are video card prices going to stay this low?

[lord of the mark]

I'm currently really immersed in Civ4, and when I take a break, I want to go back and finish Deus Ex, and play a few other older games.

But I am sorely tempted to take one of these deals. If I wait, will I see better deals, (or similarly cheap deals on the next gen of cards) or would I be missing the moment?

8600 GTS with DDR3 memory for $40 after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130394

9500GT for $50 after rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130395

etc, etc

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145161

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500024

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261031

[lord of the mark]

oh, and several

9600GT cards for under $80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127382

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162007

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500019

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145158

[Asher]

As long as they stay competitive.

[DrSpike]

Personally I don't think you should bother. There will always be cheap cards whenever you want to upgrade, and the cheap cards just get faster and faster.

[Quillan]

I'm with Spike on this one. If you think your card could use upgrading by all means grab one of those, but I think you're going to continue to see good performance for cheap prices in video cards.

The truly top end cards are expensive, and seem to be growing in price. 5 years ago $400 was about as expensive as a card got unless you were buying a professional-level card for graphic design work. Now I see them for $700 or more.

At the same time, they started really doing some good midrange cards, giving you excellent performance for a really low price, and those the performance keeps climbing while the price keeps dropping.

While you probably won't be able to find those cards if you wait, you will be able to find a card for that price that gives at least as good, and probably better, performance.

[El_Cid]

It all comes down to what game(s) you want to play. If you find your card can't handle a game you really want to play, then that is the time to look around. Cheap(decent) cards are here to stay i would think.

I'm happy with my current passive cooled 7600GT, but it doesnt support DX10 and many cutting edge games would hardly run on it, if at all. But you know the games i like to play don't often involve those games.

Passive cooling is a big thing for me now, I just can't see myself happy going back to the 'lawnmower under my desk'. Silence IS golden

[Asher]

I have an very quiet PC with an 8800 Ultra.

It's all about competence and components.

[El_Cid]

Silence is golden Asher....silence. Not 'very quiet'

Even my ****ty on-board PC makes more noise than my gaming rig.
My P166 is virtualy silent mind you!!! must have good PSU fans or something!? but lol, that wont run any new games....or even medium old ones!

Are there better fanless cards that a 7600GT yet?
The passive cooled 8600GT wasn't much of an upgrade, I'd read reports that it ran games slower than the 7600GT which it was replacing?
I haven't been keeping up as the 7600GT was running all the games i play perfectly.....still a few more fps in Morrowind would be great.

[Asher]

Originally posted by El_Cid
Silence is golden Asher....silence. Not 'very quiet'

A piece of **** may be silent, but that doesn't make it nice or useful.

[Zero]

i figure, why bother upgrading until pci-e 3.0 comes out.

i can live another yearish w/o upgrade.

[Asher]

PCI-Express 3 won't be out in a year...it'll be quite a few.

[El_Cid]

Originally posted by Asher

A piece of **** may be silent, but that doesn't make it nice or useful.

Xcom, Darklands, Elite FFE, Daggerfall, KoDP, X-Wing/Tie Fighter, Moo, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango..... oh f*uck it, and about all the best PC games ever made disagree

My P166 laughs at your uber-uselss game PC(and 360!)

[Asher]

Did you not play those games in the last century when they came out?

Or are you just like a dog -- buy you a simple toy and you'll be entertained until you die?

[Solver]

LOTM, like Spikie says, don't bother. Cheap cards are always available. Each new series of cards has a lower-end cheap model, and with each new series the previous one becomes really cheap. And since this happens often enough, you better wait until you actually need a new video card. You don't need it while you're playing Civ4, much less for Deus Ex (yes, go finish it already ).

You move through the games slowly enough... if after Deus Ex you want to play another older game, and only then move to something newer, you have enough time. Unlike getting a new CPU, which would increase the speed of almost everything you do, a new video card doesn't increase your overall performance when not doing stuff that actually taxes the card.

[DrSpike]

I'm amazed at some of the deals you can get now. When I bought my Radeon 9800 pro which is in one of my old machines it was £280. Now (about 4-5 years on) you can get superior cards for a few quid.

There will always be great cheap cards whenever you upgrade because the market is so competitive.