[{DvT}JonahHex]

It appears that we are all taking our own routes to get to the same conclusion: the Ultra is not the way to go.

Originally Posted by ChemicalWarrior

The sentiments about benchmarks... well all I have to say is that if you looked at the right ones you'd know how bad the GeForce FX series was. You might not have ever noticed it because UT 2K4 is a DirectX 7 game (only a few Dx8 extensions) for the most part. The FX issues with Dx9 are very well documented.

"If you looked at the right ones..." Basically I was/am suggesting looking at the one that really count: what do you use your computer for? Does it perform those functions up to your expectations and to your satisfaction?

As I indicated, WarHawk's 5200 does what he wants and needs it to do. It allows him to play UT2K4 and he is satisfied with the way it lets him do that. The 5200 would not do the same for me nor Chem but we aren't using Hawk's system. I rather doubt that Hawk really knows or cares what DirectX is. He has it because he has been advised by people such as Chem and myself that it is free, it is easily installed, it doesn't require any real maintenance, and it will enhance his UT2K4 experience without any additional effort on his part...so, ok, why not?

The real point of this discussion is to get all these viewpoints, from high-end to low-end, on the table to allow those who are looking for advice and guidence to determine which aspects can/should be considered and which are important to them.

The point I was trying to get across in my benchmarks comments was that it is easy to get caught up in the numbers -- "OOOOO! 900 fps! Awesome." But what does 900 fps really do for you compared to 100 fps when playing on-line, having the latency from the servers and from the routers between you and the servers, factoring in human reaction times - especially Old Fart reaction times , etc? Not much other than the ooooh, awww factors of quoting the numbers. This was the trap I was suggesting to avoid. I'm not saying benchmarks are useless; this isn't true at all; I'm just saying don't get enamored with them as I've seen a lot of people do.