Legit Reviews

I am planning on purchasing a radeon x1900 xt video card, but I have been seeing many posts about how people want to wait till a DX10 card comes out before buying theirs. What are the benifits of waiting till a DX10 card comes out as opposed to gettting a DX9 card? I am planning on buying my system with the intention that it will last several years of decent preformance before I need to upgrade so do you think it would be a good idea to wait till DX10 cards come out because it will be a while till DX11 comes out and thus I would have support longer? Thanks

Theres no such thing as futureproof in PC's, no matter how hard you try a GFX card will be good for the latest games for about 3 years MAX.

If you want to last as long as possible then yes definatley wait for DX10 cards. DX10 has many fundamental changes over DX9 and their certified cards are also much faster. Plus a DX10 card will be better for Vista.

I know that there isn't such thing as a pc that will be top of the line for the future, but i'm trying to find something that will atleast last me a while and not be complete and utterly hopeless in 3~5 years from now. Is there any indication as to when DX10 cards will be arriving?

It's worth it to wait for DX10(assuming you'll be upgrading to Vista also) because not only are the cards going to be much more powerful but the drivers are going to be greatly improved. Google DX10 and read some of the articles on it. And besides, how long has DX9 been around? It's going to be a long while before DX10 is replaced so it's worth it to wait a few months for DX10. What I would recommend is getting something like a x1800XL(like I did) and just spend a little money(about half a x1900XT) to tide you over til DX10. Then sell the card and get whatever is worth it to you.

That's my $0.02 anyway.

Do you think that the DX10 cards will be more expensive than the Radeon X19000 XT? The main reason that i'd want to get a new compy and DX9 vid card now is mainly because my computer right now is 6 years old with a lovely geforce 2 mx 200 card in it and I am really overdue for an upgrade. I guess my main worry is wasting money on a new vid card with my new computer now and then going out and buying a new one anyhow ;). At this point i'm thinking about going withthe X1800 XT right now and then seeing how far that gets me and upgrading in a year/year and a half. I don't think I can hold off getting a new computer for much longer .

they will be more expensive.

if u can tell the price of the X1900XT has been going down. I;ve seen it as low as 300 dollars. so the DX 10 cards will come in at the 400-500 dollar range then slowly go down/

I guess what I meant was will the DX10 cards be arount the same price as the x1900 xt is right now when they come out. e.g. 369.99 on newegg. Where did you see it selling for $300? I might have to check that out ;). thanks

I'd definitely wait for dx10 cards. DX10 releases with Vista, which is sometime in the first half of 2007 (unless they've pushed it back AGAIN ). DX10 will not be backwards compatible w/ dx9, although I've read some stuff that says they're going to make some kind of software emulation support, but that'll drag big time. DX10 sounds like it's actually gonna be a big upgrade.

The high-end DX10 cards are all going to be around $500-600 when they come out, there's no avoiding that. If you want to hold off getting a vid card for a while and you need one now just get the x1900XT as it'll last you longer than the x1800XT would as there is a pretty good difference between the two as the x1900XT has a better architecture. If you really can't wait til DX10 comes out(I believe it's supposed to be out towards november(just shortly before Vista is released) if I read correctly so it's still a little ways off) then just get the best you can afford now. I mean DX9 cards aren't going to be immediately obsolete when DX10 is out, you just won't get certain benefits in the newest games. You'll still be able to play most newer games on high settings for probably a year or so. Though DX10 games will be a bit harder on DX9 cards so you'll probably have to drop to mid settings on DX10 games.

Either way, if you need a computer now it's pointless to keep waiting for the newest technology. I would have liked to wait for DX10 to buy a nice vid card but I needed a computer now so I got the x1800XL as I got a good deal on it(<$200). If you want to get a decent card now and upgrade to DX10 shortly after it comes out(when there has been a price drop or two) then get the x1800XT, if you want to hold off for a year or more get the x1900XT. That's my "professional" opinion.

Laxergreg wrote:I'd definitely wait for dx10 cards. DX10 releases with Vista, which is sometime in the first half of 2007 (unless they've pushed it back AGAIN ). DX10 will not be backwards compatible w/ dx9, although I've read some stuff that says they're going to make some kind of software emulation support, but that'll drag big time. DX10 sounds like it's actually gonna be a big upgrade.

GF 8xxx series is supposed to be out in october. the R600 is gonna be Q1 2006.

also one of the X1900XT's was 375 w/ a 75 dollar rebate putting it at 300 dollars a few days back.

I also have heard you will need Vista to get Dx-10. The reviews I read said DX-10 will be a BIG jump from DX-9.

I would get a card that will get you by till then. Now that X850's are $129 at Newegg why waste more money till ur sure?