Graphic situations

[robotech_master]

I'm pondering my computer purchase, which I plan to make late next week to see if prices fall any over the next few days but still allow time for the parts to arrive before Thanksgiving Wednesday.

In particular, I'm pondering which graphics card to use. As it stands right now, my choices are the 8600GT (~$100), the 8600GTS (~$150), or the 8800GT (~$250-$300+). The 8800GT is reportedly the best value for its price, as it performs within a hair's breadth as good as cards that cost twice as much. I'm hoping the price will fall within the next week or so, but what if it doesn't?

(As an aside, I won't be going for SLI, so getting two 8600GTs instead of an 8800GT is not an option; City of Heroes, my main game, doesn't support SLI.)

So my choices are:

1) Get the 8800 even if it's still $250. After all, I'm already blowing $500+, what's another $100 on top of that?

2) Get one of the cheaper cards and keep it until the price on the 8800GT falls to reasonable levels. (Or hell, keep it until whatever the generation of cards after that is reasonable.) The benefit of this is it keeps my costs lower now. But on the other hand, if I spend $100 for an 8600 and then $150 for an 8800 down the road, I've spent a total of $250 anyway—so why not just spend it all now and enjoy the better card the whole time and not have to fuss with selling the other one on eBay in a few months?

3) Don't get a cheaper card, make do with the motherboard's on-board video until the 8800 price falls. I could probably do this, but I don't know how good the on-board video is; it probably wouldn't be compatible at all with any of my games, and it would be annoying to be without them.

I wonder which I should choose?

Comments

[mrbankies.livejournal.com]

Were I you, option 3 would be crossed off the list immediately. Options 1 & 2 are decided based on whether or not spending the extra $100 to get the 8800GT crushes the monthly budget. If doesn't, I'd buy the 8800GT. But that's me.