megadrive0088
Regular
I believe that ATI's R350 and Nvidia's NV35 are going to be the GPUs to jump on board the DX9 generation -They are going to be the "sweet spot" if you will. Both will have worked out most or all of the problems that come with all first iterations of new technology. As well as the shortcommings. Nvidia will most likely have a 256-bit bus in NV35, and ATI will probably have two texture units per pipeline in R350 - driver issues will likely be much less of a problem with NV35 and R350 (yes, i predict Nvidia will have driver "issues" with Nv30)
The NV30 and R300 are completely new architechures. No games that use DX9 will even be out until NV35 comes out anyway. Most games that REQUIRE DX9 probably won't be out until the NEXT generation (R400 and NV40) are out in late 2003/early 2004. Besides, it almost always makes sense to buy into the REFRESHES of any given GPU - that was true with the TNT2 over the TNT - The GeForce2 GTS over the GeForce1 and the GeForce4 over the GeForce3/Ti500. ATI has had less refreshes than Nvidia because ATI has, until now, typically gone from one architechure to another, roughly every year - R100/Radeon64 in mid 2000 > R200/Radeon8500 fall 2001 > R300/Radeon9700 Aug/Sept 2002 - Most of ATI's recent refreshes have been to boost the low-to-mid end with R100 remade into R7xxx - and R200 remade into DX8 capable R9000 - Now with R300, ATI will have DX9 capable Radeon9700 Pro, Radeon9500, and in 3-5 months R350. (did I miss one... Radeon9700 regular maybe?)
Of course, some of this is speculation, but reasonable speculation I would think. Regardless, I will jump onto the R3xx and NV3x series with the refreshes, since there have typically been so many advantages in doing so in the past. I'm not saying that one should wait, endlessly, for new technology, because if you do that, you'll never upgrade, there is ALWAYS something newer, better on the horizon. I would just say that if you're going to get a new highend video card, get the refresh version which is typically cheaper, more stable, has less problems, with greater performance, and overall is a much better product than the initial version.
The NV30 and R300 are completely new architechures. No games that use DX9 will even be out until NV35 comes out anyway. Most games that REQUIRE DX9 probably won't be out until the NEXT generation (R400 and NV40) are out in late 2003/early 2004. Besides, it almost always makes sense to buy into the REFRESHES of any given GPU - that was true with the TNT2 over the TNT - The GeForce2 GTS over the GeForce1 and the GeForce4 over the GeForce3/Ti500. ATI has had less refreshes than Nvidia because ATI has, until now, typically gone from one architechure to another, roughly every year - R100/Radeon64 in mid 2000 > R200/Radeon8500 fall 2001 > R300/Radeon9700 Aug/Sept 2002 - Most of ATI's recent refreshes have been to boost the low-to-mid end with R100 remade into R7xxx - and R200 remade into DX8 capable R9000 - Now with R300, ATI will have DX9 capable Radeon9700 Pro, Radeon9500, and in 3-5 months R350. (did I miss one... Radeon9700 regular maybe?)
Of course, some of this is speculation, but reasonable speculation I would think. Regardless, I will jump onto the R3xx and NV3x series with the refreshes, since there have typically been so many advantages in doing so in the past. I'm not saying that one should wait, endlessly, for new technology, because if you do that, you'll never upgrade, there is ALWAYS something newer, better on the horizon. I would just say that if you're going to get a new highend video card, get the refresh version which is typically cheaper, more stable, has less problems, with greater performance, and overall is a much better product than the initial version.
