Next Round of Video Cards?

So does anyone know when we can expect to see the next round of video cards, and what the features are going to be for the next generation of cards?

It seemed like for a long time there you couldn't go to a gaming website without seeing some video card news.These days the rumors seem kind of few and far between. I don't even know what ATI or Nvidia have up there sleeve for the next round.

I'm not in the market or anything, I'm just wondering?

Probably be another 6 months or so until the next round and even then the new cards might only be incremental upgrades due to DirectX 9 not being widely used yet.

My guess is that once Doom III & HL2 comes out people will know the kind of performance they are after and sales will pick up and the hype about the video cards will start to ramp up more.

This is like the quiet before the storm.

Having just upgraded, I''m seriously curious as what the answer to this will be...

I just got my 5900 so I don''t want to hear any news for a while.

The next notable step in gfx cards will be the implementation of pixel shader v3.0.

The next notable step in gfx cards will be the addition of their own central air conditioning system to prevent overheating. Be sure to a bucket set aside for the water line which will get rid of the condensation.

So there are no shiny new buzzwords about what the next revolution in video cards is going to be? Some new fangled feature that is going to take us to the next level....3 years after the card is out?

Cheat-free drivers, perhaps?

Now that ATI and Nvidia have both admitted to cheating in various benchmarks, I wonder who''ll be first to start marketing the fact that they don''t cheat.

Welcome to the forums Xan!

I just hope Doom III and Half-Life 2 run well enough to get by on my Radeon 9500 Pro.

Thanks, Certis!

Been a lurker on EvilAvatar.com for nigh on 3 years. When I saw you guys strike out on your own I decided that I might as well come and lurk over here

So much for the lurking part though...

Back on topic: I believe a Radeon 9500 Pro should be adequate for Doom 3 and Half-life 2. Depending on how heavily these games rely on pixel shaders (and how complex those shaders are) you might even be able to pull ahead of a Gf4Ti4600. You should be able to have at least some of the eye candy turned on. Given the high sugar content of the candy in these games a little bit should still be quite sweet.

To answer Drunkagain''s original post: I doubt we''ll see much new tech in the next year to year-and-a-half. Definately some speed bumps. Most likely more complex shader programs (= greater realism). Please note that I don''t have any hats to eat in case I turn out to be wrong

ATI should have a fall refresh (R360) in stores by Nov. It''s possible that it will be available in some quanities before HL2 ships..

Not sure about Nvidia.. they seem to be having a hard enough time getting 5900''s in stores as is let alone having a fall refresh.

I need my 9800 Pro to last me for at least 2 years !

Lord_Xan

Great, even more Afrikaners, although I was born in SA i''ve only lived there for four years. And who am I to picture you like some pale-faced transvaaler do you by incident happen to live in Durban?

Anyway, I''m going to build a new system in 1~2 months, what top of the line but not too expensive card would you guys recommend for HL2 and Doom3 goodness?

9700 NP (maybe pro)
or
5900 NP

What price range exactly?

€2600 (about $3000) for the whole system

I''m going to get new MB+Proc+Ram soon, but I think my Ti4400 is fine. Considering I can get all that top of the line for less than a new video card, I think I''ll just wait on the vid card.

Which I think is the reason card news is so slow, they''re very expensive compared to the rest of the parts, so less people are interested in buying. I know i havent looked at a video card review in 2 years. Plus the DirectX9 being the last version for a while, it just seems like the whole market is slowing down, innovation wise. No major leaps between the last two generations, so what is there to report?

*edit* because I forgot to finish my post

Good idea Pyro. Koesj, if you are interested at all in Doom 3 and HL2, I would wait another 6 weeks and order a new system and vid card right before HL2''s release.

Koesj wrote:

Great, even more Afrikaners, although I was born in SA i''ve only lived there for four years. And who am I to picture you like some pale-faced transvaaler do you by incident happen to live in Durban?

We''re taking over the world, I tells ya I live in Cape Town though, but you''re right about the pale face (damn computar!)

Koesj wrote:

Anyway, I''m going to build a new system in 1~2 months, what top of the line but not too expensive card would you guys recommend for HL2 and Doom3 goodness?

I''m with Flux and Pyro: If possible, wait until HL2 comes out and then see what you can get.

Pyro...so are you running DX9 with that Ti4400? I heard there was a big drop in performance for GeForce 4 with DX9, so I''ve been holding out on doing the 8 to 9 jump. Anyone else want to jump in with opinions as well?

Like I said I''m not really in the market, but I would like to see the next generation stuff come out if for no other reason than to drive the prices of the ATI 9800 down.

I have never owned an ATI card, but the 9800 seems to get great reviews pretty much everywhere. It would make me a bit nervous leaving Nvidia behind, but I felt the same way when I left behind 3DFX for Nvidia and have never regretted that move.

Well ATI should release their next card in September if all goes well and it will esentially be a 9800 Pro at faster speeds.

Hopefully this will drive the price of the 9800 down.

Hmm, the 9800 sounds like a good choice anyway but I guess waiting for HL2 would make sense even though that would mean getting my rig later than expected.

"One_of_47" wrote:

...so are you running DX9 with that Ti4400? I heard there was a big drop in performance for GeForce 4 with DX9, so I''ve been holding out on doing the 8 to 9 jump. Anyone else want to jump in with opinions as well?

I have GF4600 with DX9... though performance dropped in the beginning, but after the latest driver (44.03 I think, not sure...), it''s seems to be back to normal...

Thanks, Nei! Appreciate the feedback!

BWAHAHAHA I got a very nice gift of about $2000 so roll on HL2 and my new graphics card, which''ll be whatever''s top of the pile then. I feel no need to upgrade until then!

EDITED FOR STUPIDITY!

I just ordered a new system with 9800 pro. Was reading reviews but I have to admit I have no clue what it means that 9800 pro is still based on .15 microns and not the newer .13. Dude I just hope it all looks very good.

Any tips on what bells and whistles I should be turning on with my new system would be appreciated. 2.8GHz, 1GB RAM, 9800 pro....

"Roo" wrote:

I just ordered a new system with 9800 pro. Was reading reviews but I have to admit I have no clue what it means that 9800 pro is still based on .15 microns and not the newer .13. Dude I just hope it all looks very good.

Any tips on what bells and whistles I should be turning on with my new system would be appreciated. 2.8GHz, 1GB RAM, 9800 pro....

Sounds like a nice system Roo. Preparing for HL2 perhaps?

You will like it extremely Roo!

I just ordered a new system with 9800 pro. Was reading reviews but I have to admit I have no clue what it means that 9800 pro is still based on .15 microns and not the newer .13. Dude I just hope it all looks very good.

Any tips on what bells and whistles I should be turning on with my new system would be appreciated. 2.8GHz, 1GB RAM, 9800 pro....

Don''t worry about the microns That just refers to the manufacturing process used to make the chip on the card. The less microns, the smaller the bits inside the chip.

Answer for the second question is even easier: Put everything on max!

Lucky devil...

I found a deal at HP I couldn''t resist. And I know what you''re thinking, Hewlett-fricking-Packard?! I looked at all the second-tier vendors that get high ratings at pcworld.com (abs, nutrend, polywell) plus the regulars (hp, compaq, ibm, gateway, dell), and for the system that would satisfy gaming me, and wife who wants to convert many hours of digital video into DVDs that we can send/use as backup, HP was better by about $300-$900. I''m back in school right now, working on teaching certificate, and HP took $90 off price for having a college student ID.

I got the system (no monitor) for $1424, and I''m going to buy my own 2 DIMMS of 256MB RAM since HP would have charged like $90 to install it (512MB more RAM cost $190 on their custom config, but you can buy that yourself for $100).

here''s system:
Custom a250y pavilion pc
- 2.8 GHz (HT) Intel Pentium 4 + FREE Corel WP11
- Windows XP Home Edition Operating System
- Corel WordPerfect Productivity Suite
- 512 MB DDR / PC3200 (2 DIMM)
- 160 GB 7200 rpm Ultra DMA Hard Drive
- 16X Max. DVD-ROM Drive
- 4X DVD+RW/+RW drive (DVD writer & CD-writer combo)
- 2 USB 2.0, 1 IEEE 1394, 6-in-1 reader, ArcSoft
- 128MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800 with TV-out & DVI cap.
- Creative Sound Blaster Audigy card
- HP Wireless Kybd, HP Premium Wireless Opt. Mouse

Finally got the system. Had some issues with FedEx ""home delivery"" trying to deliver system to me at work during non-business hours. To keep wife points intact I only had couple hours to mess around with system last night, but it was fairly awesome gaming wise. And HUGELY annoying for all of the stupid crap (AOL et al) installed on desktop.

Loaded Morrowind and turned up graphics as high as they would go (did same under video preferences in control panel). Not only did everything look gorgeous (compared to old 500MHz system + TI4200 card) but ""loading"" times made me giggle almost insanely. Everytime it needs to load new area it just looks like quick camera fade to black and then BAM new area. Might take less than 1 second.

Loaded Planetside, turned up graphics as high as they would go (keeping 1280 x 960 cause not sure i''d like 1600 x whatever). In the 50 vs 10 battle I took part in from Reaver, there was never any slow down, everything looked awesome, and fps looked...well danged high, didn''t actually run any numbers.

So I''d have to say ati radeon 9800...looked realllllly good. And I haven''t even bought the other 512MB or RAM yet. Wow.

Also loaded up Crouching Tiger DVD and it looked superb.