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What is the best month or year quarter to get a new video card? I know that technically there is never a good time, but when is the best month to buy that will last longest before a new series comes out?
Best time to buy a new video card?
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as soon as they come out i guess....if you want ur vards life span to last the longest then get it the day of launch. Now if you want to get it for a cheap price. Well wait for a new series to come out like the 500 series cards from nvidia. or the 6900s Its just on what you need them for
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Wait 6-10months for the 600 series from Nvidia and the 7000 series from AMD.
It's better technology and they're supposed to run much cooler and probably much faster.
No point in buying the "latest release" of old tech if new tech is coming out in a relatively short time.
It's better technology and they're supposed to run much cooler and probably much faster.
No point in buying the "latest release" of old tech if new tech is coming out in a relatively short time.
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Point taken, but will it really take that long for new gpus, I thought the 600/7000 series were due in q4 around august.
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I don't think there is a right or wrong answer here. I would lean more towards your needs and wants. If you NEED to play your games smoothly and your current card isn't doing its job, upgrade to something more powerful and that will handle future games. If you WANT to keep up with the JONES's then buy the fastest GPU out now and when the next fastest comes out buy that one. Other than that, you can buy a new card now and in 10 months when the next new one comes out, hold out another 10 months for the next one to come out, then you can wait another 4 month for the next one to come out and so on. No matter what you do, its only new for so long until another one comes out thats faster and better. Good Luck.
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Not sure when they come out. IIRC, it could be between Q3 and 4 of 2011 or Q1 2012. The 600 series is "supposed" to come out in 2011, and it wouldn't surprise me if it did as cards usually come out every 6-8 months. However, the GTX 295 got released in Jan 2009 and their next card (GTX 480) was released in Mar 2010, so who knows, we could wait a year for the 600 series to come out.
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Of course new stuff always comes out, but we're one release away from new technology that comes out every 2-3 years. Why buy the latest release of old technology if new and better technology is coming out very shortly? It's not a case of "there's always better stuff coming out", it's a case of much better stuff is coming out very shortly, and it's wise to wait for it imo.
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True but the 480 was released in march of 2010 and the 580 was released in either November or December, we could see them in a few more months.
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To be honest, 6-10 months is a long time to wait in the computing world. That's 6-10 months time that you will not be enjoying gaming to the fullest extent that you can afford. Not to mention that if they decide to delay the release for whatever reason, that's extra time you'll just be waiting. On top of that, no one has any information on how well the next iteration of chips will perform and anyone who claims to know is lying to you. People who truly are in the know are under strict NDA's. All we do know about Kepler is that Nvidia aims to make it more energy efficient, which people mistakenly thought the presentation graph meant it would be at least 2-3X the performance of Fermi, lol.
To me, that's a rather pointless endeavor, granted I don't think you'll be hurting too badly with a single 4870x2.
![wink.gif]()
If you have a steady job, even part-time, or get a steady allowance, you can always save enough to do some really nice upgrades.
To answer your question, the best time during a release cycle to buy a card that maximizes the lifespan is on release day. But really, the best answer to your question should be: when you can afford it and still live comfortably.
It's like any situation in life, don't wait around for an opportunity to show up, make an opportunity happen and you'll live with a lot less regret.
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The 500 series was just a quick re-spin on the 400 series technology. Kepler, which is the next GPU based on a newer architecture being released later this year (or early next year), which is why the time between release will be longer.
To be honest, 6-10 months is a long time to wait in the computing world. That's 6-10 months time that you will not be enjoying gaming to the fullest extent that you can afford. Not to mention that if they decide to delay the release for whatever reason, that's extra time you'll just be waiting. On top of that, no one has any information on how well the next iteration of chips will perform and anyone who claims to know is lying to you. People who truly are in the know are under strict NDA's. All we do know about Kepler is that Nvidia aims to make it more energy efficient, which people mistakenly thought the presentation graph meant it would be at least 2-3X the performance of Fermi, lol.
To me, that's a rather pointless endeavor, granted I don't think you'll be hurting too badly with a single 4870x2.
To answer your question, the best time during a release cycle to buy a card that maximizes the lifespan is on release day. But really, the best answer to your question should be: when you can afford it and still live comfortably.
It's like any situation in life, don't wait around for an opportunity to show up, make an opportunity happen and you'll live with a lot less regret.
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Like I said before its comes down to what you really WANT or NEED. There really is no best time that fits everyone.
LOL, true.
Like I said before its comes down to what you really WANT or NEED. There really is no best time that fits everyone.
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I read an article once about upgrades and I'll paraphrase something here. The best time to upgrade is when your old equipment no longer does what you need it/want it to do. If you wait for the next new thing, you'll never buy anything. There always something new just around the corner and no matter when you decide to buy, there's something better just on the horizon. That's the nature of the beast.
I'll qualify that with my own advice. If something really cool is coming out really soon, I would wait. However, based on what I'm seeing, the AMD refresh is going to hit low/midrange first this time around at the end of this year and who really knows about nVidia. Don't forget, you can always sell your stuff and at least get a few bucks out of it. When you do buy and get going with your new equipment, try to tune out all the new stuff for at least 6 months so you don't drive yourself crazy thinking about what you should have waited for and how much cheaper you can buy what you already bought. Don't forget that you could assign a dollar amount to your enjoyment of your new equipment now.
/philosophical rant
I'm glad you brought this up. I using a borrowed 4870x2 at the moment and the rest of my rig is similar to yours. Right now, I'm looking at buying an unlockable (shaders only for me, just because I can) 6950 2GB as that appears to be the sweet spot for me. (bracing for attack) I'd also like to give back the extremely hot card I've been using for more than 3 months.
I read an article once about upgrades and I'll paraphrase something here. The best time to upgrade is when your old equipment no longer does what you need it/want it to do. If you wait for the next new thing, you'll never buy anything. There always something new just around the corner and no matter when you decide to buy, there's something better just on the horizon. That's the nature of the beast.
I'll qualify that with my own advice. If something really cool is coming out really soon, I would wait. However, based on what I'm seeing, the AMD refresh is going to hit low/midrange first this time around at the end of this year and who really knows about nVidia. Don't forget, you can always sell your stuff and at least get a few bucks out of it. When you do buy and get going with your new equipment, try to tune out all the new stuff for at least 6 months so you don't drive yourself crazy thinking about what you should have waited for and how much cheaper you can buy what you already bought. Don't forget that you could assign a dollar amount to your enjoyment of your new equipment now.
/philosophical rant
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The last 2 weeks ive been looking up non stop what cards to get, comparing and contrasting different cards.. I think I've driven myself to the brink... but my decision stands 6950 2gb crossfire
try to tune out all the new stuff for at least 6 months so you don't drive yourself crazy thinking about what you should have waited for and how much cheaper you can buy what you already bought. Don't forget that you could assign a dollar amount to your enjoyment of your new equipment now. |
The best time is a little after the next gen comes out. Wait for the non-reference cooled version, which run cooler, and there will always be a bunch of impulsive people who buy and then turn around and sale them for whatever reason at 10-20% off.
You end up with a cooler card for less than the reference originally was, and most of any driver/firmware bugs have been ironed out by the initial flood of guinea pigs by that point. This also gives you a pretty good period of having the latest generation card instead of getting the dual-GPU version many months later, and then the next gen comes out a few months after that.
You end up with a cooler card for less than the reference originally was, and most of any driver/firmware bugs have been ironed out by the initial flood of guinea pigs by that point. This also gives you a pretty good period of having the latest generation card instead of getting the dual-GPU version many months later, and then the next gen comes out a few months after that.
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