Slash said:
On 23 Jul 2004 04:49:43 -0700, (e-mail address removed) (Nada)
scribbled:
[snip]
It's been very harsh when it comes to the prices. I don't know how
it's in Canada and USA at the moment, but here in Europe we're
seeing prices of 500 euros for Nvidia's biggest guns abd ATI's top
of the line cards aren't too cheap either. I read from somewhere
on the internet where the Ultra was priced at 800 dollars max
which is absolutely insane! I've never had a problem of giving up
230 euros, but over 500 euros is just way too dam much even for
the performance these new cards have to offer. I remember the
1994 when we'd struggle with 386s with "Doom", so maybe there's a
way to get through the autumn without a panic inside the piggy
bank.
Well, the difference of course is back then, the jump from a 386 to
a 486 (or even a 486SX25 to a DX2/66, etc) was huge. It'd be like
going to a P4 8GHz. Moore's Law or no Moore's Law, the speed jumps
made now aren't nearly as dramatic, simply because there are more
incremental releases.
But yeah, Doom 3 will be good, and it will cause many people to
spend a lot of money.
Some corrections:
1) Doom I was released summer of '93, not '94.
2) The 486 was nothing new even in '93, let alone '94. Many people
had started upgrading to 486s from about late '91 and through '92 and
'93. I believe Intel had even stopped making 386s by '92 to focus on
the 486, to make AMD go away with it's 40MHz 386. So when
Doom I was released it's system requirements were
nothing very special at all, neither was Wolf3D's the previous year,
which played nicely on a good 386. Both these games on their release
played very well on the bulk of the installed base. They were both
also sharewared, but that's another story.
RayO