Upgrade Now or Wait ?

[Kumitsu]

I have a 8800 GTS 320mb, i was wondering if its best to wait for directx11 video cards since windows 7 is just around the corner, what are your opinions ? or does choosing a video card have nothing to do with dx11 ?

 

[Flyordie]

I would wait unless you reallllllly want eyecandy.

 

[Kursah]

DX11 might be coming out, but don't expect an instant support for it and uber DX11 games out there...heck there's still waaaay more DX9 games than DX10 by quite a bit, though I prefer DX10 gaming anymore as I can notice the difference, I dont' mind still playing in DX9. DX10 cards will be capable of DX11 too, whether or not they'll take a huge performance hit is yet to be seen....but I won't be making my next purchase on that DX version alone...by any means. Gaming performance is most important, once my games don't play smoothly with the settings I prefer, time to upgrade. That 8800GTS is a good card, I would say if you had to upgrade now an HD48xx series or GTX260/275 would be a great way to go. I love my GTX260 amazing card. I didn't get it because of DX10, I got it because I wanted the power it provides. At the end of the day, look at the bigger picture beyond what version of DX the card supports as most games to this day still support a much older DX, get something powerful enough to keep you happy for a while, and maybe when that card needs replaced DX11 might be a viable reason to upgrade...time will tell, but like I said before, don't expect a DX11 revolution the day W7 is released, or even a year after imo.

 

[Grownman]

DX11 might be coming out, but don't expect an instant support for it and uber DX11 games out there...heck there's still waaaay more DX9 games than DX10 by quite a bit, though I prefer DX10 gaming anymore as I can notice the difference, I dont' mind still playing in DX9. DX10 cards will be capable of DX11 too, whether or not they'll take a huge performance hit is yet to be seen....but I won't be making my next purchase on that DX version alone...by any means. Gaming performance is most important, once my games don't play smoothly with the settings I prefer, time to upgrade. That 8800GTS is a good card, I would say if you had to upgrade now an HD48xx series or GTX260/275 would be a great way to go. I love my GTX260 amazing card. I didn't get it because of DX10, I got it because I wanted the power it provides. At the end of the day, look at the bigger picture beyond what version of DX the card supports as most games to this day still support a much older DX, get something powerful enough to keep you happy for a while, and maybe when that card needs replaced DX11 might be a viable reason to upgrade...time will tell, but like I said before, don't expect a DX11 revolution the day W7 is released, or even a year after imo.

exactly what you said haha.
Honestly to me dx 10 and 9 are almost the same and i don't notice to too much as i move my mouse around at high dpi ALOT...

If you really want to upgrade id suggest getting something like gtx 260 core 216 something decent so when support of dx11 is solid you can just blow money away on a badass gpu. etc

 

[Kumitsu]

DX11 might be coming out, but don't expect an instant support for it and uber DX11 games out there...heck there's still waaaay more DX9 games than DX10 by quite a bit, though I prefer DX10 gaming anymore as I can notice the difference, I dont' mind still playing in DX9. DX10 cards will be capable of DX11 too, whether or not they'll take a huge performance hit is yet to be seen....but I won't be making my next purchase on that DX version alone...by any means. Gaming performance is most important, once my games don't play smoothly with the settings I prefer, time to upgrade. That 8800GTS is a good card, I would say if you had to upgrade now an HD48xx series or GTX260/275 would be a great way to go. I love my GTX260 amazing card. I didn't get it because of DX10, I got it because I wanted the power it provides. At the end of the day, look at the bigger picture beyond what version of DX the card supports as most games to this day still support a much older DX, get something powerful enough to keep you happy for a while, and maybe when that card needs replaced DX11 might be a viable reason to upgrade...time will tell, but like I said before, don't expect a DX11 revolution the day W7 is released, or even a year after imo.

Wow, couldn't have been said any better, Makes a lot of sense.

Thanks a lot.

by the way, i think my motherboard is PCI express 1.0, should i even upgrade that as well. ?

 

[Kursah]

Meh, I've heard mixed results, sure 2.0 has more bandwidth, but I dont' think it'd be necessary unless you were going for a dual-gpu X2 style of card. The modern mid-range and single-gpu high-end stuff should have enough bandwidth on a 1.0 slot to get the job done. I didn't notice a difference going from 1.0 to 2.0, but I was just on a heavly OC'd 9600GT, which stock to slight oc is just as fast as your 8800gts 320, a GTX260 blows that out of the water, especially with higher resolutions.

If you're happy with what you have, keep it, maybe get a P45 and C2Q in the future, a lot of guys will be selling that stuff when moving to i7 and i5 setups, so you could snag some really good deals. But right now you have a solid setup. An OC on that 6850 to 3.6-ish might help a little with gaming, a 400FSB will help with memory bandwidth a tad, which can help keep the game running smoother, a newer GPU will definately play nice though.

 

[HolyCow02]

I can't say anything more than above... well said Kursah

 

[jamupnorth]

Always upgrade But only if you can afford to spend the money as every upgrade is worth it but not essential

 

[_33]

Is there a game that the 8800GTS can't handle? What would make you upgrade really? About Direct X 11, that should come with Windows 7. You could always wait for that and see what sort of graphics cards there will be by that time, but 8800GTS in my book is a good card still worth it for games today.

 

[Kumitsu]

Is there a game that the 8800GTS can't handle? What would make you upgrade really? About Direct X 11, that should come with Windows 7. You could always wait for that and see what sort of graphics cards there will be by that time, but 8800GTS in my book is a good card still worth it for games today.

It was a good card for its time back in 2007, but since i game at 1680 x 1050 even games like Bioshock fully maxed out stutters in some scenes, it plays most new games maxed out but some of them are abit laggy on some scenes, i can imagine the fps might be below 20 on those specific scenes.

anyways i just want some more UNF! from my video card.