Radeon 9800pro will not touch the 360. I dont see why you think that. Nor will it require a HDD. And the 7800 will be lucky to push it out.
Yea, the 9800, while a good card, is NOT on the same level as the 360. Sorry for the size, but that is actual res (1280x720 Progressive scan) I have a fairly top of the line GeForce 6800 and I doubt i could do that, certainly not at that resolution while maintaining a 1/2 decent frame rate.
I would reserve judgement until these systems actually get out of the Hyperbolic Chambers and into where you can actually see them. They've taught me over the years not to trust screenshots I would agree with madhatter on this to a point: I had been seriously neglecting PC games for quite a while myself and I think now is a good time to revisit some things I've missed (this applies equally for older consoles); a 9800Pro would run pretty much anything more than a year old at max settings depending on resolution, and can run new games pretty nicely too. Number two, the only Xbox360 launch title worth a damn IMO is Oblivion, which I can run on hardware I already own, and since I don't have an HDTV (and won't until my old one blows up) would look just as good if not better. Number 3, console gaming will be just as expensive as PC gaming if Microsoft and Sony get their way, it seems. Also, there's that whole "just because better hardware exists doesn't mean you need it" thing, but that's a whole other topic entirely. Personally I see far more reasons to wait, chill out, and enjoy what I have. And maybe then Sony and MS will kill each other off before the Revolution comes out (yeah right)
One thing most people aren't taking into account when they talk about the hard disk cost is that it is A) A 2.5" drive, not a standard 3.5" drive. This limits the number of platters and the physical size of them. $100 would buy approx a 60gb 2.5" drive at the moment B) It may well not be a straight IDE connection to the console - This limits the number of devices which could be put in the place of the HD (I'm thinking in terms of the DC modem, where it could be replaced with dreamkara or the BBA) and also creating a good, removable connection with 40+4 pins (data+power) would be a nightmare. Most likely a USB2 controller in there, and the hard disk works over USB2 - in essence the hard disk connector on the side is simply another USB port I'd guess it's not SATA as although this would require fewer pins, it would mean an extra controller on the mainboard. Also, can you get SATA laptop hard disks? (note: B is pure speculation. I have made it all up out of thin air, but it sounds reasonable)
It depends on what you are upgrading from, If you are looking for 360's performance you'll have to start from scratch. I was thinking Voodoo times, my mistake.
Is the same, in fact, even better, cuz the data moves faster when they dont need to go trough a south/north bridge (like in dual-separated processors). What? are u serious??! The X360 ATI GPU is BEYOND the X850XT, is the NEXT GEN, got it dude? It isnt even on sale for PC............ Wrong again, cuz the ATI GPU in the X360 is goin to be the next radeon, so is much more advanced than the X850, 7800 or even 7800GTX And RPA, yes, it has 3 G5 3.2Ghz Cores, I already said that 3 fucking times man, thats why Im not upgrading my PC, AGAIN
If you just said triple core like everyone else does then there wouldn’t have been confusion. BTW, HL2 on Xbox is going to look like shit. The developers are going to have to tone everything down hardcore to get it to play at even 30 fps.
Maybe because is the same? Aparently is looking good, better than the Doom3 port, and has some lighting efects done better than the PC version. Go over IGN and see it by yourself