The performance gap is going to get bigger between games requirements and what hardware can actually output. Anyone remember Commanche 4? Took ages before any card could even output 60fps. With the never ending trend for better looking gfx theres going to come a time when we may wait years before we can even run new games properly. Why? Because game devs usually produce very high quality models that then go through a process of being made low-res but still look good for the actual game engine. Theres gonna come a time when the hardware comes so close to being able to run real-time (but not quite) that they'll just release the game anyway. Most gamers here don't mind waiting a few years before their pc's can run some games decently, myself included. I think back to Doom3 though; various upgrades just to see it run smoother but by the time it was smooth I'd lost interest long ago :/
Hey lets all quit buying video cards and just wait for geforce 20's to emerge. Come on people, buy the card you can afford and enjoy the games. There's no point in waiting for the next video card. I have no regrets in buying my 8800GTS. It's a wonderful card and I can't wait to drool all over crysis, spore, hellgate london etc.!
I remember the Geforce 3/4 stuff. And think about Geforce FX/6 . Same situation...but most games didn`t require you to buy a GEFORCE 4 to play directx 8.1 game... and most directx 9 games play on SM 2.0...The card isn`t rendered instantly incapable by a 8.1 or a .c incrementation.
Thats the problem...by the time you've bought the card its not really running next gen games like they should. Remember, even crysis has gfx that are scalable upto 1.5years. That means tech that will be available around 2009. But thats based on running the game using the current best hardware, including quad-core cpus. Think of a time when the scalability increases...2 years, 3 years, 5 years?, its not out of the question, infact it's highly likely. As for what you can afford, i honestly think now that 1 of the top 3 cards is the real starting point (and future bare-minimum) for hardware thats actually capable of playing these next-gen games like crysis etc. This leaves a vast majority out of the picture especially with increasing prices.
Hahaha. Have fun wasting money on PC hardware. MS could do support for current cards, but I think they have a deal with AMD-ATi and nVidia, that they will not do it because when nVidia and AMD-Ati will release new cards again lots of ppl will pay lots of cash for those cards and graphic card makers will be swimming in $$$$ again if they would make DX10.1 support for current DX10 cards i think that it would be a huge lose of benefit to VGA makers and it's all about making big bucks, if MS would want they could do DX10 support for DX9 cards and DX10 cards to support DX10.1.
DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1, DirectX 1138, who cares? Alky will pwn you on XP baby! http://www.fallingleafsystems.com
Hey finally I get around to this topic. I personally think this is total BS. If they expect me to dump my 8800 because of a .01 increment, pc gaming can suck on my .... I'm serious I am getting to my end with the manipulation of gamers. Then the mix of those who tolerate this bs and the older timers who have seen BS after BS in marketing and selling of hardware. Did we need a new card for DX 8.0 to 8.1? No.. 9.0 to 9.0a or b or c? No. No this is just taking advantage of people. If this is the case with DX 10.1 then I'm gonna be leaving PC gaming for good. I have had enough of being smoked by MS and nVidia and ATI. Enough is enough. I don't care if console is inferior it will last longer than a year. I also don't see anything to substantiate nVidia charging 600 or 700 for a video card considering they are so ****ty they can't even handle a DX upgrade.. Pfff. This 10.x stuff better be false in the end...
I know and that's what the problem is with PC gaming. There are smart people and there are morons, or deep pocketed fools who accept it for little gain. This all adds up to Microsofts vision of everyone eventually moving to console as a gaming platform. If that is not evident with the 10.x BS then the PC Gaming community has really gotten stupid. What you don't see and I know you say what you say with humor, is the smart ones will advise and push console gaming more rather than push them to PC. That means the PC will dwindle and developers will be less likely to develop for it. The shift to console is much greater now than people actually think. It's why you see ports of console games on PC's. It's why you see games looking better on console than on PC. Because developers make more profit right now from console. PC is becoming an after thought.
.. its funny this happens everytime a new..card comes out...or OS..or DX... I welcome new Software/Hardware....it means were moving forward....not backwards..
No, this has only started happening in the last year or so. Cards in the past were also not $500+ dollars. Operating systems also were not $300-$400. Moving forward? Sorry I fail to see that. Getting gouged? now that, I see. And the only reason PC is moving forward is because console is moving forward. At one time PC was leaps and bounds ahead of console. That gap is no longer present. PC only holds resolution but console is and has already drastically moved forward on this front too. Once keyboard and mouse become more prominent on console you really think PC will continue forward? I think that's just being totally naive. Maybe you should also start polling game developers and find out where their motivations are. If you think it's PC you are in for a shock. I believe the next wave of console in the next 2 years is going to kill PC and or make it even more less attractive.
Videocards and operating system prices did not go up! Cards in the past WERE 500+$. Back in the days, the fastest Geforce 3 cost more then 700$! Because Nvidia was able to reduce producion costs in the Geforce 4 generation, the high-end price dropped to 400$ but the high-end price went up again after that. Beleave me when I say, we use to pay a lot more. In the past we payed 400$ to play smooth at 1024x768, now you can play at 1600x1200 for the same amount of money. If you really care about prices, just buy hardware that is one year old and buy games that are one year old. The games will be cheaper and the hardware will be 50% cheaper.
Well i dunno were you live but cards, Have ALWAYS been 900 dollars (aus) when first coming out..(top of the line card) There actually getting cheaper!!! As far as i can remember ...going back to even the GF2.....
Let's also bear in mind here that no-one is saying that DX10.2 (or 10.1b, or whatever it ends up being) will force yet another hardware revision. I suspect we won't see another hardware obsoletion release of DirectX until 11.0. ...but, who knows. If I buy a 9800GTS and within 6 months, I find that to be compatible with DX 10.2, I need a new 10 series card, I won't be very pleased with Micro$haft.
WTF cards were never $500 and up. Ok maybe in other countries, I live in Canada! But I never spent more than 300 EVER on a card and I always bought TOP OF THE LINE and unlike today, I didn't wait for tomorrow to buy one. Operating systems cost $300+?! OMFG, I think I must have left one planet and ended up on another. Windows 98 was as the name implies, $98/99. Windows XP Professional was always $179 and I know because I have the boxes with the F'ing prices on it. I even have my 3DFX 3000, and 4500 and GF4MX cards..all under $200!! My friend paid $250 for an All in Wonder ATI card, both a gaming and TV card!! Wow.. I'm really gonna need beer after reading some posts in here! @Oblivious, if people accept having to get a new card to support DX 10.1, do you really believe they wont make the same requirement for 10.2 or 11.0...IMO, it's because today people accept it, it's because todays gaming community or a good percentage of people allow themselves to be manipulated.
In Finland the 8800 GTX price ranges from 469 euros (645.4378 U.S. dollars) to 886 euros (1 219.3132 U.S. dollars), so yea.... enjoy your cheap stuff D:
i don't see what the big fuss is. There still isn't a single native dx10 game out there. There is no freaking way Crysis is gonna be DX10.1 or any of that nonsense, since Vista SP1 is req'd for dx10.1, and that comes out like 2008. Who cares guys, just be happy with the awesome hardware you've purchased and how much it has made games enjoyable for you. I am GLAD i DIDN'T wait and bought my 'dx10' card. I don't give a rat's ass on what capabilities it has, all I care about is that it smokes any game out there right now, and the ones that are coming out this month. There is no reason whatsoever to be holding out. You can hold on to your card and wait for the next big thing forever.
