What lifespan do DX9 GPU's have

Winga

I'm keen on replacing one of my existing cards with something a bit faster.
I have one concern though. With the advent of DX10 how long will it take before we will no longer be able to use the full effects of new-gen games on our older cards?

What I'm trying to say is it still wise to buy last generations GPU that runs DX9 and get it at a good discount, in the hope that I'll still get a few years of good gaming from it. Or should I rather pay up the extra $$ for something like the 8800 that runs DX10 and know I'm future proof for the next couple of years?

Thrax

I'd say about 12-16 months, personally.

Sledgehammer70

Well if you take a look at gaming today, most DX7 cards can still run a bunch of new games, but the odds are a DX9 card is needed for 90% of new games. I am willing to say the DX9 cards will go obsolete in 18~24 months, possibly 30 months depending on the trend with Vista and DX10 Games.

It will be a good 6 to 8 months before we can even count 4 DX10 games on the market, let alone 1 1/2 years before we have a handful of DX10 games, so DX9 is still looking very good.

Oriane

I think that the actual lifespan for you might be about when you

1. Get a machine that runs Vista.

and

2. Find a DX10-only title you really want.

The talk I hear is that many developers don't want to hassle support for pre-DX10 versions.

Medlock

As far as the vid cards themselves, they'll probably be fine for a long time. I bought a used 9700 Pro over two years ago and it still runs flawlessly. I don't know exactly how old the card is, but the 9800s had just come out when I got it.

Anyway, the card works just fine, it's just really outdated. It'll run all the latest games, but not at high framerates or with lots of eye candy - high resolutions, FSAA etc.