This summer i want to get a new card because i just got a new job at CHUCK E CHEESES. Well i was wonderign about how much the gefocre 2 will be droping in price. and should i wait for the price to go down to about 200 or should i get the viper II or geforce sdr/or ddr.
You can already get the Leadtek (TV out, big heatsink) and Visiontek (barebones) for $260 or so plus shipping (another $10). Thats about $50 drop in street price in only a month.
Creative just released their card at $299 MSRP, and Elsa dropped their MSRP from $349 to $329, so expect prices to drop even more.
The thing is I don't think it will quite hit $200 until the NV20 comes out. They'll probably drop down to around $225 and stay there for awhile once the market stablizes itself. The good thing is that the NV20 may only be another 4 or so months away.
Rather than wait 4 months to get a GTS for $200, I would suggest just springing for a Geforce DDR right now. You'll get 80-90% of the performance of the Geforce 2 (theres even less difference if you have a slower CPU) and you'll get it right now. The Geforce DDR is by far the best card in its price range, and it will still be a solid performer for another year.
They're not too hard to find for about $200. Forget the Viper II (crappy drivers, SDRAM, slow at high resolutions and high detail), and the SDR is only good if you can't afford that extra $70 for the DDR, but you can.
I wouldn't bump the Viper II just yet, it performed better than the GeForce SDR at higher resolutions using Quake III and UT according to http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardwa...orce/page6.asp
It also retails for $145 at onsale.com, while the SDR and DDR come in at $220 and $282. According to these sources, the Viper II may not be a bad idea. The Geforce DDR may perform slightly better at higher resolutions, but it's also about $140 more (might as well buy 2 Viper IIs). The drivers are in a beta state but not that bad.
Anyhow, just some enlightenment.
Viper II's final drivers are ready for a long time now... we will see new versions, and there are rumors that even say Viper II might get FSAA on new drivers (just wonder what a beautifull slide show that would be). It's SDR memory is rather good too, can easily be overclocked to 180Mhz and S3TC also helps it's memory eficiency...
thanks for all your help people but i think i'll go with the geforce because i heard that more games that use direct x work better with it and does the geforce or viper II have a heatsink.
No, I'm not smoking crack. Notice that the url I used was not a link to Pricewatch. The most logical and mature thing to do would be to inform Stefan that the cards are available for lower prices somewhere else, and then provide a link there. Imagine that!
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