Video Card Purchases: The More You Play... The More You Pay

In case you haven't noticed, the high-end video cards are expensive with every release, and the same high-end video cards disappear from their pole position within 6 months or less due to another model replacing it. There are video card owners who feel betrayed after spending $700 on a graphics card, only to discover several months later the card can be purchased for half the amount. Are these consumers justified in being confused and at a loss for why their video card is outdated before their next birthday?

The New Marketing Of Video Cards

Video card manufacturers began to discover the Relentless Pursuit Of Speed as they competed with each other. At the time, 3dfx, nVidia, and ATI were the top competitors. They also realized consumers were not satisified with overclocking their motherboards and memory alone, and were now diving into another area which could be tweaked, modified, manipulated, and OC'ed to levels higher than what was recommended by the manufacturer: Video Cards! When the video card became a brand new area to tweak and boost, the race was on for the fastest, most powerful card ever.

Not so long after, came several different video card versions of the same graphics chip, each offering a slightly different modified model, at a slightly different price. For example, 3dfx came out with the Voodoo3. There was the Voodoo3 2000, Voodoo3 3000, and the Voodoo3 3500. Instead of the consumer spending time overclocking the card, there were now many different models offered for that particular need. In other words, the more you paid for the card, the more the performance. This seemed like a great deal initially. Why bother tweaking a card and voiding the warranty when you could spend a few bucks more for an "officially overclocked" card and retain the warranty.

Quicker Release Periods

As more models began to flood the market, we started to see the time periods between releases shorten. This is where the initial investment in the high-end cards began to take a severe dive and depreciate. High-end cards were being introduced every 6 months (and currently, they still are). Currently, we also have several "upgraded" cards. Adding more memory to a video card (which didn't they do it initially?), or adding other rendering features which will be in upcoming hyped games.

The Firmware Factor

Eventually, due to so many video graphics cards being named so close together, it was inevitable savvy users would begin to investigate just what the difference was between them. For example, the GeForce 5900. 5900 users found out if you tweaked it a little, you'd get a 5950 comparable model. And just as I'm writing this article, I picked up a XFX 6800 XTreme 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 which will be $95 after rebate. Apparently, this card can be overclocked successfully to 425-470MHz / 1150-1200MHz with basic air-cooled devices.

Why So Many Video Cards?

Well, this is a controversial question. The answer could be technology is changing and improving so fast it is simply impossible to market a video card which will last a significant amount of time with no competitor and without a price dive. Another answer could be manufacturers are purposely "pumping the brakes" on the manufacturing so that different cards are released relatively quickly, keeping prices high for short period of time, allowing for more purchases of top-performing video cards within a business fiscal year.

It's somewhat vague as to what the motives really are, but what we do know about the video card manufacturing business, regardless of the motives, is that it's ever-changing. nVidia and ATI are alone in the competition and each company wants to be the first one to come out with 1GB of on-board memory, and soon after, 1256MB of on-board memory. While we do have those high-end consumers who purchase the top-performing video cards who lose most of their investment only months later, we also have a larger segment of the graphics card consumer market who purchase the cards when the prices fall and rebates are offered. Observant PC users, which in my opinion are growing every time new and faster card is introduced, are beginning to notice the sudden price drops of high-end cards, and are waiting for the prices to fall before they make their purchase.

More Video Cards: More Consumer Options

While the high-end purchaser certainly takes the highest risk and is on the frontline whenever a new product is released, a larger population of consumers are taking less risks by purchasing video cards which are a few notches below the higher-performing cards. Surprisingly however, the performance hit is not as bad as one might think.

Conclusion

If you want to buy the latest, fastest card available, feel free to do so. I'm sure you'll have an exciting time with it. However, remember the probability that most of your PC games you currently own, probably won't even benefit from the latest card's technology. It's just too new. This is the single issue which video card users and potential buyers need to understand. Video cards are still being released ahead of the advanced applications that support it. Manufacturers and game engineers try to coincide the releases, but this usually happens for only a few games. Is buying a $700 video card worth playing your $50 PC game at all your "levels" maximized, when you'll probably finish the game in less than 3 weeks? Second, is buying a $700 video card worth it when in 6 months you'll have updated specs on the card as well as updated specs on the new games which are going to be...once again...released at about the same time as the fastest and greatest card?

It's something to think about. But is there an alternative?

Sure there is!

Because of the massive marketing of so many "new and improved" video cards hitting the retail shelves almost every other month, YOU have the power. Want a 6800XT? Just sit back for 6 months or even less and get it at half the price--maybe even less. Want that BFG GeForce 7900 GTX? Well, sit back and wait until around October of this year. The key to getting a great video card at a great price, is constantly buying the last generation. Several years ago you really couldn't do that because the cards were not as advanced. Yes, this is open for debate, but I think today's video cards are built better, built more reliable, and will be able to take on many new applications and games in the future without needing to upgrade every 6 months. We're currently seeing video cards increase in performance much faster than what the applications can even take advantage of. This can only benefit YOU as the consumer because buying an older generation video card can actually mean an upgrade for many years of enjoyment.

Video Card Purchases: The More You Play...The More You Pay

A part of The DigitalDingus Guide To Computers & Hardware series.

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