Note on graphics cards as discussed in bits and pieces in this thread.
I'm starting to turn on nVidia with regard to their 7-series offering. While Mac users have some nVidia options, which I think is great, on the PC gaming side, the 7-series is starting to slip in terms of performance/price across the board. ATI's offerings are starting to become more interesting in blow-by-blow. ATI's shortcomings in OpenGL have really turned around, Quake4 benchmarks show them holding their own against nVidia's crop of 7-series.
The 7900GS, 7600GT, 7900GT and 7950GT are good offerings but are not in the same vein of the 6600GT price/performance in it's reign of a few years.
"The single 7950 GT [512mb] card from NVIDIA does not seem to offer a greater immediate return on your investment than its major competitors in the X1900 XT family. First, the X1900 XT 256MB is cheaper than the 7950 GT. Both flavors out perform the 7950 GT in multiple games. Where the 7950 GT [512mb] does lead the X1900 XT 256MB in a couple cases, it never leads the 512MB version. Obviously, the usual exceptions apply and those shopping with only one particular game in mind may form different conclusions, but in our eyes, the X1900 XT series are still better deals than stock speed 7950 GT parts. "
Another great argument in the same page on why I should pick up another 6600GT and run with 2x 6600GT SLI x8 x8 for now:
"With DirectX 10 and Microsoft Windows Vista on the horizon, we're hesitant to recommend dropping a lot of money on a GPU upgrade right now if you don't need it. DirectX 9 hardware should still remain useful for years after the DirectX 10 launch, but unless you really have a lot of disposable income and are willing to upgrade GPUs again in six months, our advice would generally be to stick with current generation cards costing $300 or less. Such cards offer more than enough performance for the vast majority of users, and even if DirectX 10 won't be a factor in the short term, DX10 class cards will be able to handle DX9 class games all the better. We expect high end cards built for DX10 to well exceed the performance of DX9 hardware even under current games"
While it will be a year before DX10 and Vista sorts itself out, I'm very hesitant to drop cash on a 7-series nVidia. It's a good lineage, but not good enough for me for the next year+
Since it may be another several months before I "return" (seems like I'm always returning somewhere... ) to Malaysia where my AMD64 rig is, maybe I'll just get a PS2 with games for under $200 AUD off eBay Australia. Not feeling a major gaming itch yet, but we'll see. A 2nd hand PS2 with a bunch of games off eBay seems to offer max fun per dollar at this stage
To me, it just looks like a lot of fun- and that's what I want out of a console. I don't care about graphics, violence, how many pixels it can render, HDMI 1080p, Bluray, bla bla bla
I dont like you anymore.
But seriously, is $600 That much ?
In England were paying £425, which is just short of $750
I personally do not think $600 is that much.
Personally, looking at the features of the PS3, I think its a steal.
You mention three games, but there are a lot more.
Besides I don't think the Zelda even has multiplayer, you don't need a second controller for it.
I know, but I assumed (and wrongly) that since they come bundled together and Nintendo has said previosly that the nun-chuck is standard, that you were wouldn't need to buy them separate.
And I know there's lots of games, I read the gaming news everyday, those ones just came to mind first and would seem more "hard-core" than something like Elebits.
Besides, I might "misplace" the remote, like I do with the TV one.
Since it may be another several months before I "return" (seems like I'm always returning somewhere... ) to Malaysia where my AMD64 rig is, maybe I'll just get a PS2 with games for under $200 AUD off eBay Australia. Not feeling a major gaming itch yet, but we'll see. A 2nd hand PS2 with a bunch of games off eBay seems to offer max fun per dollar at this stage
I just bought a PS2 a few months ago for the exact same reason- it has soooooo many great games for $20
I, for one, am most definitely getting a Wii. I personally think that this is where gaming needs to go: into a more immersive experience, involving your entire body, instead of just your thumbs.
Hell, my wife is excited about this console, and she hates gaming (almost with a passion).
BTW, I think I am going to get a controller for myself, my son, and my wife; so we can make use of the Mii functionality.
I'm planning on saving up my certificates from my amazon credit card and picking one up this time next year. I'm assuming the price will have probably gone down around $50 by then.
I am pretty mad that there charging extra for the nunchick add on, it should come with.
If it came with a nunchick, I'd buy one. I like women in uniform.
However, I don't think the Wii will be very impressive. The game line up is pretty lame just like the Gamecube before it and it doesn't do HD.
The PS3 is way too expensive but it will have the best lineup and the most power.
The Xbox360 is pretty powerful so competes with the PS3 and should be able to get a decent game lineup even though not as good as the PS3. It also competes very well on price and does have HD output.
Out of all of them, I hate to say it but to me the Xbox360 looks like the best deal. I'd never buy one because I'm not a gamer and the lineup is pretty bad at the moment but if I was to pick between them, I'd go for the Xbox.
People are already doing cheap HD gaming by hooking their Xbox up to cheap (<£200) 19" monitors.
Hey, what is the story with the WII and Nintendo's DS? I just bought a DS today on a whim and with the WiFi built in, I would imagine that Nintendo has something in mind for linking the two or integrating the two. Anyone know anything about this?
Originally Posted by 132GHz,4TB DDR8 SDRAM,95TB HDD
But seriously, is $600 That much ?
In England were paying £425, which is just short of $750
I personally do not think $600 is that much.
Personally, looking at the features of the PS3, I think its a steal.
Sometimes I think that it's pretty reasonably priced but the fact is that I just don't have the money for that. I'm sure that most families won't either. To some people that's about a month's wages and that's just for the console. I grudge paying £40 for PS2 games as it is so I always get the £5-20 second hand deals. If games are coming in at £50-60 each then it adds up very quickly. And what do you really get? Just games and an HD player. I have a Mini that plays games (more so with Windows), that plays HD and does a whole lot more for the same as a PS3. Sure the games are nowhere near as good as Playstation ones but games all have a similar concept and eventually you reach a point where they stop being interesting.
I'm beginning to think that Sony is getting quite arrogant and thinking they can do what they want. A lot of people think that them including a Blu-ray drive is a good thing but it's good for them. It's their proprietary format they are trying to push. The more PS3 owners, the more Blu-ray supporters there are.
Comments
I'm starting to turn on nVidia with regard to their 7-series offering. While Mac users have some nVidia options, which I think is great, on the PC gaming side, the 7-series is starting to slip in terms of performance/price across the board. ATI's offerings are starting to become more interesting in blow-by-blow. ATI's shortcomings in OpenGL have really turned around, Quake4 benchmarks show them holding their own against nVidia's crop of 7-series.
The 7900GS, 7600GT, 7900GT and 7950GT are good offerings but are not in the same vein of the 6600GT price/performance in it's reign of a few years.
Anandtech wrapped it up quite well:
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2833&p=11
"The single 7950 GT [512mb] card from NVIDIA does not seem to offer a greater immediate return on your investment than its major competitors in the X1900 XT family. First, the X1900 XT 256MB is cheaper than the 7950 GT. Both flavors out perform the 7950 GT in multiple games. Where the 7950 GT [512mb] does lead the X1900 XT 256MB in a couple cases, it never leads the 512MB version. Obviously, the usual exceptions apply and those shopping with only one particular game in mind may form different conclusions, but in our eyes, the X1900 XT series are still better deals than stock speed 7950 GT parts. "
Another great argument in the same page on why I should pick up another 6600GT and run with 2x 6600GT SLI x8 x8 for now:
"With DirectX 10 and Microsoft Windows Vista on the horizon, we're hesitant to recommend dropping a lot of money on a GPU upgrade right now if you don't need it. DirectX 9 hardware should still remain useful for years after the DirectX 10 launch, but unless you really have a lot of disposable income and are willing to upgrade GPUs again in six months, our advice would generally be to stick with current generation cards costing $300 or less. Such cards offer more than enough performance for the vast majority of users, and even if DirectX 10 won't be a factor in the short term, DX10 class cards will be able to handle DX9 class games all the better. We expect high end cards built for DX10 to well exceed the performance of DX9 hardware even under current games"
While it will be a year before DX10 and Vista sorts itself out, I'm very hesitant to drop cash on a 7-series nVidia. It's a good lineage, but not good enough for me for the next year+
To me, it just looks like a lot of fun- and that's what I want out of a console. I don't care about graphics, violence, how many pixels it can render, HDMI 1080p, Bluray, bla bla bla
I dont like you anymore.
But seriously, is $600 That much ?
In England were paying £425, which is just short of $750
I personally do not think $600 is that much.
Personally, looking at the features of the PS3, I think its a steal.
Read up a bit on the Wii controllers. The remote is "the" controller. The rest, including the nunchuk, are add-ons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii#Controller
http://wii.nintendo.com/controller.html
You mention three games, but there are a lot more.
Besides I don't think the Zelda even has multiplayer, you don't need a second controller for it.
I know, but I assumed (and wrongly) that since they come bundled together and Nintendo has said previosly that the nun-chuck is standard, that you were wouldn't need to buy them separate.
And I know there's lots of games, I read the gaming news everyday, those ones just came to mind first and would seem more "hard-core" than something like Elebits.
Besides, I might "misplace" the remote, like I do with the TV one.
Since it may be another several months before I "return" (seems like I'm always returning somewhere...
I just bought a PS2 a few months ago for the exact same reason- it has soooooo many great games for $20
I dont like you anymore.
But seriously, is $600 That much ?
In England were paying £425, which is just short of $750
I personally do not think $600 is that much.
Personally, looking at the features of the PS3, I think its a steal.
Doesn't that $750 include the VAT? Which means that you're really paying like $640 for the console, and $100-ish in tax?
In the US, tax isn't included in the price... so $600 becomes up to $660 in states like New York (our taxes don't ever go as high as yours
So you're only paying like $40 more.
Hell, my wife is excited about this console, and she hates gaming (almost with a passion).
BTW, I think I am going to get a controller for myself, my son, and my wife; so we can make use of the Mii functionality.
But I will definitely be playing Super Smash Brothers when it's released (at a friends house of course)
Btw the GameCube controls work with the Wii as do the Games!! So if you already have GC gear the Wii becomes cheaper
LONG LIVE THE WII
I am pretty mad that there charging extra for the nunchick add on, it should come with.
If it came with a nunchick, I'd buy one. I like women in uniform.
However, I don't think the Wii will be very impressive. The game line up is pretty lame just like the Gamecube before it and it doesn't do HD.
The PS3 is way too expensive but it will have the best lineup and the most power.
The Xbox360 is pretty powerful so competes with the PS3 and should be able to get a decent game lineup even though not as good as the PS3. It also competes very well on price and does have HD output.
Out of all of them, I hate to say it but to me the Xbox360 looks like the best deal. I'd never buy one because I'm not a gamer and the lineup is pretty bad at the moment but if I was to pick between them, I'd go for the Xbox.
People are already doing cheap HD gaming by hooking their Xbox up to cheap (<£200) 19" monitors.
.................(image)
my work here is done.
You gotta admit that nunchick was cool. And hot. At the same time
Aw, I missed it
http://www.time-is-fun.com/Nintendo-Girl-400.jpg
Or just enter "Nintendo Girl" into Google Images (no need to "un-safe" your search parameters)
Okay, here's the NunChick link, but you've been warned, there's no real nudity involved but it's kind of raunchy
I don't think she's a catholic but I suppose being in the missionary position counts for something
No uniform though
But seriously, is $600 That much ?
In England were paying £425, which is just short of $750
I personally do not think $600 is that much.
Personally, looking at the features of the PS3, I think its a steal.
Sometimes I think that it's pretty reasonably priced but the fact is that I just don't have the money for that. I'm sure that most families won't either. To some people that's about a month's wages and that's just for the console. I grudge paying £40 for PS2 games as it is so I always get the £5-20 second hand deals. If games are coming in at £50-60 each then it adds up very quickly. And what do you really get? Just games and an HD player. I have a Mini that plays games (more so with Windows), that plays HD and does a whole lot more for the same as a PS3. Sure the games are nowhere near as good as Playstation ones but games all have a similar concept and eventually you reach a point where they stop being interesting.
I'm beginning to think that Sony is getting quite arrogant and thinking they can do what they want. A lot of people think that them including a Blu-ray drive is a good thing but it's good for them. It's their proprietary format they are trying to push. The more PS3 owners, the more Blu-ray supporters there are.