Would you buy one of the first 6800 cards?

Ok, I understand all these points, thanks for addressing them.

To put my question another way, I need a good video card now (not in 6
months time), and my criteria is a little strange.
It must be faster than a 5900XT, cheaper than or equal to a 6800 GT, and has
to be an nvidia chipset.
The 5950 ultra cards seem to be more expensive than the 6800 GT (and
slower?), so really I don't see any other cards that might fit what I need,
if anyone can suggest something that I may have overlooked, that would be
great

Thanks for any other card suggestions.




"jeff b" wrote in message
news:d4DDc.124502$Sw.31546@attbi_s51...

As to the advice "do without/wait until the price drops"....
that is reasonable advice ONLY if you are buying the card as
an investment


Huh ?? Explain.................

If you are buying it as an investment, then you won't be using it.
So being denied the use of the card isn't a factor.


Funy thing, I waited until the price of my FX5900 (non-XT) was
right ( $175) and am enjoying it greatly.

Right, you are enjoying it NOW, but you weren't enjoying
BEFORE you bought it, in your "do without" period.


I can afford to wait for the die shrinks on the new -gen parts ---
which has to come because of yield considerations and
competitive-price pressure between the 2 players.

Yes, this is one way to go. The buy/don't buy decision
comes down to not only what you are buying, but what you currently
have. I have a much weaker card than you, so I have more reason
to upgrade.

Gives
time for the drivers to mature too. Your purchase will help
pay off the development costs, for which action I shall be
in your debt.

Right, so mail me a check.

Jeff B

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 02:54:36 +0100, "+c0re-"
wrote:

Ok, I understand all these points, thanks for addressing them.

To put my question another way, I need a good video card now (not in 6
months time), and my criteria is a little strange.
It must be faster than a 5900XT, cheaper than or equal to a 6800 GT, and has
to be an nvidia chipset.
The 5950 ultra cards seem to be more expensive than the 6800 GT (and
slower?), so really I don't see any other cards that might fit what I need,
if anyone can suggest something that I may have overlooked, that would be
great


Now that you have made yourself clear, buy a 6800GT.
Remember the DX9.0c support and the 6800GT will be
faster than Fx5950. And it has that neat and very powerful
video processor. The 5950 is backward-looking, the
6800GT is forward.........

However, there WILL be driver teething problems that you
will have to grin and bear. Including speed-optimizations.

BTW: I would gently suggest that you do not buy a
PNY card............... both reliability and customer support
are very questionable. Others on this newsgroup might
like to comment before you take the plunge.

John Lewis


Thanks for any other card suggestions.




"jeff b" wrote in message
news:d4DDc.124502$Sw.31546@attbi_s51...

As to the advice "do without/wait until the price drops"....
that is reasonable advice ONLY if you are buying the card as
an investment


Huh ?? Explain.................

If you are buying it as an investment, then you won't be using it.
So being denied the use of the card isn't a factor.


Funy thing, I waited until the price of my FX5900 (non-XT) was
right ( $175) and am enjoying it greatly.

Right, you are enjoying it NOW, but you weren't enjoying
BEFORE you bought it, in your "do without" period.


I can afford to wait for the die shrinks on the new -gen parts ---
which has to come because of yield considerations and
competitive-price pressure between the 2 players.

Yes, this is one way to go. The buy/don't buy decision
comes down to not only what you are buying, but what you currently
have. I have a much weaker card than you, so I have more reason
to upgrade.

Gives
time for the drivers to mature too. Your purchase will help
pay off the development costs, for which action I shall be
in your debt.

Right, so mail me a check.

Jeff B

Thanks, driver teething problems I can live with


"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 02:54:36 +0100, "+c0re-"
wrote:

Ok, I understand all these points, thanks for addressing them.

To put my question another way, I need a good video card now (not in 6
months time), and my criteria is a little strange.
It must be faster than a 5900XT, cheaper than or equal to a 6800 GT, and
has
to be an nvidia chipset.
The 5950 ultra cards seem to be more expensive than the 6800 GT (and
slower?), so really I don't see any other cards that might fit what I
need,
if anyone can suggest something that I may have overlooked, that would be
great


Now that you have made yourself clear, buy a 6800GT.
Remember the DX9.0c support and the 6800GT will be
faster than Fx5950. And it has that neat and very powerful
video processor. The 5950 is backward-looking, the
6800GT is forward.........

However, there WILL be driver teething problems that you
will have to grin and bear. Including speed-optimizations.

BTW: I would gently suggest that you do not buy a
PNY card............... both reliability and customer support
are very questionable. Others on this newsgroup might
like to comment before you take the plunge.

John Lewis


Thanks for any other card suggestions.




"jeff b" wrote in message
news:d4DDc.124502$Sw.31546@attbi_s51...

As to the advice "do without/wait until the price drops"....
that is reasonable advice ONLY if you are buying the card as
an investment


Huh ?? Explain.................

If you are buying it as an investment, then you won't be using it.
So being denied the use of the card isn't a factor.


Funy thing, I waited until the price of my FX5900 (non-XT) was
right ( $175) and am enjoying it greatly.

Right, you are enjoying it NOW, but you weren't enjoying
BEFORE you bought it, in your "do without" period.


I can afford to wait for the die shrinks on the new -gen parts ---
which has to come because of yield considerations and
competitive-price pressure between the 2 players.

Yes, this is one way to go. The buy/don't buy decision
comes down to not only what you are buying, but what you currently
have. I have a much weaker card than you, so I have more reason
to upgrade.

Gives
time for the drivers to mature too. Your purchase will help
pay off the development costs, for which action I shall be
in your debt.

Right, so mail me a check.

Jeff B

+c0re- wrote:

Ok, I understand all these points, thanks for addressing them.

To put my question another way, I need a good video card now (not in 6
months time), and my criteria is a little strange.
It must be faster than a 5900XT, cheaper than or equal to a 6800 GT, and has
to be an nvidia chipset.

Then either a 6800GT or a 6800 will meet all your requirements. As
to 'teething problems' of 6800 drivers, there are no problems.
All references to same are predictions, not facts.

Jeff B

I am quite happy to stay with my overclocked
$175 FX5900/128 ( genuine - nonXT) until the
6800 and X800 dust has fully settled.

Smart.

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 13:47:11 GMT, Jeff B wrote:



+c0re- wrote:

Ok, I understand all these points, thanks for addressing them.

To put my question another way, I need a good video card now (not in 6
months time), and my criteria is a little strange.
It must be faster than a 5900XT, cheaper than or equal to a 6800 GT, and has
to be an nvidia chipset.

Then either a 6800GT or a 6800 will meet all your requirements. As
to 'teething problems' of 6800 drivers, there are no problems.

And its lack of support for the VPU is not a problem ?

Also:-

"Teething problems" do NOT necessarily mean crashes
or glitches. "Teething problems" include lack of run-time
compiler optimization to fully take advantage of the
hardware pipes for which the customer has paid good
money. The FX series went through several months
of such optimization.

John Lewis

Remember the DX9.0c support and the 6800GT will be
faster than Fx5950. And it has that neat and very powerful
video processor. The 5950 is backward-looking, the

....which no one has even seen in action. The video processor is sitting
there idle. We have no idea if NVidia will make an announcement saying
"whoops, the video processor doesn't do X, so isn't very useful. Get a
refresh card and it'll be fixed."

Never buy on future promised features.

And its lack of support for the VPU is not a problem ?

What's a VPU?


Also:-

"Teething problems" do NOT necessarily mean crashes
or glitches. "Teething problems" include lack of run-time
compiler optimization to fully take advantage of the
hardware pipes for which the customer has paid good
money. The FX series went through several months
of such optimization.

The current 6800u drivers take full advantage of
the hardware pipes.

Jeff B