Radeon 9700 or wait?

[Andergum]

The geek in me is telling me that I must have the fastest card on the planet in my system which right now is undoubtedly the R9700, but I voted to wait for the following reasons.

1 - I have a GF4-TI4600 now and it just isn't worth $400 for the increase I'd get from the 9700. $200-$300 maybe $400 definately not.

2 - I need a card with VIVO the 9700 doesn't have it.

3 - The longer I wait the lower the price of the next card I get will be. (always true of any new tech)

4 - Based on the R9700 performance, my next card purchase (either the NV30 or R700 vivo card that is out) will probably last for quite a long time so I intend to see what each company offers before I decide.

5 - I am skeptical of either card delivering good drivers right out of the gates. Especially with DX9 coming. I haven't seen anything negative on the 9700 in the reviews up, so far, (which is a very good sign) but I'll reserve my judgement until there are a few out in the real world running on more than the usual suite of benchmarking games.

6 - Where are all the DX8 games let alone the DX9 games?????

7 - DOOM 3 isn't out yet....

 

[gravioli]

Hmmmm, I think this is my first post here even though I have been perusing the forums for a few months. Anyway, I am on the verge of purchasing a 9700 now because I may not get a chance to blow my cash once I move in with my fiancee . Oh yea, I would also like to run my current games at the highest possible level of aniso and AA and still have great framerates, which I can't do with my Geforce 3.

I must admit that it will be extremely painful to blow $400 on a videocard. Although, I'm sure I will get over it a day or two after I begin using the card.

 

[Doomtrooper]

I wonder if we'll see a similar poll when the Nv30 is released... Will you spend $400 on a Nv30 or wait and see what the R350 will deliver...In fact going back to the Geforce 4 launch (which by the way debuted @ $399 US Dollars) I don't remember seeing one then either.

I'll be sure to watch for it

I even did some searching I didn't find ONE comment from Reverend in this review about pricing ...

http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/visiontek/nvidia_gf4ti4600/index1.php

Now lets not forget this card here was the same price as the 9700...$399

The real question is why does this poll even exist, here we have a card doubling and tripling of the performance of the card above and questioning pricing...how ironic.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

<slaps Doomtrooper with a wet noodle >

 

[Doomtrooper]

I guess I just expect equal treatment on all hardware...call me crazy.

 

[Typedef Enum]

This is a no-brainer poll, IMHO.

If you're in the market for a high-end card and money is no object, then the choice is simple: 9700.

If, however, you want something to..err..have it, you're better off waiting to see how things pan out. By then, prices will have come down, and drivers (in the 9700 case) will have improved/matured.

Since NV30 specifics aren't known yet, it's impossible to speculate on relative performance...It does seem likely, however, that NV30 will have more performance potential...the question is, is it enough to warrant waiting?

Hopefully, nVidia will release enough information in the very near future to give us very good food-for-thought, as far as why one should wait.

 

[BoddoZerg]

I just built an all-new computer less a month ago. By the time I even think of upgrading, the question will be "Buy R350 now, or wait for NV35?".

If someone held a gun to my head and said I had to buy a videocard RIGHT NOW, the choice is obvious. I'd get a [urhttp://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=P56-2634&SRCCODE=PRICEGRABBER]GeForce4Ti4400 for $200.[/url] It's against my moral principles to pay $400 for a videocard, even if it is powered by quantum holographic technology and can perform 25x antialiasing for free. If NV30 could do all that, I would wait 6 months and get the "ti4200" version. =)

 

[GetStuff]

I'm definatly waiting for NV30. If NV30 is not worth it for some reason (High cost etc..) R300 will still be there, and probally cost less and overclock better to boot.

Since were entering a new era of flexible 3d accelerators, It just seems more prudent to scope out all the competition's offerenings before making my choice... Since IMO we might be looking at a potentially large difference between the two offerings.


Just my personal opinion.

 

[LeStoffer]

Don't you know that obvious stuff like that are'nt allowed in these forums ?

Oooops!

Anyway, I am on the verge of purchasing a 9700 now because I may not get a chance to blow my cash once I move in with my fiancee .

This is by far the best reason the buy right now that I have read in a long time. Nice move. 8)

 

[mat]

easy... wait until its <250€
(i would never buy a >250€ PC part (CPU, Mainboard, Graphic,..))

 

[SirPauly]

I voted yes because I am a gamer with some solid funds and don't mind paying **IF** the product is greater in virtually every aspect. The 9700 does this in everything but CPU limited benches in my mind. If the nV-30 was closer, let's say a few weeks, but, to wait maybe 'till December or maybe longer is too far away for me; and what can the nV-30 truly offer over the 9700 in games? I doubt it would be a huge one in most titles. You're asking me to wait too long...... technology doesn't wait for anyone.

As with anything....... future products end up defeating past products for the most part and all I care about is what can this product do for me and my library of titles and the titles that will be released in the life of this product. As a gamer that is a fan of 3d ...... I am very excited about the prospect of this product now and I will see what happens in the future when I am ready for another product to buy. When is the right time to upgrade or buy? As long as there is nice choices there is no blanket statement time or product to buy because so many consumers have so many tastes and every wallet is different, too. Just so glad to have a choice of this magnitude now!!

There is no doubt nVidia will offer a wonderful choice with their nV-30 but to me it is not even an option due to timing and I can't wait.

 

[martrox]

I'll get the 9700 now......for $35.00 and my GF4 TI4600. Then when NV30 comes out & IF it's better than the 9700..........I'll spend another $35.00 and trade the 9700 back in.......

If any of you have a Compusa in your area, then why the heck are you spending big bucks to stay on the bleeding edge......I've been using their return policy sense my V5........

Thats why I have no favorites here....except MYSELF! Whatever is best for ME is what I get And, I only get WHAT's AVAILABLE Vaporware & I parted ways sometime in the 70's, I think.......

 

[sancheuz]

I got a 400 dollar budget and i want to waste it on something nothing less the revolutionary. The nv30 for some reason seems to me will be more revolutionary then the 9700. It might be i've fallen under nvidia's spell, but I dont know I just, I just, oh, I love nVidia, yes yes yes........ sorry.

 

[KimB]

Oh, what the heck? I guess I'll just reiterate what I've said in the past.

I would recommend that anybody looking at potentially purchasing a Radeon 9700 wait at least a month, so that we have a good idea of what kind of problems the cards have.

Beyond that, within a months' time, we should have far more information on the NV30. Still, it's mostly pointless to wait if you were planning on upgrading, say, in September anyway. After all, even if the next card is a fair bit better, you can at least feel consoled that you had your card earlier, enjoying the benefits earlier (if you were to always wait for the "next greatest thing" you'd never upgrade.

 

[DemoCoder]

Doomtrooper,
The older forums didn't have polling capability. Back then, there were a HUGE number of threads where people were saying "why buy a Gf3 now? I'll wait 1 year and there will be an even better card with actual DirectX8 CONTENT AVAILABLE." Before that, it was "why buy a GF1/2 now? No games use T&L and I'm sure the next-gen card 1 year from now will be alot faster at T&L" Hell, Kristof and Dave even produced an article criciziing fixed-function T&L and hinting that the next cards will be "more useful".

Back then, alot of people were saying "I'm waiting for Voodoo5-6000" and "Wait till Kyro2 comes out!"

I don't remember you on these boards in the old days, so of course, you don't remember any anti-nvidia stuff.




I

 

[Doomtrooper]

I was here coder, I think I made one post..Dimensional. I just read alot in those days...and laughed...

I'm talking only 4 months ago with the Geforce 4 debut...there was poll options then and again looking back through I didn't see anyone start a poll stating 'Should I buy a Geforce 4 for $400'...Or "Should I wait for the R300'...I do remember Typedefenum stating Nvidia was going to release a DX9 compliant card 1st though, and I told him he was wrong

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=385&start=0

 

[Nagorak]

Umm... Where's the "There's no way in HELL I'll be spending $400 on any vidcard no matter what"-option??

Seriously, where the HELL is the "too expensive" option.

 

[davefb]

if i could have bought it ,, it would be in my pc already........... so when does the UK get shipments ???

 

[TheMightyPuck]

since the game i spend the most time on is championship manager i figure a superfast MP system and a RAID5 array of 15,000 rpm scsi drives. Of course if you're gonna spend that much, plus even more for the cool alumunium case and the ultra quiet operation, 400 bucks for a card is a drop in the bucket. And even though i am still kicking myself for not investing in NVIDIA when I worked at a certain Financial Institution back in 96 and had certain information (probably wouldn't even qualify as insider so i could have made out like a bandit). I did grow up in Canada, and since Matrox is not really offering much bang for the buck, I think it would only be fair to overkill with the 9700Pro. Hell, I"ve still got a V5 in my box. Overkill is the only "fair" solution.

 

[Nagorak]

Since were entering a new era of flexible 3d accelerators, It just seems more prudent to scope out all the competition's offerenings before making my choice... Since IMO we might be looking at a potentially large difference between the two offerings.


Just my personal opinion.

It's funny you think that because IMO we're probably looking at a negligible difference between the two offerings thanks to consolidation due to DX, etc.