people BS'ing about "next gen" cards

[dave69]

Why do people always feel the need to dis current hardware in favour of "next gen" hardware? The facts are that no one knows what the next generation of hardware will be like except the companies making it, and even they do not know what the other companies are doing. Yes the next generation will be good, but it probably won't be mind blowing. The companies are just taking it up! You think these video card companies can just wack a geometry proceesor on board, 32Mb more ram, etc. this all cost money! they can make the cards better, but it always has to be with a certain cost, otherwise the majority of ppl won't buy them.
Anyways, my point is, no one knows what kind of hardware these cards will have, and also no one knows when they will ship...yeah the card companies say in "6 months", but these dates are seem pretty flexible from my experience. the V3 was annonced in Nov, but didn't come out till March...that's almost 6 months in itself, and the other cards haven't been announced! So if your gonna buy, buy. Don't wait cause you don't know how much the future cards will be nor their performance...you can only guess...

[BrainPlastic]

Money is the issue. Not everyone can afford to pay $200 every 6-1yr. We all just want value...

[agallag]

There is *always* something better right around the corner. That's part of what Moore's law is about. It's the nature of the computer industry. If you're always waiting for the next big thing, you'll never end up buying anything. If you do go out and get the latest and greatest of anything, don't expect it be the greatest for more then a few weeks.

You have to just buy whatever you can afford at any given time. Never buy whatever is the top of the line, just because it is the top of the line, because you always pay a premium for the new stuff. When your current computer stops doing what you want it to do, then just get something that will suit your needs. Unless of course you've got money to burn, because you can certainly burn a lot of it with this habit.

Now I'll shut up and continue waiting for my G400MAX that I pre-ordered two weeks ago .

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Andrew Gallagher - andrew@agallagher.com
Asus P2B-S, PII-350, 64MB PC100, MillG200 8MB (Anxiously awaiting my G400MAX), SBLive! Retail, Win98SE

[Buuri]

Yeah, it's like with those Athlon prices. They are supposed to go down hundreds of dollars in 1-2 months when ADM will be able to satisfy the markets. I wonder if it's worth extra, say $300, to get it one month earlier?

Those 'next generation' products won't blow our minds away anymore. No matter if it's a CPU or a graphics adapter that just won't happen.
If you have top peripherals from the 'old generation' will the 'next generation' product really shine next to it? I'm not talking about 7fps Half-Life kick here (allthough someone would find that most thrilling), but something you would expect from a 'next generation' product.


B

[kenyee]

While that is true, it's good do know what's coming down the pike so you can make an informed decision about whether to commit now or wait until the next "whatever" before upgrading.

Unfortunately, what makes it bad nowadays is that graphics card makers seem to preannounce wayyyy to far ahead. Permedia w/ the 1yr late P3, V3 that took 6 months, etc.

ken (still waiting for the G400Max but trying to decide if a $100 G400 OEM or TNT2 for an interim solution is worth it if the V4 is a big enough performance jump)

[Buuri]

Ken,

I'd just like to know that if "V4 is a big enough performance jump", but Matrox just announces G800 before you are able to get your hands to that V4, what are you going to do then?

You know, they WILL do that.. It's the part of this whole game.

I'm just pointing out that there's no gain in waiting at all. One should just buy what's on the market at that moment he realizes that his old system is not enough.


B

[kenyee]

There does come a certain point where you can't wait any more (mine will come in September when they release Q3A :-). See the Yoda thread for how long I've waited and what cards I've skipped out on. I've been wanting to upgrade since January...

Another way to think about it is you want to get a new car. You can either get the 1999 model or since you've know about the 2000 improvements since June, you can wait for that one. Knowing enough to make that choice will keep you from kicking yourself because you really wanted the new feature in the 2000 model. Of course, this assumes your current car doesn't fall apart first :-)

[Jihad]

One of the reasons I bought a G400 (got it today WOOHOO!) was because of its "next-gen" features like Daul Head and EBM. But all the new hype for NV10 and Rampage or Napalm or whatever is just that hype. It would be pretty funny in Nvidia annouced the THT3 it being only a original TNT core shrunk down to a .18 die size or something. Or 3dfx annoucing V4 with 64 MBS of onboard memory and nothing else new. But I dont believe the G400 will be outclassed by the next gen products because there is a certain speed when it doesn't matter. Just my 2 cents.

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Celeron 366->550, 128 MB RAM, 10.1 IBM Deskstar, MX300, G400 vanilla, HP 8100i CD-RW

[rickT]

jihad: fat chance. 3dfx has been developing their new core for 1.5-2yrs now.