The Depression...

[Marci]

http://www.over-clock.com/ivb/index....6&#entry137946

Any others' thoughts and observations on the general issue?? (Not the GPUs, the observations on the industry in general)

[Angry_Steel]

Marketing took over the graphics industry awhile back and removed whatever common sense the majority of people had left.

You can thank Mad Onion (Futuremark) for alot of it, now you have a whole generation of "Gamers" who sit around and do nothing but fiddle with their box until it BSOD's so they can get a few more points in a benchmark and get a woody doing it, yet most of them die miserably when they actually do end up in a game, whether or not it is online.

The whole "Benchmark" became the warcry of ATI and Nvidia cheered on by the whole gallery of peanuts who who were looking for that next woody, and that extra 100pts in Futuremark, and 2 fps in Quake.

Problem with this whole thing is that the freaking games havent caught up yet, why? Because they cant write games only for the people with FX-57's and 7800GTX512XXXSuperCard with 512megs of Hyper-Annihilator Quasi-Diamond memory. They have to write the games for Joe Blow with his 9600XT or TI4600. But hey, if you dont have that extra 5FPS, man you suck, and if you dont have the latest and greatest, dont tell anyone. Meanwhile ATI/Nvidia go head to head putting out super cards every other month, just to stay on top of the marketing...MINES THE FASTEST! (this month)....Well.....MINES THE FASTEST THIS MONTH...SO THERE! Jesus

I dont blame you for ditchin the things, they have to be a headache. Until normal everyday people quit buying the overpriced crap that they are wasting time making, instead of making a good solid mainstream card and lowering the prices to something reasonable by any standard, the consumer is screwed alongside the smaller comp companies. I know I wont be upgrading my graphics for at least another generation of cards.

[TerraMex]

I've always considered those synthetic benchmarks a ripoff,
reducing a s*hitload of variables to a single number is , to simply put it, stupid (imho).
anyway, i'm the type that doesn't buy top end stuff, for two reasons,
- doesnt strike as useful to buy something 40% more expensive for 5% performance increase (or less, if any).
- limit of 250$ to any given hardware component. except monitors.

bling factor out the window.
anyway, I change hardware not based on the state of the art xpto game that came out (ex Doom3), but my ability to play it resonably (which, with my 3200+ with a 9700, i do). neither a new card each month to gain 10 or less fps on any given game. my cash flow has other priorities.

edit: http://www.overclockers.com/tips00879/

[Joe]

All I know is I still run a AMD Barton 2500+(clocked to 3200+ speeds) w/ a GB of ram, a 8X AGP XFX 6600GT.

And it runs every game just perfectly. The need to upgrade is more about status I think than actual performance. I mean I know there is a LOAD of performace to be gained with a dual core X2 cpu vs my XP... but for video cards... its all about how pretty you need it. I was playing NFS: Most Wanted last night and at 1280x1024 it ran smooth. Cant argue with that.

Ive seen BF2 run on a 7800GTX on a 4400+ X2 system and WOW it was pretty, and smoother than all hell... but my 6600GT was playable and still good.

There isnt the NEED to upgrade anymore, theres only the WANT. That has a serious impact on sales when the market before was based on the need for things due to software outpacing hardware. Well most hardware is beyond what the user needs from the software, so naturally hardware slows down in sales until the need is there. Or you are just depending on kiddies with their parents CC buying the newest bad ass video card..

To me if its between rent and buying a video card... the video card doesnt keep me dry and warm in WI winters

[bigben2k]

I hear you Marci.

The market for printers is also pretty slim; the margins are low to non-existant, has been for a few years now. You can partially thank Dell for that; they're now selling personal laser printers below cost, hoping to recoup it in supplies, which is a built-in reminder in the printer driver (complete with an on-line order form!).

It's hard to grab a chunk of the market, when you're starting out. Competition is fierce, and your suppliers don't help; they'll cut their prices for their favorite customers (I know, I've done it).

[guandi]

I know a guy who spent near on £4000 on hardware, fx-53, 2gb of OCZ etc when it was all new on the market, he spent 4 weeks putting it together, sinking this and voltmodding that, got some mega high score on 3dmark, only to be outdone by 20 people within the week. the real kick in the pants was that after all his mods it wouldnt run any games and ended up selling all the parts on ebay less than 2 months after putting it together for a total loss of £3000. last thing i heard was he got chucked out of his parents basement after spending another £5k of his university grant on parts.

[Joe]

thats awesome

[Etacovda]

lol, that is awesome

Hell, im still on a 2500 myself, but the old 5900xt is really feeling it in bf2 (ie, its crap)...

Im all for upgrading, but when you spend xxx to upgrade your graphics card, and then you have to wait for a generation or two for a game to come out thats actually worth playing.... well, its not just good economics.

Games have gotten extremely boring - take a catagory, grab a name and throw in a bunch of stuff from other games (FEAR, anyone? max payne + doom 3 + hl2= FEAR) - either that, or take a game, and make a sequel. Ho hum, hardly worth spending lots of cash on...

[Drago]

I agree with the General Sentiment of these posts. ATI/Nvidia are way ahead of the game with graphics over software. They are in their own race and there are still people out there willing to plunk down $750 on a Video Card if you can find one. Im running the olde Barton 2500@3200 with a 9700pro as well on 512megs of Ram all on Air at the moment but finally decided to replace my whole desktop and retire this one to the realm of the Kids. Im beta testing Dark and Light and this rig is just too far down the line for good game play in that for me. Im still using speakers and CRT from my first Micron Computer purchased in 96'. I broke down yesterday and "hit the button" at Newegg. I bought an opteron 148 for $222, DFI Expert board(crosses fingers)$199, 7800gt for $299, all for less than one freaking 7800gtx ultrafantastic 512. Also got one of those vx922's from viewsonic . This should get me thru the next two years with maybe another 7800gt or not.
I think "Bang for the Buck" purchasing is much wiser these days than spending twice the price for the latest greatest. Oh and all this time I really believed that Consoles were for Kids . Anyway, to get back to the topic. Thats an interesting thought about the mindset of this new generation being anti-geek and only wanting to Turn on their computer and hit the internet. I seem to recall thats the way I started out. I spent $3k on my first system back in 96' becuase all I wanted to do was get on the Internet. I could have done it for alot less but I HAD to have the latest greatest (Rubs His Ego). That mindset quickly expanded into Games,Games and More Games then IRC chatrooms and how to behave myself. Finally Online Games!! Tens of Hours , day after day of Everquest, then the first upgrade and boy I can tell you I wasnt Even goin to pay $3k. I built my first system in 98' using bang for the buck advice from a friend and I will never pay the Big Money again. I think Marci made an excellent post. So How do we get the General Population of the World to Wise up and Who is going to do it?? A daunting task at the least. Thanks Marci.

[TerraMex]

california? tanned post.