Im thinking of buying a notebook with a 7900 GS.. Just how importat do you guys believe will it have to have a cpr with a gfx card that is dx10 compatible? Some people seem to think it will be of extreme importance, while other say its not really a big deal at all. Am not too keen on buying something that is obsolete the next day.. Would appreciate some help in straightening things out so that Im not making a mistake.. Thanks.

If anyone buying a new computer likely to be used for a modicum of graphics or HD video doesn't have to buy right now, they'd be better off waiting a couple of weeks.

AKA if anyone is an ATI fanboy, they'd be better off waiting a few weeks.

No, rather just being able to be in a fully informed position and see all the facts and options of both DX10 and DX9 offerings from both major players.

That's sensible, not being a fanboy.

Then say he might want to wait a few weeks to be fully informed.

Don't tell him he'll be "better off," because that implies that ATI is the better solution, which directly contradicts your claim of judging both to see which is better.

Yes.. you're a fanboy.

No it doesn't, it implies wait and see. ATI could well be worse than the 8600's, and either way it seems it isn't likely to be available for the mobile market for some time anyway.

If you're looking for something that isn't there, you're either a fanboy or a troll.

I don't really care which, you're a tw*t either way and have made a mountain of a reasonable question and a reasonable answer.

Direct X10 shouldn't be necessary for at least a year.

However, I agree with The_Abyss on this one. You should wait a little bit until the AMD launch. If nothing else, these will lower the price of existing GPU's! Pick up a 8800 GTS for ~$200.....hmmm......tasty.

EDIT: Completely missed that your looking into a LAPTOP. I personally have a 7900 GS based Dell XPS m1710, and I love it. It games pretty well, but make sure to get the 7200 RPM hard drive, or you will end up shooting it.

Best of Luck

Whatever abyss, you know you're wrong... especially when you failed to answer the OP's question.

CJZ, in terms of DX10 games, there's nothing really available right now, and vista drivers are on very shaky ground. However, several new games are sleighted to be produced by the end of this year and definately by next year that utilize DX10, and the vista drivers have been improving about every other week to a month.

If you are an avid gamer and need to stay on top of the latest games, then I would say that you would be hurting by about the end of next year. Now, I'm saying this because it all depends on your schedule of updating. If you upgrade your comp every other year, you should be fine getting a dx9 card now. If you keep one for 3+ years, you're probably going to be ok, but you may find that there are some things that you are missing. Either way though, right now DX10 is very new, so even a NEW DX10 card now will not be as good as a DX10 card in a year or so.

Basically, either way, whatever you get now (DX9 or DX10) is going to probably be out of date in about 2 years.



What COMPANY you go with for a DX10 card is a completely different discussion... and that's what comes in to play when you "wait a couple weeks."

Actually, based on the fact that the benchmarks we are seeing from the 2900XT doesn't live up to the hype it's been getting for the past 6 months, it's probably not going to make that much of a price difference in the market. A 320 GTS for $200 is possible.. but that's just about $30 away from where it is right now anyway.

As Abyss said, for notbooks, we're probably not going to see the change for awhile.. and it's not going to affect the bottom line price, because you're buying a notebook, not a card... so really, waiting for AMD/ATI to come out w/something is of little consequence to the OP in terms of DX10

Unless I missed something noone has yet anounced a mobile DX10 card. There were the various comments and or rumours that ATI would have a full line inc. mobile but not even the rumour sites have mentioned any specific card.

You still should have a more complete answer in 13 days but if no mobile part is announced then I would move on. Given the power consuption of the better DX10 parts something like this may be the future of lap top gaming. Spreadsheets on the go and gaming at home/hotel.

So because I'm waiting a few weeks I'm an ATI fanboy even though I'm planning to buy a 8800 GTS? The reason I'm waiting is because I hope that with the release of the X2900 series cards, the Nvidia prices will drop a bit.

I think you need to grow up. With your accusations of fanboysim, you're mainly showing that you are a Nvidia fanboy.

To the OP, I'd wait the couple weeks and then buy a DX10 card of your choice. Though there may not be any DX10 games around yet, the DX10 cards are generally showing better performance than a DX9 card when running in DX9. But that's my opinion and others may disagree for hteir own reasons.

Thanks a lot all of you, especially you Phrost with that last answer which was more on a level that Im actually understanding what itll mean in practice One more thing though, you said "would be hurting by about the end of next year". When saying this, do you mean as in I wont be able to play a great number of games at all, or that Ill be forced to play them with gfx options set to low? Cause today Im at an old desktop with a a radeon xt9800 and am still playing most games, albeit at low gfx options in some cases. Actually I encountered a game which I couldnt play (at all) for the first time this month (splinter cell double agent).

So when you say games will start utilizing dx10, do you mean they will require it or just that they will play better with it?

Again, thanks.

Sailer.. why don't you take a moment to put everything into context?

- My comment was to Abyss because he said he would be "better off," while in fact there is no proof that the OP would be "better off" when the AMD card is released... unless, of course, that was the only thing he was worried about. In which case, yes he would be better off, because his favorite company's card would be released. Hence fanyboyism.
- The OP isn't looking for a card to buy... he's looking for a notebook to buy... so the release of the 2900 is of little consequence to him. Waiting a few weeks does little for him

As games start to come out in DX10, they will require it to be played with all their features, but they should still ba able to be played on DX9, just not with all the added features. I doubt that you'll be hurting next year if you buy a DX10 card today. It will take time for the companies to start stretching the limits of the present cards. Also, if a present DX10 card does fall behind, think of how much more a DX9 card would lag. Though I'm not advocating buying the top card available, like a 8800 GTX, I don't think its wise to buy an outdated technology either.

no no no no... you'll definately be able to play tons of games. I was referring to a situation in which you might be wanting to *mostly* play the latest and greatest. If that were the case, then yes, you may run into problems, but as I said, you would run into problems either way. Either the dx10 graphics option that you would buy *now* most likely wouldn't be up to snuff for DX10 stuff at the end of next year, and you definately wouldn't be able to play DX10 stuff on a DX9 card by the end of next year (unless this project actually comes to fruition: http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/ )

In short.. anything you get now should be decent for playing dx9 games for a long time to come. If there are enough titles now to keep you happy, then don't worry about the card you're getting. If you consta