Should I upgrade now?

Should I upgrade now? (Just a few thoughts)

Hardly a month goes by without a new "all singing all dancing" graphics card being released by companies based on the big two ATI and Nvidia,so who's best and which way should I go?Or should I hang on?Whats around the corner?
Who's best and which way to go........Well realy thats the hardest question to answer as its down so many factors about whats in your pc case and what you are going to use it for.The web is a valuable source of info and a good start is http://www.tomshardware.com/
(Not only graphic cards but anything pc)

Should I hang on?................We will come back to this.

Whats around the corner? Well around the corner are some exciting developments for the pc(when I say exciting also read as expensive)
It looks like the days of the AGP slot are numbered.........To be replaced by the PCI Express slot(this is said to be like going from dial up to broadband in terms of speed)
Four slots x1,x4,x8 and x16(so its the end of the old PCI slot aswell)But hang on a minute that means a new motherboard aswell (Exciting££££$$$$$)
Then there is the processor as both Intel and AMD are changing again(you can bet they will not be interchangable)Exciting££££$$$$$
Oh and Intel are pushing for DDR2 memory (Exciting££££$$$$$)

How long before all this happens?.............Its all planned for the later part of this year 2004 but could slide to the early part of 05

So should I hang on?.................Well prices of the "old"will start to fall (once those who must have the latest have started to buy the new)and by Spring next year I could have the biggest and best of every thing for budget pc money .(by todays standards of course)

So hanging on looks like a good bet..............well maybe and maybe not, will all the new games/sims be developed using the new PCIExpress graphic card technology?will I need more memory?Will I.......................................................We've been here before

All this is based on fact and just the grumblings of an old pc tinker,who always said "If its not broke,do'nt fix it but we will have a look inside anyhow"


It looks like next year is going to be Exciting££££$$$$$

TTT,
If it's acting the way you want it to be, leave it alone. I had to replace my 64mb card.
I don't remember if you posted this or not but it's a great match-up with graphs that includes FS9.

http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030930/radeon_9800-30.html

My card is going to make it for at least another year until a new machine.

It is the big question for all of us I belive. I just replaced my card to an ATI 9600XT 128 Mb. At the first several days I vas happy with my frame rate improvement. After a week I catch myself looking for better cards and prices. As we some times doing mistakes by forgetting what is the goal and what is the mean that what happening to me with FS. I am catching my self more and more that I am spending more and more time adjusting the system for better performance and flying less. It is a mistake. Unless you really not happy with your system I would improve my system periodically lets say once a year. By the way video card is a major factor in the system but there are other items as well we have to take under considerations

Ahh, the eternal dilemma. As you would know by now, computers & everything in them are practically obsolete by the time you switch them on.

I'm waiting for PCIE & a nice AMD 64bit baby to come down enough in price.

Well, i've got a GeForce FX 5200, and i can't stand it at all! I'm going to get a ATI X800 Platinum when it comes out. But that's probably overkill anyway. I just alway want the BEST!

Have you read these posts

http://flyawaysimulation.com/postt1121.html

It may improve things

Hope it helps

TTT