The Thousand Dollar Video Card

1. No way. That card costs as much as my system, almost. Well, I might if I won the lottery, or was a rich *******, but otherwise no.

2. Well, I'd say as long as you upgrade every so often, and make a decent upgrade, your performance will be fine. You might not have the best system, but it will still be pretty good.

3. I'd say you'll be a little better even getting a 9800 np over a 9700 Pro, or something similar, after that, it's just eye candy. And besides, the 9800 Pro's and FX5900 Ultras are for those that have to have the absolute best graphics. Realistically, it's the same as buying a 200 speaker system for your computer. Your performance isn't going to be better, but your experience sure will be. Me, I'd never pay more than $250 for a graphics card. For $250 now, you can get a 9800 np that will most likely overclock near 9800 Pro stock speeds. Why pay $200 more for minimal improvement. It's all about bang for your buck, and it makes no sense to pay double the cash and get a 5% improvement, unless you're filthy rich.

4. In some cases, yes. For example, if I buy an ATI card, I want it to be built by ATI or a Sapphire. If I buy an nVidia card, I want it to be built by a company with a good reputation, and one whose cards are good OCers.

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I think one aspect of gaming has been ignored here. Not all gamers are playing multiplayer online games, where frame rate is the most important aspect of video performance, and where there is no time to stop and appreciate the video quality. Some gamers are playing single-player simulators, where visual quality is essential to how immersive the experience is. In that context, frame rate AND quality are both essential to the video performance. In that context, then, the "eye candy" effects are maybe more like "eye vegetables".

Even some first-person shooters have this aspect. I think part of Half-Life's success was the fact that the player felt well-immersed in a quality environment (for its day), and there was just as much time to admire and explore the scenery as there was to run aroun and shoot things.

In short, I think there's too much of a tendency here to write off visual quality as mere fluff, when there are indeed situtations (in gaming itself) where its much more of substance. Perhaps this is indeed because some mistakenly equate gaming with multiplayer gaming.

I do, however, agree wth the overall topic: Is spending a huge amount for a video card worth the while? Is the video card market steering towards a "affordable low end or budget-breaker high end' segmentation, and if so, why, and is it right?

As for answering the questions, I'd certainly never spend $1,000 on a video card, as I simply cannot justify that kind of expenditure. (Computers are for research, then work, then fun here.) I'd never spend half or quarter that, either. (In inflation-adjusted dollars.) I would, however, wait until the market value of those cards was below those values and buy then. I lived on an GF2 MX-400 for quite some time until I upgraded to a used Ti4200 (128MB) at the end of the product cycle.

Interesting discussion here, though. I'm glad Ed writes articles like these. -- Paul

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1. No. I don’t think I have ever paid over $200 for a video card. Perhaps I am selecting games that do not strain my gaming all that much. But I think that what Donny said about not having the eye candy is probably a better explanation.

2. See what I said for 1.

3. I am gaming on a GF2 Ti right now and I alt least hold my own in any game. Perhaps someone could recommend a game that I simply cannot play well with my current card and we shall see.

4. It is an Asus card. Every thing else they make is solid. I would probably buy one of their cards again if someone actually convinces me based on my answer to question 3.

Then of course, I cannot help but notice that they want about $230 extra for the water-cooled version. Granted that is almost certainly for a complete water-cooling system. However, that still seems a little steep form the limited research I have done on water cooling my main rig.

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