I'll keep it game related.

Well, after seeing quake IV and the fact that I have a few hundred quid spare atm (not really spare I just decided I want to falsely classify it as spare) I'm tempted to upgrade now in time for quake IV.
I could wait until the thing comes out and get the card a little cheaper, but to TBH, I really cannot see the price of them dropping that low because the 6800 GT's and Ultras are still retaining a really good price, both new and second hand.
That and the fact that I know I would spend the money on something crap and come q4 time I'll be stuck with my underpowered 6600 GT and whining on ESR that I'm dropping frames becasue who wants to spend 400 quid just before christmas on top of all the otehr expenses?
I have a buyer lined up for the 6600 Gt, 90 quid for that, so that will take a nice chunk off whatever I upgrade to.
Here's the problem and I guess many others are in the same boat.

AGP vs PCI-E

I really really do not want to upgrade to PCI-E, I will have to buy a new mobo reinstall all my shit and I know it'll take a a good week before I'm happy with it again.
Perhaps if I just buy a 6800 Gt or 6800 Ultra then I could just dump it in the slot, keep my old mobo (it's OEM so I can't OC or play with it) and that might be fine for quake IV.

however, today someone pointed me to brand new 7800 GT's on the web for 290 pounds including VAT!
http://www.dabs.com/uk/Search2/Product+Detail...hrase=7800

Considering that new 6800 gt's/Ultra's and Ati equiv are going for a similiar price, if not more, then it makes it all the more harder for me to buy and inferior performing product.

Wichever way you look at it the 6800's are a year old now and by the time q4 is here that's nearly 18 months old, from previous experience I'm tempted to say the card will not suffice, of course were talking from someone who wants a solid framerate, so it will probably be fine for those who are not too bothered about stuff like that, but if you wish to be competitive then you really do need the hardware to be up to scratch so the only weak link is your skills.

if I do go for the 7800 gt I will also have to purchase a new motherboard, which is another 100.

7800 gt + pci-e mobo = approx 400 pounds (All new)
6800 GT/Ultra=250 tops.

So that's 150 cheaper, but It's going to be about 25% less performance than if I go for the PCI-E and 7800 gt.
And if the 6800 GT or Ultra dips frames now and again, then obviously i'm gonna annoyed come quake 4 for not upgrading the 7800 as the extra grunt would have probably made it good enough. But I won't be able to upgrade then, what with christmas, so it's now or never really.

Other than that qcon has been a blast, I'm glad Q4 looks as I hoped it would, though TBH I did not intend on wasting so much time next year with gaming, but shit, q4 looks so good and I know EVERYONE will play it and it will be hard for me to stay away.

Luckily it comes out in the winter so it will not be so bad cuz the weathers crap and it's miserable outside.

Oh I nearly forgot, I have started playing quake III again, after seeing quake 4 it's definitely close to that, so I would like to get back into that style of game again.
Doom 3 had it's good points, but there were a lot of bad issues with the game and I really can't see people playing it now that qcon is over.

Oh yeah....
There is a 6800 Ultra selling in less than 3 hours on ebay, it's currently 205 pounds, I think I'll stay up for it and if I can put a bid in and win it for that much, I'll probably be happy and forget about the 7800, because I would have saved 200 pounds and all the effort of reinstalling stuff, plus I really think I could sell a 6800 Ultra in 5-6 months time for that sort of money, so perhaps that would be the best choice for now?
Like I said, its the last and best AGP GFX card and whether you like it or not, PCI-E is here to stay so I know the 6800 Ultra or Gt is always going to be in demand and I don't know what it is about ebay, but people seem to be willing to overpay for things so the more I think about it the more tempted I am becoming to a 6800 GT or Ultra.
Ati card is out of the questions because Nvidia is better for Open GL games and it's constantly returning better scores than the ATi cards and seeing as all I care about playing next year is q4 then I don't care how much faster an x800 or x850 is in Hl2.

Oh yeh big thanks to itg for getting me hooked on that "Shiny Disco balls" song. I dunno what it is but it's stuck in my head and it's driving me nuts:)

Nice reviews on 7800 and other cards including benchmarks.
http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q3/geforce-7800gt/index.x?pg=1