Video Cards are DAMN expensive.....

[human2k]

Looking at the prices of cpus compared to video cards, DAMN they are expensive, $399 for a GeForce 4 card that just makes quake run faster? Are they really worth these high prices (if u look at it from other perspectives other than gamer)? Even paying $100 I think is way too much for a video card.

 

[Jeff7]

Part of it is transistor count. The P4 has aroud 55 million transistors; the GF3 has 57 million; GF4 has over 63 million. Plus the video cards pack anywhere from 32-128MB of very high speed memory on them; no processor has that.
But if you're not a big gamer, or if you're not doing some really heavy-duty 3d rendering, it's probably not worth the high price you pay.

 

[titanone31]

that just tells us how high demand for high end vid cards is

 

[Epyon9283]

and that is why I only have a geforce 2 still..

 

[GTaudiophile]

You can get a Radeon 8500 Retail for $165 @ Newegg. I think that's a good value for all that it does.

 

[human2k]

<< and that is why I only have a geforce 2 still.. >>

 

[JackBurton]

<< $399 for a GeForce 4 card that just makes quake run faster? >>


Well if you are still playing quake (I-III) then you definitely DON'T need a GF4. Try playing some newer games like MoH or RTCW at resolution of 1280x1024x32+ with everything maxed and then come back to me and tell me you don't need the extra power.

 

[JellyBaby]

You don't have to buy the most expensive ones.

 

[jcmkk]

I don't see the big price difference. GeForce 4 = $399, Pentium 4 2.2GHz = $466. You also have to remember that a graphics card is more like a CPU/Motherboard/RAM combo, not just the CPU. There is also a lot more R & D that goes into developing new graphics cards. A new CPU comes out ever year and a half or so, and the chip manufacturer just keeps uping the multiplyer for the next year and a half. I'm not justifying the price, but I am showing you a broader picture. What it really comes down to is the fact that the companies price the cards at whatever people are willing to pay. If there are die hard fans out there that want the latest and greatest, and are willing to pay for it, then pay they will.

 

[AGodspeed]

You can get a Radeon 8500 Retail for $165 @ Newegg. I think that's a good value for all that it does.

Exactly. You can get the second most powerful video card on the market (behind the GeForce4 Ti series) for a mere $165, $173 when you factor in s&h. That's absolutely awesome, and at this point the 8500's drivers are starting to mature to the point where there are just a few minor incompatibilities left to be taken care of.

An 8500 is only about $10-20 cheaper than a GeForce3 Ti200, but the extra performance boost you get with an 8500 is worth it IMHO.

 

[nortexoid]

tons of good video cards for reasonable prices otu there..

kryo II, Radeon 8500s (LE), GF 2/3 Ti200s, etc.

 

[unclebud]

i took back that gf3ti200 to cusa. i can't handle that rebate. that kyro looks good, wonder if carmack will code for it?