no more 5 series cards available... and waiting on 6 series price drop or a good 7 series card
this. i was shopping all over the last few days using my spreadsheet to determine what was the
best bang for the buck and I ended up going with 6950s. The ATI 7xxx series is rumored to be out
in the 2nd quarter but I highly doubt that. I would bet the 4th quarter myself. Maybe 2012? But
once again this is I reading online rumor mills. The 5xxx series is just tapped out unless you want
to buy used here and there and paying up the nose for it too based on ebay prices I saw. How does
one feel about buying a 5830 for more then 150-200 dollars? Pretty lousy when they were 109 just a few
days ago and then gone.
the 6950s, I bought two reference boards, will make fine gaming cards down the road if mining does
not work out for me. Or if mining does seem to work out I can easily add 3 more to my MB running
linux by adding some extenders and a PSU. Plus having a card that if fully tweak-able seems to be a
real advantage right now.
So with 7xxx so far away it seems... 6xxx in their prime... and 5xxx being phased out... i highly doubt
we will see the good 6xxx cards go on a big sale until the 7 series is out and people who have to have
the newest and shiniest get their fill. Until then why would stores mark them down? They are probably
happy seeing stocks dwindle down at current prices.
So to answer your question.. i think you are spot on when it comes to all the good bang for your buck
ATI cards are gone and people cringe at the thought that one has to spend so much money per MH.
800 M/h per second cost me around 1000 dollars this week but I also wanted to make sure the majority
of the parts were usable for a 31337 gaming machine.