OT: Climbing System Requirements and Specs

[Atrocities]

According to most game reviewers and hard ware testers, the top of the line ATI and Nvidia cards are vastly superior in quality and performance over their half priced brethin. The SLI and the ATI version cards can run such games as F.E.A.R. and Half Life 2 without a problem on the highest quality settings available. While the mid range cost cards tend to have problems.

Having a dual SLI system with a top of the line CPU/HD/MEM only provides the gamer with a better gaming experience.

Lets face it, Microsoft wants to force people into upgrading to VISTA through their decision to not make DirectX 10 backwards compatable. Game developers are going to be forced to step up to DirectX 10. When Vista comes out, games designed using older versions of DirectX will be obsolete.

Games developed after Vista, to utilize DirectX 10, will be using more and more of the features and capabilities of the higher end video cards.

Right now the only reason I can see to upgrade to a new system is to enjoy the wonders of the newer high end games, in anticipation of what is too come.

I bought my GeForce 5700 Ultra only three years ago and already it is dramatically obsolete. Eveything is switching to PCI Express, that alone means I need to upgrade my computer as my MB is not PCI Express Compatable, much lime many of you.

My computer is only three years old.

Hell most of the games released in the last year are already maxing out my video cards capabilities, and that was something that I did not expect to see so soon. Hell my $450.00 GeForce 3 card was ficken leap frogged and is now vitually worthless. Might as well be an old Mytrix Mastique for all the good it does in gaming.

So ya, buing a new "high End" video card is something that I am very wary of, yet I know that eventually, especially after the release of VISTA, I will be forced into updating both my PC and my video cards to meet the new standards for the new games.

MS is evil.