I no what you mean, I am vry excited about the up and coming HL2 game
HL holds good memories for me, it was the 1st game to get me online gaming, back when I was 56k, and the pings were playable at 56k hehe.
So yeah I am dead keen for it and will be a supreme fan and hl2 propoganda merchant hehe.
As for next gen cards I dont really understand that much about them.
Are they going back to pci? or staying agp??
Anyways I will like probably get one just not this year, I think next year will be the year I go big card big cpu with a mobo to match.
Mind you if some good stuff is out around christmas time I may invest before the january sales
Anyways the gfx cards even our 5600 cards can and will handle hl2 we just wont be able to max out on full detail full anisotropic full AA and high res, but hey I only want to game in 1024/768 that suits me fine indeed, and I never see any detail difference when I put aa and anisotrpic stuff on anyways, so....
Regards 007