Alright, so right now I've got an 8800GTS 512 as my main card and an 8600GT for my third monitor and my PhysX. Since I've gotten my new monitor, which runs at 2048x1152, my GTS just doesn't cut it anymore for games. For games such as Mirrors Edge and Batman I have to play at lower res with no AA and lower quality overall. What with all the new games coming out (Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed 2, MW2, Mass Effect 2) I plan on getting a new card sometime soon so I can play on full settings, but my question is whether I should get the 5870 and sacrifice PhysX and AA for games or if I should wait and see what Fermi holds? I guess my real question is can I expect Fermi cards by the end of this year at a price comparable to the 5870 so that its worth waiting?
In a nutshell: no and certainly no. There's no way that nVidia will be able to massproduce and ship a new high-end card this year. At the moment it's not even clear how many "review samples" there'll be. So that also answers the second part of your question regarding the price.
My advice is... if you need something, buy it. However, as NVidia predict a fermi card before the end of 2009, I may be tempted to wait a little longer... but when nvidia say that.... expect it to be Q1 2010 Personally.... I'd buy the ati card now.
Not to rain (too much) on nVidia's parade, but the way they've been handling Fermi makes be believe that they will not have anything solid to offer until early-2010. Paper launch? Maybe. But I can walk into the local computer store and grab a 5870 off the shelf. As a fanboy of neither ATI or AMD (I tend to go back and forth between them), who is using a 280GTX right now, all I can say is only the 5870X2 (or a pair of 5870's) are on my current short-list of upgrades. Nothing from nVidia. Somehow, I've just been losing faith in them over GT300. Not to mention, leaving the chipset business, doesn't bode well for them. My vote is for ATI, either now, or towards Christmas I don't think nVidia will be able to counter them anytime soon.
Depends on how keenly you want it. If you can wait, and play with lower res/settings etc, then wait. Generally when manufacturers introduce a new tech they price high to milk the early adopters and skim the cream of the market, after a few months, and with greater competition, the prices come down and the majority of the market buys in then. The only advantage of buying now, is that you'll probably make the most of the card - it's useful life will be longer than it is if you buy in, say, 6 months. You've got a good run out of your 8800s (18 months, 2 years?) so why not stretch that a little longer and see how the dust settles on DirectX 11 cards? Also, at that resolution the 5870X2 might be up your street... What monitor runs at 2048x1152? I don't think I've heard of such a resolution before.
They're pretty new so I there's only a couple around. I think they're 23" 16:9 monitors, so actually have more pixels in a smaller area than 24" 1920*1200 monitors. They're also TN though, I believe.
Reminds me that I should have stressed that I'm a fanboy of either ATi or nVidia. Actually, right now there a 7950GT sitting in my pc, badly in need of getting upgraded. Before that it was a 9800XT (yeah, I don't change graphics cards that much ). The thing is, right now nVidia really has nothing to show whereas ATi has. The GT300/Fermi might end up faster, but you probably won't be able to buy it before sometime in 2010. Thus getting it *cheap* might take the better part of next year.
SMC is right, its a 23" 16:9 Samsung TN, got it for the same price I payed for a 19" monitor. As for the 5870X2, won't that have performance issues in some games since it's a dual card, and when is that due out? Is there a fix to get AA and PhysX in those games that have it disabled when using an ATI card? Or will I be out of luck there? Ideally I'd like to wait for a Fermi, but I just doubt it will be out anytime soon at a reasonable price point EDIT: Also will my motherboard be limiting my performance too much since it is only a PCIe?
I was thinking about getting it or a 275, but it seems like a waste to buy a new card now, and then again in a few months once DX11 games and cards start becoming more popular.
Thing is no one knows how nvidia will do with there new cards, or how ati and nvidia will do with dx11, and then how how good DX11 will be, might be the /yawn dx10 is http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/09/17/what-s-the-fastest-current-graphics-card/1 ^^ might help, I say buy the best interim card for your resolution, and wait to see how good nvidia's card is
Yeah, remember when DX10 came out and few games supported it for what seemed like months on end? Expect that again.
There's still not that many around even now. I'm not sure it will be the same with DX11 though, as it's supposedly easier to code the same game for both DX11 and DX9, which was the main problem with DX10. There's a nice article about it here.
The following is not news, and could just be Nvidia using th hype machine to stall people, but..... My feeling is that Nvidia will try and get a card out mid to end of November. Even a mid range card (and therfore easier to produce as lower transistor count) will get the a load of cash. The Christmas sales rush is too lucrative. the problem is if Nvidia dont come out with a new card, all the 5870's will sell out. It's a £250 game of chicken. I'm due the cash for a new mobo/cpu/ram at the end of the month. I'll then sell my current CPU/ram/mobo/graphics card. Nvidia hav until the middle of Novemeber to get some news on the new kit, or I jump to ATI?AMD and a 5870. VVV the links VVV guru3d Hardware info if these guys (BSN) are right, Nvida have boards up and running.
So is it worth buying a 5870 or should I buy a GTX275 and by happy with that until I do a complete rebuild and DX11 is more mature? Are there any games coming out/in development that are confirmed as using DX11?
Fermi is a freaking powerful GPU. However Like the 8000 series and the GTX 200 series, when it will be out for the first months it will be VERY overpriced, and then drop down to a more reasonable price. What I suggest is get a cheap but powerful GPU like a GTX 260 or 275, and wait for Fermni cards to be released and at reasonable priced. Believe me that on October 22nd you will NOT have DirectX11 only games... expect that at the mid or end of the life of Windows 7 (depending on how fast the market switch form XP to 7). And even then, like DirectX 10 games, the early games will be like Crysis as they won't be optimized in any way, and also the only thing that would be "DX11" is some crappy water effect in 1-2 room in the game, just to say that it has DirectX11 for marketing purposes.
Well, since the general reply seems to be that I shouldn't wait for Fermi, what's the recommended card? I've read bit's guide, but should I go for the 5870 (better performance but no AA or PhysX) or a nVidia card so I can keep those? And if nVidia, should I spend the extra money on the 285 or will the 275 still be able to do full settings at my res for the next year or so until I upgrade?
No AA in certain games* I think AA is only disabled in the UT3 engine since Nvidia developed the AA layer for that game.
It may only be in games using the UT3 engine, but that is still a lot of games! Is there any workaround to this?