Is that new video card really the best bang for your buck?
I've been doing a lot of thinking about video cards over the past few months while researching what to buy for my new system and now evaluating whether or not my purchase was the right one, or whether or not I should have waited for these new cards. I thought I would share some of my thoughts as I know some of you are planning on upgrading soon.
I find HardOCP's reviews of video cards to be a little more objective than Tom's Hardware and Anandtech's. They don't really do apple to apple comparison's like the other sites which I think is a more accurate comparison. Instead they look at the maximum playable settings for each card.
It's important to keep in mind though, when reading any video card review, that cards will differ greatly when performing at different resolutions with/without antialiasing. Which is why I feel looking at all three sites is necessary to get an accurate idea about the performance of the card.
For instance, if you are using a 22" monitor, 1920x1200 resolution or higher is irrelevant to you when considering purchasing a new card (unless you are planning on getting a bigger monitor in the future). What you will want to compare is the performance advantages of the new card, against your current setup, at the resolution you are planning on playing at.
You can see this clearly in the Anandtech review, as they show the 9800 GX2 beating the GTX 280 in most examples. I find that to be a little misleading as the GTX 280 is a much more powerful card. Since the Anandtech review only shows apple to apple comparisons (i.e. with the same resolutions and settings) you don't get an accurate comparisons of the cards. Ok...so lets say the 9800 GX2 beats the GTX 280 at 1920x1200 with no AA. Then it still beats it with 2x AA but not as much. However at say 8X AA the GTX 280 DOUBLES the fps of the 9800 GX2. If you are only looking at a benchmark with no AA, one could draw the conlcusion that the GTX 280 is an inferior card. Furthermore, if you aren't planning on playing at 1920x1200, the comparison becomes irrelevant anyway.
What I'm trying to say is this. When buying a new system it is important to evaluate your needs as a gamer as well as what kind of performance you are expecting in a new system. If you don't have a 24" monitor or bigger and you are not planning on buying a monitor that size, why would you care about the performance of the cards at resolutions your monitor does not support?
Is that new video card really the best bang for your buck?
Futhermore, you have to decide whether the improvements of one card to another are worth the price difference.
I'll use my recent purchases as an example. When I first read the reviews for the 200 series cards I literally thought "Oh noes! I should have waited, I am so retarded!". I immediately began kicking myself for being so impatient. But that is only looking at a performance comparison, not a price/performance comparison. I bought two 9800 GTX for a total of somewhere between $525-$550. The GTX 280 cost $650. Is the performance increase from 9800 GTX SLI to GTX 280 worth $100? No. Atleast not to me. But then again, I don't play at 2560x1600 and personally I can't tell much of a difference between 2xAA and 8xAA but some people really can. That is not to say that if I was buying a new system now I would want 9800 GTX SLI instead of a 280. That would just be ridiculous.
You might think that I am just trying to convince myself into feeling better about my purchase, but I'm not. The GTX 280 is hands down the best card on the market right now and if you are buying a new card the 200 series is what you want. I am saying though that if you aren't planning on playing at anything higher than 1680x1050, there are some really affordable options that will give you great performance. You don't necessarily HAVE to get the best card because it may be more muscle than you actually need.
Building this system has been an eye-opening experience for me. It has really reinforced the fact to me that you don't have to buy the "top of the line" to get great gaming performance and when I eventually build another system, I think I will aim more for a VALUE build rather than setting a budget and trying to just get the best at that price point. The price point that you set may not actually be the best value. Because in actuality there may not be as much of a difference between a $1600 build and a $2000 build as you might think.
Just a little food for thought.
