Buy now or wait

[handscombmp]

Now i know there's the thing that if you always wait you'll never buy due to tech is moving so fast but i know that there are better times to buy than others.

I'm currently looking at replacing my 8800GT with a budget of around £150.

Know that cards i'm looking at are mainly between a GTX 275, GTX 260 (216 cores) or the ATI 4890.

Know i know new ATI cards are meant to be round the corner but should i buy now and if so which card.

[revol68]

I'd certainly wait a week or so at least, even if you don't end up buying a DX11 card it should push the prices down further on the ones you are already considering.

[DeludedGuy]

I'd certainly wait a week or so at least, even if you don't end up buying a DX11 card it should push the prices down further on the ones you are already considering.

+1

Only if you really NEED it now, otherwise I would wait.

[Syd]

Def wait - GPU's date and depreciate quickest of all components - (I should know I keep buying them!!)
A 4890 would be a most worthwhile upgrade but once the '5870...........' is out you could well find yourself saving some money or looking at a faster card!

[Terbinator]

You may have more £'s if you wait to afford a Dx11 card !

[Zhaoman]

technology isn't worth waiting for if it's 2 months away but 2 weeks away is worth the wait. that's my adjustable ruler of tech-buying-judgement

[fiish]

Would agree with the 'wait 2 weeks but not 2 months' argument. The new ATI cards may or may not push the current cards' prices down, especially if they offer a lot more performance (ATI could just charge more for the new models).

I've bought a 4850, because I need a video card of some kind for my build to work (don't have anything at the moment to use) and it's already almost overkill for someone using a 1680x1050 20" monitor

Since you can afford to wait, I add my vote to waiting as well. Your 8800 is no slouch anyway.

[ArCElM]

4890 imo.

[Disco]

Hold. Less than a week now until the 5870 and 5850 launch. Hopefully someone will post a review quickly after launch.

[Syllopsium]

Would agree with the 'wait 2 weeks but not 2 months' argument. The new ATI cards may or may not push the current cards' prices down, especially if they offer a lot more performance (ATI could just charge more for the new models).

That's undoubtedly what's going to happen (more for new models). Only the high end cards are being released, so that the old 4xxx generation stock can be sold before the lower end 5xxx series are released.

Personally I would go with 'wait one month, but not two months'. By that stage the high end 5xxx series will have been out for three weeks and the wallet crippling early adopter prices will have declined slightly. Additionally any of the more obvious driver/hardware problems might have been found.. The lower end 5 series won't have hit just yet, but there will be severe pressure on the older stock.

I'm pondering the high end model (more for the six eyefinity support than sheer speed), but it depends on price and heat/noise. Might be wiser to wait a bit longer and get one with an enhanced cooler and a cheaper price.. I also don't want to change it for a few years, and think 2GB RAM is going to be worthwhile. High end texture packs for Oblivion and Fallout 3 can now consume 1GB, so it's certain GDDR requirements will only increase..

PK

[shaithis]

Wait as long as you possibly can......then go crazy

[Pob255]

Hard to say.
The 4850 & 4870 prices has already tumbled both can be got for under £100
E-tailers have already dropped prices to shift excess stock, the question is will they go lower?

With some 4850's at £70 you could get two and crossfire them for £150
How will a 4850 crossfire stack against the new 5850 for both performance and price? still unknown.
I never trust pre-release reviews as it's all too easy to "let out" fudged numbers to improve a website's traffic and web presence or generate buzz about a card.

[ahoyhoyhoy]

I'm pondering the high end model (more for the six eyefinity support than sheer speed), but it depends on price and heat/noise.

Really? You have 6 monitors lying around waiting to be hooked up? More importantly do you have the space for 6 monitors? I struggle to fit a 20" and 24" on my desk

[Syllopsium]

Really? You have 6 monitors lying around waiting to be hooked up? More importantly do you have the space for 6 monitors? I struggle to fit a 20" and 24" on my desk

I already have three (two CRT 22", one TFT 17"). I could probably fit another two above my desk using VESA mounts. Technically, I probably could fit one of the six monitor narrow bezel systems on my desk but I don't have either the justification or the cash to do that. Likewise, decent VESA mounts and new TFTs aren't cheap either.

It'd be more for interest than anything else. From experience I've found that the move from one monitor to two is really easy to exploit in applications and some games. Three monitors is a bit less useful unless I'm doing a project that needs lots of documentation, an IDE and a debugger open at the same time (and, to be honest, it's a home system so I'm not doing that most of the time). You have to start taking time to look into toolbars and other status reporting apps to fill some of the space..

A few games are fun in three monitor configuration (using SoftTH), although that's rendering off one of my 7600GTs, so the resolution has to be kept fairly low to maintain a playable framerate.

PK