Wait for DX10 or get current gen?

F

Framerate

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
173
Did not mean to make that rhyme. Anyways, I was wondering if I should go ahead and get a 7900GT or get something along the lines of a 6600GT and wait for DX10 cards to come out. I would like to play Oblivion on high settings now, but then again, I will have to upgrade in a few months if I go ahead and get a 7900GT. So what do yall think?

EDIT: Keep in mind that the system in my sig is out of date. I am using 6100 onboard video right now. A solid 15 FPS in Oblivion with all settings minimum. :cool:
 
While of course its better to wait if you can, sounds like you need a video card if you want to play Oblivion well.

A single 7900GT will give you great game play. An X1900 will do the same. Don't know how much you want to spend, I guess as little as possible and right now the 7900GT is probably the best bang for the buck.

Also, you didn't list the rest of you system specs, but I assume you have a decent CPU, and a 1GB or more of RAM wouldn't hurt.

I just got Oblivion over the weekend. I am not an RPG player, I really am a shooter guy, but some much good stuff was said about it I had to try it. And it really does look and run great on my sig system. I probably won't be big into it, but I love the graphics, its fun to look at on a good system.

Good luck!
 
Just go 7900 GT. I just ordered one myself. Sounds like Vista is going to be delayed, and if that is true, I wouldnt doubt the cards will be delayed also. 7900 GT is still going to provide a great experience. Go Direct X 10 when it comes and dont wait.
 
i think directx 10 = vista

don't think xp will be able to use directx 10 ... so you will have to upgrade more than just video card for directx 10 ..

so a current card sounds good ...
 
zacas said:
i think directx 10 = vista

don't think xp will be able to use directx 10 ... so you will have to upgrade more than just video card for directx 10 ..
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Quoted for truth. To take advantage of Direct3D 10, you must be running on Vista.
 
Say you have a 7800GTX now, should you get a 7900GT (cheaper to SLI, better OCing, 90nm sweetness, runs cooler) and sell the GTX, SLI the GTX, or wait until a dx10 card (but i wont be running vista until its been demoralized, if you know what i mean :p
 
Cypher19 said:
Quoted for truth. To take advantage of Direct3D 10, you must be running on Vista.
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Sounds to me that MS will shoot itself in the foot if they equate DX10 with Vista. theres probably no good reason that XP couldn't use DX10. Only being Ms wanting to coerce people into paying their MS tax again. Its been 6 years without a real new Windows product for consumers. What on earth would people want Vista for? I for one find WinXp pretty solid and have no wish to switch.

As for waiting for a dx10 component: er, no. Chances are that you'll not see any real benefit of DX10 the first while after Vista ships, so maybe 1,5 years from now before youll have anything good to use Dx10 for.
 
It's been confirmed that the Aero interface will be ported back to XP, so if that's using DX10, so can XP
 
For ~$300, a 7900GT will more than get you by until Vista and DX10 is released (at least 01/2007, I think). It's got to be better than the onboard 6100. If you don't want to spend that much, you could get a 6800 Ultra for $60-100 less but I would try to find the best deal on a 7900GT and grab it.

That said, I will be waiting for the Intel 965 and nv80/DX10 stuff so I can do a 'big bang' upgrade on my system. I could do some incremental upgrades but I'm too far behind (Socket 478, 8xAGP) to upgrade this system anymore. It's a waste at this point and all of my games and apps run fine for the moment.
 
you could get a 6800 Ultra for $60-100 less
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6800 Ultra? ew (even though a year ago we didnt say that :p) if your going to go low, a 7800GT will do. Else 7900GT is very good.
 
Sounds to me that MS will shoot itself in the foot if they equate DX10 with Vista. theres probably no good reason that XP couldn't use DX10. Only being Ms wanting to coerce people into paying their MS tax again. Its been 6 years without a real new Windows product for consumers. What on earth would people want Vista for? I for one find WinXp pretty solid and have no wish to switch.
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Plenty of reasons, including, but not limited to things like the new kernel and video driver model for Vista. If you want, I can forward you to some people who'd be glad to give you as much information as you want without stepping into NDA territory, but that integration with Vista is a part of D3D10 I'm not personally knowledgable of. And I've said it before and I'll say it again: bitch, whine, complain, kick, and scream all you want, but D3D10 on XP will probably happen the same day that MS decides to port DirectX and other windows APIs to Mac OS X. Oh, and you'll want to switch when you see the stuff that D3D10 can pull off.

It's been confirmed that the Aero interface will be ported back to XP, so if that's using DX10, so can XP
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It uses Direct3D 9 tech, basically. Aero Glass does not require Direct3D 10. Immediate evidence of this is the fact that people are able to view Aero Glass in the Vista CTPs without requiring the still non-existant (on the consumer level) D3D10 hardware.
 
I would evaluate the amount of GPU horsepower you need right now. If you are playing current generation FPS and want the best then buy it now. DX10 is at least a product cycle or two away. So buy what you need now and put $20 a month away to get a DX10 card when you need it.

Hope it helps.
Placebo
 
i was thinking of holding off too, but then vista got delayed and i heard how it was going to be a beast of a resource hog, plus when it first comes out it has to have some bugs.

get a current gen card, then sell later, who knows when DX10 games are coming
 
If you were running something like a 6800GT or 7800GT I would say wait, but with a 6100, go for a new one now. I would say a 7600GS, 7900GT, or if you can find one for ~ $300, a 512MB X1800XT.
 
Framerate said:
... I will have to upgrade in a few months if I go ahead and get a 7900GT.
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Why?

It can't be that you're the type of person who is 'driven' to have cutting edge technology and nothing other than that. You're gaming on onboard 6100, for goodness sake!


A 7900GT is more than adequate for most people's needs right now, and will remain a damn good display option for a long, long time. Waiting for something down the track which might be 'better' is NEVER a good way to approach upgrades.



Re: 'DirectX10 cards'

There's no such thing, and never will be. Never, really, has the inadequacy of misusing technical terminology been more apparent than right now with display card tech. Just as for any other version of DirectX, there will be DX10 compatible cards and there will be DX10 compliant cards. DirectX itself is a programming interface, not a display card feature set. Later versions of the API cater to more recent hardware features, obviously, but that isn't the defining factor of DirectX updates. The defining factor of DirectX updates is the changes made to the way in which hardware and software interacts, in order that more recent 'features' can be accomodated.


Some of the yet to be introduced features of display cards will be usable under DX9 as well as under DX10. There's a revision of DX9 yet to come, which will allow for them. The important change which will be introduced with DX10 is not the accomodation of new hardware 'features' but the implementation of a new device driver model.
 
Catweazle said:
Just as for any other version of DirectX, there will be DX10 compatible cards and there will be DX10 compliant cards.
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This is wrong. There will be no corner-cutting with DirectX10. A card will either be fully DX10 compliant or not at all. This is why MS are also bringing DX9 over to Vista in the form of DX9.L. There will be no "DX10-lite" for Windows XP.

Next-gen DX10 cards should of course run DX9 games under XP, but you won't be playing DX10 games on them unless you have Vista.
 
I'd say go ahead and get a 7900gt. I wouldn't expect really good looking DX10 games to come out for awhile. But if you really want a DX10 card, you could always sell the 7900gt.
 
meatfestival said:
This is wrong. There will be no corner-cutting with DirectX10. A card will either be fully DX10 compliant or not at all. This is why MS are also bringing DX9 over to Vista in the form of DX9.L. There will be no "DX10-lite" for Windows XP.

Next-gen DX10 cards should of course run DX9 games under XP, but you won't be playing DX10 games on them unless you have Vista.
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Happy to bow to superior wisdom, but I was under the impression that 'fully DirectX 10 compliant', in the context of discussions about Vista, meant simply that the card was able to be used with device drivers which complied with DX10's requirements. In other words, that cards could only be used if the manufacturer provides suitable device drivers. Same goes for other hardware affected such as soundcards and so on. DirectX is more than just video cards.

I was also under the impression that DirectX 9.0L was aimed at compatibility for older hardware, for which suitable device drivers won't be provided, and also for compatibility with existing software, which makes calls directly to hardware rather than via the DX10 compatible device drivers in the way software titles suitable for use under DX10 will need to.


But I'm not infallible, nor am I a software engineer :D
 
After reading the post following mine I would have to agree.

What I used to do is:
1. When I refiled my tax forms I would have them deduct an additional amount per paycheck.
2. Then every return would have an additional 1200 that I would use to upgrade.
3. I never waited......... (the previous posts were right. there is no point.)


Anyways, if you want it and you can afford WHY NOT?
 
I'd go with something you could get fairly cheap. If you're like me which I think you are except maybe one step ahead of me, you want to wait for dx10. I know when the cards come out I'll have an SFF system built and will want dx10 capability. But for now I'd say go w/ a 6800 or x800 series.
 
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