7950 or directX 10?

If anyone asked me what card they should buy just a short time ago, I would have told them for the Geforce 8's and Radeon XII, or w/e they'll be called. But I see thigns like the nVidia 7950 GTX and the 7950 (yes i am a dedicated nVidia fan), cards that are pretty beasty and very modestly priced. So, is the 7950s an opportunity I should jump on or should I continue my wait for the Directx 10 series cards? I'm sure both will be great pieces of hardware for at leasta year or so.

I don't think that dx10 should worry anybody for some time from now. It is likely that it will take some time for it to appear on XP (if at all) and for games will take even more games to use it. Since Vista will become useable OS in no less than a year or two I think 7950 is preety good choice.

The 7950GT is a refresh card, ment to replace the gap between the 7900GT and the 7900GTX, where as the 7900GS is a refresh to fill in the gap between the 7600GT and the 7900GT. The 7950GX2 is just the easiest way nvidia can compete against ATi without having to rely on their next generation chips.

Mphill is correct, DX10 capabe cards will not apear on the market untill the vista launch and the only reason they would apear prior is if Vista is delayed further. DX10 will be nothing more than a sticker on the box untill game makers decide it should be anything more and thats the bottom line. DX10 exclusive games are still a year or two away from being the normal feature in a title like DX9. To invest heavily in innitial DX10 products is a complete waste of money as by the time its able to truely stretch its legs, it would have already been replaced with newer generations of products from the big names. So at this point I would reccomend people look towards high end cards with lower price tags, such as the 7900GT, 7950GT, and x1900xt 256mb. These 3 cards are key players in that they have all the horsepower of their more expensive brothers, and can easily play modern titles at their highest detail without missing a beat.
Beyond that the 7900GTX, x1900xtx 512mb, x1950xtx, and 7950GX2 are certainly top of the line choices and will provide a buyer the ability to keep up in tomorrows games up untill the time DX10 is a worth while investment.
If the bottom line for your buyer is money, they can save more of it by joining the ranks of the high end owners in the 7900 and x1900 familys.
If their bottom line is performance, go with the premium cards in the 7950GX2 and x1950xtx series.

Could not agree more with stang. Also the EN7950TGX2 is the fastest single card solution out on the market right now and is relativly cheap for what you get. It is also an amazing overclocker. I was able to max out the GPU and Ram on the card I had.

DirectX X is not my major concern, it's other things like new shaders, new AA and AF techs, and the fact that there are planty of games that are already anouncing they will work only on Vista, meaning to me that directX X will be put to work at Vista's release, but only got knows when vista will actually get released. Everyone's ready, hurry the fuck up Microsoft

Only God knows when Vista will be relesaed. My wishes is not for them to hurry up. I mean since vista will bring no more than new bugs and shity MS security things, why hurry? I am not in hurry to fill MS with even more money than they currently have.

the fact seems to be, that progress is happening with or without them, i must agree. I just know that Crysis and UT2007 probably won't release until DX10...and I'm bored and want new games damnit.

Well, the power that we are looking at on chips like the R600 kind of makes me question whether it's best to get a new card now. Considering they are expecting to have those cards out by Christmas (last time I checked), I would say hold off on buying a new card now if you can. To get DX10, all the new features and technologies associated with a newer generation of cards as well as the power that I'd imagine cards with 64 pixel piplines would have, I don't think a wait of a few months is that much to ask...

For anyone waiting for DirectX 10 for Windows XP will have a long wait. DirectX 10 was developed specifically for the Driver Model in Windows Vista. There is no way to make it work on Windows XP without a complete rewrite.

Just get the stupid 7950gx2. If you keep waiting for the next best thing to come out you will be waiting your whole life. every 2-3 months somthing comes out that is faster than what you just bought. Accept the fact that what ever you buy is outdated by the time you get it home and installed.

sorry to necro the thread, but I have one last question. no matter what I do, my PSU doesn't have a connector for PSI express. I currently have a 600 watt PSU, so would getting an adapter be fine, or can you recommend a PSU I should invest in?

The difference is, the first one costs $600, while the second only $450, even though they are similar in performance...

They are not similar in performance, and in almost all cases they are about 100$ or less different.