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Anyone sick of graphics card upgrades ?

Flanno

Flanno

Flanno

Soldato
Joined
18 Jun 2005
Posts
3,434
Was looking at the release schedule for upcoming games, and for me besides Rome Heart Of Empire, and that brilliant platformer Psychonauts out on the 10th Feb (which is already out in the US), there is literally nothing interesting I can see in the next few months, and certainly nothing that requires a next gen card. So unless you were planning to replay Quake4, HL2, Fear etc.. at even higher AA and/or Res settings on one of the new cards, I dont see ANY point to the next gen video cards at all, at least until games come out that will make use of it.

I guess this is the way it's always been with every new generation of cards - only 1 or 2 games come out that push it, if you are lucky enough not to be cpu limited. And the next gen cards will be the same, probably allowing you to play your current games at even higher res or aa settings. But I don't see the point. At some stage you have to be happy with a certain performance level, and spending massive money to replay the same game at higher res with higher visual settings or read about the game benches in some review just doesn't make sense.

If games development was in line with card releases then it would be a different story entirely, as we would have fancy new games to look forward to playing with our new cards. But right now I think we have got into a severe case of diminishing returns.

I personally think 360 oweners are in a good position. Their hardware is locked down, and they can get on with the business of enjoying games instead of benchmarks, and as with the last Xbox, as the developers get to grips with the console, they will squeeze more and more out of it. Just look how well Doom3 and Farcry turned out on the Xbox.

I am half considering just opting out of pc gaming altogether, and buying a 360 soon.

Anyone share my sentiments ?
 
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Funny coming from someone with 2x7800GTXs... you dont have to upgrade simply because you can it is a matter of choice. And there are games that stress even the most powerful of graphics cards, such as your setup would struggle with FEAR or CoD2 absolutely maxed out (1920x1080 8xAA 16xAF)
 
Yeah I can see where you're coming from - not that many good games in the future etc. However no-one forces you to buy the latest gen cards.. I've had an X800 Pro (flashed to XTPE) for almost 2 years now, which has served me fine.

I'll only upgrade it when I can't play games I want to in high detail.
 
Its all personal preference, surely? I mean if you dont want a top of the line GC - you dont have to buy them. You can lower the res, turn down the eye candy etc etc. Im sure a 9800 can still hack fear if you drop to 800x600. But, if your anything like me, you like to view games at a decent res (1280) and with some eye candy in there too (Adaptive AA / AF). At the moment my X800XL can just hack the res, so I actually need something to allow me to have the eye candy (cant really drop the res, as I have a TFT so things tend to look a bit blocky out of its native res...).

So er... well I like the fact that both companies are churning out new graphic cards for the following key reasons:
1) Pushes game makers to make new and better looking games.
2) Pushes down the price of older card; new graphics cards are always priced roughly the same (say £350). This means I can buy a top of the line ex-next gen card for like £200/£250 which is amazing value.
3) I can play 95% of all my games with max graphics.

So any reason you can come up for hating the fact that they bring out new cards can usually be gunned down by:
1) You dont have to buy them.
2) Just turn down the graphics settings.
 
One of the points I was trying to make is that it is a waste to buy into the next generation as there is nothing new on the horizon (bar Unreal 3 I guess) that will stress out current sli setups. Games development seems to have fallen behind what these cards can do. Sure Fear at 1920 with 8X AA would stress my setup out, even 4x does, but why would I upgrade to a new card to play the same game ? I will basically be exercising some common sense like a lot of people on these forums and just hold onto my setup until I cant play games the way I like anymore. I think I will uninstall 3dmark too.

<edit>Of course a lot of what I am saying stems from the fact that like a lot of people I have an uncontrollable urge to buy the latest graphics hardware. Sad state of affairs really, especially when something new and better comes along you can't afford.</edit>
 
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I read it differently though, Goksly. I hate the upgrades because of the petty arguments we see in this forum. I think the OP has the same sentiments. I have come to realise that this series of card, which I started with in Nov 2003, will last me, and I cannot be bothered to upgrade until I really need it.
 
Fair dues to ya. I would never be so disciplined, but as I said I think I will be changing my tune in the future. I will let the games dicate when I need to upgrade and not blasted benchmarks or reviews.
 
smids said:
I read it differently though, Goksly. I hate the upgrades because of the petty arguments we see in this forum. I think the OP has the same sentiments. I have come to realise that this series of card, which I started with in Nov 2003, will last me, and I cannot be bothered to upgrade until I really need it.
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You really shouldnt let any petty arguments, let alone internet fanboy arguements sway you mate. There is normally one or two arguements on this place that have some substance, and then there are the ones where people say "ATI suxz0r because they force A.I. on" but never back it up.

You really need to practice the fine art of selective reading :) To be honest, I think I will buy the next gen just so it has me set for the next year or so, as Im using a TFT im at a fixed res, so the next gen shoudl give me full eye candy at that res, then im set until shader 4.0 and what ever Vista brings with it :)
 
I haven't seen any need to upgrade for ages now. My 9800 Pro is finally starting to strain on games so that for me is the time to upgrade. I've got a 7800GT coming and it'll do me for a good while. I quite like the idea of SLi now as well. Once I need some more grunt I'll just get another 7800GT which shouldn't cost too much by that time.
 
yeah buy an xbox 360

mind you if everybody does that it will be bleak for the overclocking shops

Good job people are stupid and will continue paying £400 for a graphics card :D
 
Flanno said:
I am half considering just opting out of pc gaming altogether, and buying a 360 soon.

Anyone share my sentiments ?
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Yep I share them 100% my last gfx card cost £211 to play what 3 or 4 good quality games. Really don't see the point for the next few years anyway. I'm going to jump on the next gen console bandwagon and play those games online instead.

No more finding your not running enough Ram, Cpu to slow or gfx card won't run it how its supposed to. No more patching games to find you lose your saves or trying to find a Driver that doesn't conflict with something else.

Just go into your local Game. Pc gaming's dead.
 
Goksly said:
You really shouldnt let any petty arguments, let alone internet fanboy arguements sway you mate. There is normally one or two arguements on this place that have some substance, and then there are the ones where people say "ATI suxz0r because they force A.I. on" but never back it up.

You really need to practice the fine art of selective reading :) To be honest, I think I will buy the next gen just so it has me set for the next year or so, as Im using a TFT im at a fixed res, so the next gen shoudl give me full eye candy at that res, then im set until shader 4.0 and what ever Vista brings with it :)
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I just find the insurgence of idiocy on these boards at the release of a new card really annoying. It doesn't, nor would I let it, affect me with regards to purchases or the like. The problem here is that selective reading doesn't help when every other post (maybe more) is total fanboyism. I want more upgrades, and as many as possible given that it helps the industry; I grumble about the fact that this place resembles a mental institute when a card is actually released, instead of people just enjoying their cards.

TBH, I think I can live without SM3.0 until September - besides, my 15" TFT only doesn 1024x768, so I run at this native res. My X800XT has plenty of grunt left in it.
 
LoadsaMoney said:
No, as if there wasn't any upgrades all the time, then games would never get better and better, imagine if they all just said thats it, no more cards, this gen is the last. :)
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Or maybe developers would just be encouraged to get the most out of current hardware?

Don't think for a second that modern games actually push the true limits of the hardware we have because they don't... not by a long chalk. It's all marketing and profit drive. :)
 
I think the key is buying at the right time. At the moment, I don't see the current top of the line cards as good value given that they're going to be surpassed very shorty with no real advances in tech. For me, the 9800 and X800 (I'm on ATI) were golden cards. The 9800 I got Christmas 2003 is still coping pretty well and I've yet to find anything that makes my X800 XT unplayable at 1280*1024 with the graphics up. OK, they're not as fast as the current gen, but I'm getting my money's worth. I still think my 3700 clawhammer, gig of ram and X800 will last for another year or so, by which time technology might have improved to the point of there being a clear improvement and perhaps I'll upgrade. At the moment all I see is the same cards with faster clocks.
 
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