Ok Nvidia are bringing out the 8600 GTS, but that seems a little disappointing so far - only a 128 bit bus, and only a little faster than a 7900 GT, god knows what it will be like in Direct X 10 performance, I can't believe it will be that good.
What we need is a new 9700 PRO, or a new 6600 GT - something that is cheap, and punches far above its wieght and finally makes decent DX 10 gaming for senesible people who dont have the cash or the inclination to spend £400 + on a new graphics card.
We want a nice SINGLE SLOT, small graphics card, but one which can punch like the big boys.
The 7950 GT was single slot, and nice and small, yet it had a 256 bit bus and 512 MB of VRAM - why could Nvidia not give the 8600 GTS a 256 bit bus and 512 MB of VRAM? If they did it would be a seriously mean machine.
I was going to get an 8600 GTS, but have decided against it now. I will wait, until a seriously mean mid range pixel pumper is released, which is designed for DX 10 and which can actually run it properly.
I suppose it is only to be expected that with the advent of a new technology like DX 10 companies are going to want to make seriously high end stuff, to show off what it can do, and that they dont start working on a decent mid range, mainstream card until they have learned how to get the best out of the new tech.
Those of you who remember the mighty 9700 PRO and the equally splendid 6600 GT will know what I am talking about here - a mainstream card which totally blows away the competition, and which remains powerful for a good few years after its release. The 7600 GT has done it, and maybe the 8600 GTS will be better than I think, but I can't help thinking that, despite its insane memory speeds and lovely new G80-like architecture, it will be strangled in newer games by only having 256 MB of VRAM and a 128 bit memory bus.
As I said earlier, Nvidia managed a small, single slot card in the 7950 GT, which had a 256 bit bus, and 512 MB of VRAM, and that was pretty cheap at release and is still cheap now - yet it was punchy and is very capable of pushing today's games around on high settings. I would get one were it not for the fact that with DX10 looming it would not be a sensible investment.
The fact is that, looking at the specs and the early benchmarks (though the drivers are not perfect etc etc) the 8600 does not really seem to be such an advance, in fact it seems that technology has gone backwards.
Maybe I will be proved wrong, and maybe the 8600 GTS will be released, with proper drivers and maybe it will trash many older DX 9 cards, however I am skeptical, and so am going to keep my wallet in my pocket until we finally see a new DX 10 ready mid range king, something like a DX 10 version of the X1950 PRO, would be just wonderful....
What we need is a new 9700 PRO, or a new 6600 GT - something that is cheap, and punches far above its wieght and finally makes decent DX 10 gaming for senesible people who dont have the cash or the inclination to spend £400 + on a new graphics card.
We want a nice SINGLE SLOT, small graphics card, but one which can punch like the big boys.
The 7950 GT was single slot, and nice and small, yet it had a 256 bit bus and 512 MB of VRAM - why could Nvidia not give the 8600 GTS a 256 bit bus and 512 MB of VRAM? If they did it would be a seriously mean machine.
I was going to get an 8600 GTS, but have decided against it now. I will wait, until a seriously mean mid range pixel pumper is released, which is designed for DX 10 and which can actually run it properly.
I suppose it is only to be expected that with the advent of a new technology like DX 10 companies are going to want to make seriously high end stuff, to show off what it can do, and that they dont start working on a decent mid range, mainstream card until they have learned how to get the best out of the new tech.
Those of you who remember the mighty 9700 PRO and the equally splendid 6600 GT will know what I am talking about here - a mainstream card which totally blows away the competition, and which remains powerful for a good few years after its release. The 7600 GT has done it, and maybe the 8600 GTS will be better than I think, but I can't help thinking that, despite its insane memory speeds and lovely new G80-like architecture, it will be strangled in newer games by only having 256 MB of VRAM and a 128 bit memory bus.
As I said earlier, Nvidia managed a small, single slot card in the 7950 GT, which had a 256 bit bus, and 512 MB of VRAM, and that was pretty cheap at release and is still cheap now - yet it was punchy and is very capable of pushing today's games around on high settings. I would get one were it not for the fact that with DX10 looming it would not be a sensible investment.
The fact is that, looking at the specs and the early benchmarks (though the drivers are not perfect etc etc) the 8600 does not really seem to be such an advance, in fact it seems that technology has gone backwards.
Maybe I will be proved wrong, and maybe the 8600 GTS will be released, with proper drivers and maybe it will trash many older DX 9 cards, however I am skeptical, and so am going to keep my wallet in my pocket until we finally see a new DX 10 ready mid range king, something like a DX 10 version of the X1950 PRO, would be just wonderful....
