Is the graphics card arms race impossible to keep up with?

[yoda313]

Is the graphics card arms race impossible to keep up with?

I have just upgraded my pci-e card from a nvidia 8400 256mb card to a ati all-in-wonder hd 512mb pci-e card. However i didn't realize they are now up to 1gb video cards.

Are you willing to continuosly upgrade to keep pace?

This is my third card for my vista pc. I started with a lowly nvidia 7300 which my pc came with. Then I upgraded to a 8400 for hdcp and bluray support. Now I have a tv card and video card in one.

Do you continuously upgrade your video card? Or do you just stick with game consoles and let the hardware war pass?

[jagabo]

I buy a new card every few years. Usually a mid range (~US$200) card. That's sufficient for most games. I'm considering a ATI 4850 soon.

[Baldrick]

I buy a new card about every other year(and cpu).

I just bought a PowerColor ATI HD4870 512MB but it was too noisy so I replaced the fan and the heatsink...I shouldn't have done that as it now wont work. . I guess I have to wait for a card with a silent fan.....

[Nitemare]

Back when 8-meg video cards came out, me and my peers used to joke about people being able to run their screen savers in 32 million colors now.

The funny part is that not much has changed. If you're not a gamer, an 8 meg video card would still work fine... if you could find such a thing.

I think I have a 32 meg card right now and, since I still believe that games peaked with Starcraft, I have no plans of replacing it any time soon.

I'm not a gamer, but if I was ... I'd stick with console games. Keeping up with PC hardware requirements is a futile exercise.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Other -- "Yes" + I mainly do my gaming on console.
But I want a better/newer video card that will be more compatible/easier to use with my TV and receiver.
HDMI outputs would be nice...
But my mobo is AGP, so I'd have to get a new MOBO, RAM, and processor.
And then with a nice new rig like that, I'd have to get a 1080p TV to go with it, but that argument has already been lost by me several times.
The ol' lady just don't get it. "I thought we just bought an HDTV a couple years ago!"
"Yes, but it only displays 1080i dear."
"DON'T YOU START IN WITH THAT i & p BULLSHIT AGAIN!"
"Yes dear...".

[Constant Gardener]

I recently retired my five-year-old AIW 9600XT. Now I have a newer machine with a Sapphire HD2600XT video card and an ATI 650 capture card. That's enough for my limited gaming, and more than enough for HDTV. Ask me again in, say, 2013.

[SingSing]

I was expecting that graphic card interface to HDTV will be same as to Monitor. NOT. Most of the HDTVs rescale the computer input, and you never known what you are input. I guess flexibility instead of pixel/second is for me.

[SCDVD]

The next really interesting graphics card on the horizon that is beneficial for video encoding is the GPGPU. When these cards are released and AFTER the video editing software publishers release products that utilize these new GPGPUs, we should see a meaningful benefit in encoding performance. My guess is that it will be a couple of years at least before we start to see real products released.

These are stream processors. They aren't designed to do much for random types of applications.

[yoda313]

Most of the HDTVs rescale the computer input, and you never known what you are input

I'm not sure about that. I have my computer outputting at 1360x768 which is the native resolution of my westinghouse lcd hdtv. It reads at that resolution on the tv itself. It looks great to me.

[deadrats]

Is the graphics card arms race impossible to keep up with?

I have just upgraded my pci-e card from a nvidia 8400 256mb card to a ati all-in-wonder hd 512mb pci-e card. However i didn't realize they are now up to 1gb video cards.

Are you willing to continuosly upgrade to keep pace?

This is my third card for my vista pc. I started with a lowly nvidia 7300 which my pc came with. Then I upgraded to a 8400 for hdcp and bluray support. Now I have a tv card and video card in one.

Do you continuously upgrade your video card? Or do you just stick with game consoles and let the hardware war pass?

not only is it impossible to keep up with but it's purposely designed that way; and it relies on websites that review their products (while taking advertising dollars from the vendors) and programmers that don't write efficient code, to maintain the forced upgrade cycle.

as an example: remember when quake 3 was released and no video card could run at at 1600x1200 with all the options maxed out at a reasonable playable frame rate? then the geforce 2 ultra was introduced, with a massive, for the time, 64 MB of onboard ram, and every website nearly creamed their pants about being able to play quake 3 at 1600 x 1200 at 60+ fps and the made it sound as if you were losing out if you were playing at a lower resolution? can anyone tell me that playing quake 3 at 1600x1200 was that noticable an improvement over playing at 1280x1024?

now we have a similar scenario with games like crysis, if a card allows them to play it at some ridiculous resolution, something like 2560x1920, they are all giddy. who really cares? my monitor only has a max resolution of 1280x1024, so for me anything past that is worthless.

moreover, many, if not all, pc game makers rely on graphics to make up for a lackluster to non-existant storyline and/or lackluster to non-existant AI.

since buying my PS3 i have stopped playing most pc games, except for GNU Chess. from a graphical standpoint i would much rather game at 1080i or 720p (the resolutions my hdtv supports) on a 32 inch set than play at even the highest resolutions on a 22 inch monitor.

but more important than the graphics is the AI, the cell processor in the PS3 is amazing and i really wish i could get it for the pc. i have played assassin's creed on both the pc and the PS3 and the AI on the PS3 is far and away much better. when you kill someone and a bystander witnesses it, they either run away screaming, alerting the guards and pointing you out or the may get a look of horror on their face and back away from you slowly as they walk away tepidly. if a bystander happens to come to a person you have killed, they react in shock and they will say things like "there's been a murder" or "who could have done this" and if there's more than one person they will start to talk amongst themselves.

under madden 09, the game, depending on the difficulty setting, actually learns how you play, and both the opposing defense and offense will react accordingly, but more importantly, it also mimics how certain players, like peyton manning or tom brady, play. i'm currently playing through the 2008-2009 year with the steelers, and it's almost unnerving to see the game learn and adapt to the way you play as the season progresses, so that announcers will actually predict what play you are going to call and either the opposing teams defense or offense anticipates your play calling, like when brady read my defense (i had called a weak side blitz) and he called for an audible from the shotgun and ran a fake draw play instead for a touchdown. that level of AI is just not seen on a pc.

the only thing holding the PS3 back is the low amount ram, but they can keep their fancy $600 graphics cards or their $1000 SLI setups, just give me a motherboard with 2 cell processors, an integrated graphics chip like the one in the PS3 and the ability to add up to 8 gigs of ram and i would be set for the next 4+ years.

[lordsmurf]

I use both ATI and nVidia cards. All of my desktops are still ATI AIW AGP cards, but the laptops are powered by newer cards. I don't play video games, I mostly do layout/design, edit photos and videos.

It's a shame console systems are not easily upgraded. I'd push the original XBOX to a better CPU, more RAM and a newer video card. If I want to play games, I do it on a console parked on a couch in front of a 55" screen. Sitting by the computer feels to much like work.

[MJA]

I think $169 for a graphic card like the ATI 4870(plus a free game. ) every few years isn't bad at all.

[jagabo]

I think $169 for a graphic card like the ATI 4870(plus a free game. :-) ) every few years isn't bad at all.

Yeah, but where are you getting a 4870 for US$169? The lowest I've seen it is about $100 more than that.

[MJA]

I think $169 for a graphic card like the ATI 4870(plus a free game. ) every few years isn't bad at all.

Yeah, but where are you getting a 4870 for US$169? The lowest I've seen it is about $100 more than that.

ohh my bad you are right .the 4850 not the 5870 is $162 with a free game

but the 4870 was $229 few days ago at newegg.com

[Xylob the Destroyer]

...If I want to play games, I do it on a console parked on a couch in front of a 55" screen. Sitting by the computer feels to much like work.

This is why I almost never play games on PC or watch movies on PC.
Why sit in a desk chair in front of a (relatively) small monitor with little PC speakers when you can enjoy a big-ass screen and gloriously immersive surround all while kicked back in a nice comfy recliner or couch?

[jagabo]

My PC is hooked up to my HDTV via HDMI with a full 1920x1080 60p connection. The graphics card doesn't have the horsepower to run games modern at that resolution though.

[AlanHK]

Arms race? I have onboard integrated graphics, which is better than the video card I had 5 years ago.

Why would I need more?
As long as I can tell Aces from Spades, my gaming needs are met.
I watch videos on my TV.

[jagabo]

As long as I can tell Aces from Spades, my gaming needs are met.

LOL

[TheFamilyMan]

I voted other. I like to keep up with it, in terms of the tech level of what is available and what it can do, but I only buy new stuff every two or three years. I recently replaced my nvidia 7800gt with a 8800gt and the difference was night and day. I was shocked to see what crappy game textures and video playback IQ I'd been getting with the 7800gt; I don't think I'll ever buy another nvidia product for this reason. I'd wish there was some standardized, objective rendering test that uses image processing for testing graphics card IQ performance (ideal vs. actual performance). I'd hope it'd kill off the (un)holy frame-per-second race that leads to substandard IQ products.

The good news is that the high end cards are racing to drive the mondo sized (30") monitors (that nearly no one can afford anyways). The trickle down from this is that for us 1280x1024 folk, ripping great performance can be had for around $150. BTW, I pretty much only do flight sims. My kids do all the hardcore gaming.

[budz]

I don't game so I use the cheapest PCI-Express video card.