-2003 7:10pm

hmm....ah well. if it is out on the 30th all the better than coming out in november or whenever...the earlier the better!

Ryo Hazuki · 16-09-2003 8:42pm

hmm....ah well. if it is out on the 30th all the better than coming out in november or whenever...the earlier the better!

Damn right, I saw the videos yesterday, Bugbait, barricade and tunnels.

Physics look amazing, as Does the lighting.

Should be a classic.

-=Raven=- · 16-09-2003 10:35pm

Hmmm.. this gfx card question is intruiging.

In the past day I have heard about the ability to flash the bios of the Radeon 9800 Non Pro, effectively making it a 9800 Pro. The post is somewhere on the boards.. can't remember where tho.

Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a 9800 Non Pro and even without overclocking it, it's a quality card.

But the ability to do this bios flash is just nuts.

I am saying to anyone who wants a gfx card, get yourselves a 9800 Non Pro, for a decent price, and either a) Overclock it using the stock cooling to Pro speeds. I have done it and Im now actually running at 420 core / 337 mem. Which is faster than the Pro from the box.

Or b) Flash your 9800 non pro (it's simple and easy and you can't mess it up) so it'll run as a Pro.

I mean, I haven't flashed it and it's great.. but the option is there if you want to get the highest possible speeds.

Do it, do it now.

And don't mind the new 9800xt or whatever is coming out. It'll be far too expensive.

New Gfx, buy now or buy later?

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