Holding out till DX10

[spazman]

I'm planning to build a new system around a E6600 conroe chip next month, everything is sorted apart form the graphics,i was planning to go all out and get a 7950 GX2, but i didnt fancy splashing out £400 on a card for it to get trumped by next gen in next couple of months.

Last night though a good friend of mine decided he was selling his two 6800GTs for a very nice price (£100 for the pair, hes just bought a quad sli setup ). I was just wondering if these will hold out for 6months or so untill i get a new beast. Im assuming they will run most things pretty much flat out.

Thoughts appreciated

[Xaneden]

I would say they'd hold out very nicely until then, and at that price, you've got nothing to lose.

[aidanjt]

Last night though a good friend of mine decided he was selling his two 6800GTs for a very nice price (£100 for the pair, hes just bought a quad sli setup ). I was just wondering if these will hold out for 6months or so untill i get a new beast. Im assuming they will run most things pretty much flat out.

Thoughts appreciated

2 6800GTs for £100 is a steal, go for it, they'll do the job spot on for another year yet. But.. the problem is that there are no conroe boards (at the moment) that support nVidia SLi.. just something to keep in mind.

[chuckskull]

I'd go for the twp 6800's they'll still pack plenty of punch for now. Good Price too. You could be waiting a while for DX10 though

[ExceededGoku]

I'd go for them two even though I wouldn't actually use them

[Whiternoise]

I think you're being a bit hopeful if you're waiting for 6 months - if you're waiting, i'd be prepared to weather it till this time next year (to give enough time for the full range to come out - i assume that if you save for a decent rig, there's not much point buying the 8300GT before realising that you could have waited a month to get the 8900GTX for only 20 quid more). Having said that, it is a fatal habit to start saying "i'll just wait a bit more.. something better will be out by then", but i would assume that once the G80/ATi equivalent is out, there won't be much new stuff worth getting for a while..

On the other hand, a 6800 Sli rig will certainly keep you going for a loooong time (deffo till the DX10's come out - giving you ample time to save like crap) and 100 quid is a most excellent price

[xbo]

I'd go for them at £100!!

When the next gen does come out you can flog them on ebay and I'm sure you'll at least make the £100 back

[jonathan_phang]

If you're not getting them then give me his email... I'll do him a favour

[djhworld]

Get the cards....but is it really nessacery to wait until DX10?

Once the first cards arrive you'll be waiting (quite a long) time before any DX10 games actually arrive. It's like this PhysX thing, why bother getting it now?

[spazman]

I just want to have the best possible setup i can if if it means waiting another 5 - 6 months for a new graphics card setup then so be it, im sure that they will run DX9 at pretty awsome speeds, the only thing im worried about is the fact im locking myself into SLi. The PC im building has to last me a long time, im not one of these people who feels the need to upgrade every generation, when i physically play the game on my PC (which is starting to be the case now) i'll get a new PC.

[chuckskull]

You aren't really locking yourself in SLi. PCIe will be the defacto standard for graphics cards for a long time yet. At worst, you might suddenly decide you want a crossfire set up for DX10 and then want a new mobo.

But there is rarely enough difference between ATi/nvidia to warrant the extra expense, and you'll still be able to run ati cards without crossfire.

[Whiternoise]

Get the cards....but is it really nessacery to wait until DX10?

Once the first cards arrive you'll be waiting (quite a long) time before any DX10 games actually arrive. It's like this PhysX thing, why bother getting it now?

DX10 is required to run Vista fully, not only games.

[charleski]

DX10 is required to run Vista fully, not only games.

No. The Aero interface uses DX9.

As far as the 2 6800GTs go. As aidanjt mentioned above, using them in SLI means you'll have to hold out for an nVidia 590 Intel board (which may well be a better choice than the Intel 975 anyway). No idea when these boards will arrive, though Anandtech had a preview of a reference board a week or so ago.

[nvening]

afaik its only dx9 needed for aero - or am i missing something?

[Whiternoise]

Ah my bad sorry

I just could have sworn that there was something in Vista that needed it - you'll probably have to have Vista to use DX10 though.. won't you?

[chuckskull]

Ah my bad sorry

I just could have sworn that there was something in Vista that needed it - you'll probably have to have Vista to use DX10 though.. won't you?

Nah other way around, you cant use DX10 without vista. Not vice versa.

DX10 will not be made backward compatable with XP, 2000 etc etc.