Incremental Upgrade in the face of DX10?

I'm faced with an interesting dillema.

My primary system is running an ATI x800xl. While ATI's drivers have gotten better, I would not come close to saying that they're good.

I'd like to upgrade to a new video card / set of video cards, and I'd like to swap back to nVidia based cards. These will be running on an A8N-SLI Premium board.

Given that DX10 hardware will be coming to market before too long in the future, is an incremental upgrade in my favor given that I'll likely have to make another incremental upgrade to DX10 hardware sometime in the future?

I'm perfectly happy with my current video performance, even though I know I'm not maxing out what's available in this day and age, I play CS Source with options on high, but at 1024 x 768, and I'm actually pretty happy with it. Splinter Cell's performance makes me a bit sad, and with the new Splinter Cell coming out soon... it's a game I like to see all the eye-candy in.

Budget constraints aren't too major of issue, as I work for a certain software giant, but frivolous spending of money is never a good thing.

Thoughts and opinions from folks who haven't removed themselves from the hardware scene for the past year like I have would be appreciated. : )

for starters what are you looking to spend. IMO if you want to jump over to Nvidia and want good peformance look at getting the XFX 7950gt that the [H] reviewed last week. Plus DX10 will take a little while to be fully used and I would would wait for at least the 2nd gen of DX10 hardware before buying a DX10 card. The software support isnt going to be huge just yet just like when all the past version were rolled out.

I'm also running ATI and an x800xl and I'm not waiting for DX10.

I have started my new Core 2 Duo build and I'll be getting a DX9 ATI X1950 . Personally I don't see anyone taking advantage of DX10 for a while and if they do it will only be a couple of games.

Plenty of others will tell you "Wait for DX10", "Wait for Vista" and "Wait for Kentsfield". There is ALWAYS something better around the corner. Buying an ATI X1950 now and waiting a year or so makes better sense to me.

To each his own.

Puterguru, probably the wrong audience for one of those statements, as I am running Vista, and work for MS

I just cannot abide ATI's drivers lately, for Windows builds anyway.

Blauman, reasonably, I'd like about $350 or so, but if it's worth the jump to XYZ $500 card for ABC reasons, as long as I like the reasons, my cash will follow.

Get an X800 crossfire edition and put that XL to use

well the 7950gt is a great card for that money. But if you want more go the 7950gx2 route. Either way it should last you at least 2gens into the DX10 realm.

ElaborateDream said:

Puterguru, probably the wrong audience for one of those statements, as I am running Vista, and work for MS

I just cannot abide ATI's drivers lately, for Windows builds anyway.

Blauman, reasonably, I'd like about $350 or so, but if it's worth the jump to XYZ $500 card for ABC reasons, as long as I like the reasons, my cash will follow.

Click to expand...

Running vista and working for MS you should know to wait for dx10 cards. x800xl will be adequate for a few more months

This brings me back to the problem, I agree with both of the last two viewpoints! : )

:: sigh :: I want something to spend my money on, and get almost instant gratification, I guess PC hardware won't give that to me today... ah well, I'll order a new PSU anyway.

ElaborateDream said:

This brings me back to the problem, I agree with both of the last two viewpoints! : )

:: sigh :: I want something to spend my money on, and get almost instant gratification, I guess PC hardware won't give that to me today... ah well, I'll order a new PSU anyway.

Click to expand...

Here's one potential solution then: get a 20" widescreen. That'll be instant gratification for ya. Your x800xl will struggle a tad at 1680x1050 but when you later get a DX10 card you'll be golden

I wouldnt wait for DX10 either. There are very fast cards and relatively inexpensive out right now, snag one before its too late.

Even if you get a monitor that does 1680x1050, you dont have to run at native resolution(although that looks the best). If you run at 1280x960 the X800XL would be just fine.

GonzoP said:

Here's one potential solution then: get a 20" widescreen. That'll be instant gratification for ya. Your x800xl will struggle a tad at 1680x1050 but when you later get a DX10 card you'll be golden

Click to expand...

Actually, I've recently gotten myself a 1366x768 screen that my video card will drive quite happily while playing HL2 & related mods.... Ahhh 50" Plasma, how I love thee.

Okay, from the responses, I see a lot of folks encouraging not waiting based on price alone. Prices on current gen hardware will go down as DX10 hardware lauches. Based on that, I'm going to wait, because even if I do go with DX9 hardware, it'll be cheaper then, and I'm more likely to just grab two and go SLI.

Thanks all!