Buy now or wait for a couple of months?

[Donkeyfumbler]

Looking at the £199 6950 MSI card on offer this week and I'm wondering whether to go for it now or to wait until BF3 is upon us in September.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

It would be nice to have the increased FPS now, but it's really BF3 that I would be upgrading for, so will prices fall much in a couple of months time do you reckon and should I hang on? I've seen that the 7000 AMD and 600 Nvidia cards won't hit til November anyway, so I presume prices won't actually move much til then.

Opinions?

 

[F1aw1ess]

even if the new series dont arrive until afterwards graphics cards are the fastest moving markets.

imo wait m8

 

[BriT]

Isn't BF3 out in November?

 

[Ordokai]

The market has not moved significantly for a while now, I would wait to see what end of summer brings as its a popular period to start the annual "back to school" marketing campaign for hardware, supposedly for better "studying".

 

[harmony]

An HD6950 2GB for around £200 is the best bang for the buck as of today. Current rumours from Taiwan suggests that the HD7000 series will be released around Christmas (not sure about Kepler but nVidia has been usually later than ATI/AMD when moving to a new fab process), and BF3 will be launched around 28 Oct in the EU. If you are already determined to start building your rank in BF3 as soon as it's launched then you might have to buy a 40nm card.

 

[Blue160]

Graphics card prices fall quicker than any other component. If you're buying for a particular game wait as long as possible, as prices will only go one way.

 

[Donkeyfumbler]

If no new cards are likely before Christmas, are prices for the current range really likely to fall more than £10-£20 between now and Sept (when the BF3 beta is due) do you think? I'd be willing to pay about that much to get it now and get the most out of it (and then at least it will be a few more months till it is made old by the new ranges). However if that £199 card is likely to be £159 by then, I'll hold out.

Crystal balls out please.........

 

[mountaincow]

Isn't BF3 out in November?

End of October, but don't forget the beta is in September.

 

[Devrij]

I'm facing the same quandry. I've decided to wait and see what happens. Don't need a better card now (as much as it'd be fun), and despite wanting to be up to scratch for BF3 I'm going to wait for next gen so when I do get the upgrade I "feel" it more, because I'll have needed it.

 

[Donkeyfumbler]

I'm afraid I caved and went for a Gigabyte 560ti, overclocked to 900mhz for £172. If I trade in one of my 8800gtx's at CEX (and keep the other as spare) that means it will have cost me £145, which I don't think is that bad all told. Should get a few months out of it before it becomes last-gen.