ok, long post ahead...
Lol, thats pretty good. I wasn't saying I like the driver issues, or that I accept them, gtx280's were the first time I could afford top of the line cards, on release day. I didnt get driver issues, I was pleasantly surprised by how much better SLI had become to be honest. Other people seem to state that they ahve driver issues with new tech etc and i am giving them the benefit of the doubt that its not just their lack of knowledge or something.
I meant it more when you buy a whole new PC of just released parts, which means your one of the people who tests compatibility of components with each other, and have to wait for bios updates/driver updates etc. It's generally accepted because the companies could only afford to work out the kinks before release, if they charged more to cover testing on every combination of hardware. They keep costs down by only testing on more popular choices and what they expect the user to pair with it. As long as they address the issues quickly its not too bad, just annoying.
Didnt mean to come accross quite so defensive, just bad day at work and I'm annoyed at how many people have come into the PC scene expecting everything to be cheap, because we had cheap hardware for a while, and think that they are entitled to complain that they cant afford the top of the line hardware. Which for a full system has always cost 2-3 grand (my first MAC back in 1996 cost £2k (parents, not mine). And on my "dream pc" i spent about 2.5k on the components. Another 3k went on 30" screen and custom case and water and stuffs. I have added more to it now, with an SSD and another HDD, but tbh its still a damn good spec, and people told me it was stupid because it would be out dated in a year, and its now 2 years old (my 280's broke so i got 295's in replacement, for cheaper than the 280's).
6800 ultra cost $599 (for the extreme edition) (
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_6800_ultra_extreme/) on release for a bfg variation, which unless we had an awesome converstion ratio at the time, should translate into around £500-600, as we tend to end up about the same numbers as dollars unless we have a 2:1 ratio. I should point out, I wasnt looking at the ultra much then, except for going "oh...i wish i could afford that instead of my crappy 6600gt", so there could have been deals etc.
Ok I was about the 5950 ultra, which was the card that was top when nvidia first released their 5 series? Although did they release at massively lower prices cause they sucked ati's balls that round?
Geforce 4 was a optimized refresh of geforce 2/3 depending on the model, so wasnt new tech so would be cheap, while not offering massive performance gains. (5-6 series was 2-2.5 gains and 6-7 series was 1.5-2 gains, according to review sites).
Yes, for £600 i may be able to get a LCD and blu ray player, but LCD is old tech now, compare it to the bleeding edge of TV tech, LED is "high end" but has been superseeded and I have only recently shed out £1399 for a 46" sammy LED tv. Check out the prices on the 3D tv sets, there like 3k!
Now, while I'd love one, I can't afford it really. I would have to sacfrifice going out and going on holiday for a while, which I'd prefer to spend my money on. I also know that my LED TV will keep me happy enough for a few years while waiting for the price to come down on the 3d sets. Blu Ray players when released were what? £500? I'm going on price of a Blu Ray drive for a pc, since i care not about the normal ones so have never sen the pricing for them. Now there £50, several years after release. I imagine that the top end graphics card come down in price after a few years....8800's go for around £50 now dont they? Although that is second hand but obv. nowhere sells them new now.
Tbh I find the fact that high end keyboards are coming out for >£100 more of a kick in the teeth. I mean, It's a keyboard ffs, while im happy to buy one for around £70 I consider over £100 silly. Although ig my g15 broke and I couldnt get a replacement under warrenty, I might buy one because they are pretty shiny.
