[poll] Bad time to buy a video card?

D

Doobs

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ATI is coming out with its new RV7xx series video cards mid-summer (volume shipping in July assuming no delays). I was just about to finally upgrade from an 8600GT to an [link=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082]8800GTS[/link], but now I can't decide if I should wait and upgrade my entire system or simply go ahead and blow my money on a 'quick-fix' to make gaming a little better. Here's the important specs:

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Socket 939, I know it's old)
1.5GB of 400MHz DDR
8600GT with dual-slot cooler(580Mhz core @ 621Mhz)(800MHz RAM @ 864MHz)(1508MHz shader @ 1620MHz)

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I've been toying with this idea for a couple of weeks now and I'm just split with the deicision. Oh, and I can easily afford a new high- to mid-range computer around August.

No biased posts, please. I need help, not bashing.
 
Just wait and do a complete overhaul in August. Your GPU will definitely last you that long.
 
I don't think its ever a bad time of buying some thing for your computer. Whatever you buy after a while they come up with better and faster stuff.
 
I thought that the 9000 series from NVidia looked really really appealing also. The market is going to be saturated with cards by the end of the summer (or at least I hope), which might bring the pricing down some?.
 
Look new stuff is going to come out, OVER PRICED and OVER HYPED, truth is that all the current hardware is going to get cheaper and you still can play awesome games at a fraction of the cost.

I build computers from time to time (for customers) and one thing I've seen is that hardware price always drops one day after the max. return date, so just buy three or four steps below the maximum you can afford and you won't be wasting your money.

Or do it like me, buy @ full price and sell @ full price + extra 20%... I've been doing this for years.
 
AMD has good stuff coming out this summer and Q4, Nvidia has the 10x series coming out next year with some cool stuff, and Intel is going to start releasing on-board GFX in their mobo's to rival anything coming out of Nvidia and AMD (to be proven of course). I would say now is not the best time.
 
It all depends on how much you want to spend. You can get a 8800GTS on new egg for ~170 after rebates now... that's hard to beat. Even if ATI does come out with some awesome new card, it's going to be a lot more $$. If you really need an upgrade (ie. performance, play crysis at native res., etc.) then maybe. I just got an 8800GT :)
 
Most people will tell you that, as a gamer, you need to get the best video card you can afford to get the best gaming experience. Running an AMD 3800+ with 1.5 gigs of RAM has its drawbacks, though. You've got a decent card right now, and while the GTS is obviously a better card, I don't know that you'll see enough improvement between that and your new card to make the purchase worth while. I'd say get yourself some more RAM (go with 3 gigs, even if you're running 32 bit XP), then save your money to overhaul during the next year or two. If nothing else, wait to see what AMD/NVIDIA puts out after the summer.

No matter what you do, I wouldn't put too much stock into Intel's hype about their onboard graphics. Onboard just can't keep up with what a dedicated card can handle.
 
Alright, thanks for the input guys. I'm just going to stick with what I've got for now and rebuild from the ground up later.
 
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