Which is better future proof graphics card?

[The-Ironflame]

Shader Model 3.0 support or the amount of pipelines a card has?

The 6800 GS has 12 pipelines but runs just as good as the 6800 GT and better than the ATi x800XL and GTO in benchmarks, the X850 XT non PE and PE has 16 pipelines and higher clock rates but it doesn't have Shader Model 3.0? So which is more future proof?

[Konfucius]

I'm no über 1337 expert but if you want the best effects over anything you need Shader Model 3.0, if you're more interested in speed get the X850 but if you're lucky you can unlock some pipelines in the 6800 GS and with some overclocking it could almost surpass the X850. As far as I know the Leadtek cards have pretty big cooling fans and heat pipelines, at least my card has that.

But if I were you I'd actually wait a bit with a new graphics card because the Geforce 7800 is quite a beast, in most of the benchmarks easily leaving the 6800 behind, what means that this card will become quite outdated soon and it is also rumoured that a 7900 will be revealed in January and that suggests that the 7800 will drop in price. And with the 7800 you should be quite future proof.

[The-Ironflame]

Yea I know what you mean about the 7800 but they are come at a hefty price at the moment them, also the ATi Radeon X1900 comes out soon aswell so we'll see someone prices drop again for ATi cards but the reason I could get a nvidia card is shader model 3.0 any card below their X1xxx series doesn't seem to have that which I wondered is a problem or not.

 

I don't want to pay too much but still have good performance at 1280x high textures and shadows without the filtering stuff.

[Guest Jordan]

It's called the X1800, and theres no such thing as a "future proof" thing when it comes to computers.

[The-Ironflame]

Yea Yea I know but I wanted to know which card would actually be good for some time so I had the more pipelines or SM 3.0 question is more 'future proof' question.

For instance the X800 Gt has 8 pipelines and no SM 3.0 it's a mid range card so that won't last long I can go formore but I can't afford the higher range.