By now, we were supposed to have 32nm GPUa from ATI and Nvidia (we have 40nm -- which is slower and more expensive per GPU). 32nm was going so badly, it was dropped from consideration months ago. It was decided to skip right to 28nm.

Both ATI and Nvidia plan to make 28nm the next big thing. Thing is, that big thing was expected in Spring 2011, initially.

Now, the rumors indicate that 28nm is slipping -- probably not until the end of 2011 or early 2012.

New architecture ATI 40nm GPUs (HD6xxx) are expected to be on sale in November. I'll seriously consider one of those -- based on test reports. The high end parts may be closer to Christmas.

Nvidia's plans remain foggy -- the path they were on has serious technical issues. Right now, they are "patching" a flawed architecture (tough to produce large quantities of good parts cost effectively -- but, the good ones work OK). No rumor as to when the truly new architecture (GTX5xx or GTX6xx ??) will arrive -- that may take over a year (i.e. a 28nm architecture in, say, 2012).

FWIW for those thinking about future GPU upgrades.

i love my eVGA 8800 GTS G80 SSC w/ 640MB

Yes, the Nvidia 8800 series was a home run "out of the park" -- it was "years" before ATI caught up.

since Im running XP still, i havent come across any DX9 Game thatmy baby cant handle at the shipped clocked speeds.

I have an 8800 GTX (2 actually but the SLI cable came apart). It seems to do well for me but it's not DX11. Is it worth it for me to upgrade?

DX 11 only offers Tessellation over DX10.1, which will be replaced in a few years with the new DX12 Engine

Superseded or improved upon, but not replaced. You need backward compatibility.

Tessellation is totally worth the upgrade to DX11, I think. And there are some other features that allow MUCH more visible detail in a scene. HOWEVER, games have to use it abundantly. So far, only a small number use DX11 somewhat and those may not be ones a person plays.

Now, many good games are merely XBox 360 ports -- i.e. mediocre DX9 -- a formerly cutting edge 4 year old system can run them as can a cheap modern system.

As others imply, DX9 and DX10 and DX11 are not visually that much different in most actual games.

The AMD/ATI HD6xxx series hits in October/November. That will put downward pressure on HD5xxx and GTX4xx card prices. So, November December looks like a good time to upgrade graphics cards as there is no real urgency for those happy with DX9.

I'm planning to give the HD68xx series a hard look

5850 is now down to 259 with no rebate, 460 1Gb going for 217. Should be a good holiday season when the real sales start.

Im still waiting for nVidia or AMD to try and infringe on my patent for External Graphics. I'll settle for 10 Million, 5% of sales and a few free cards every now and then.

I designed a PCI-E External Adapter Card, then Built a Case to house a PCI-E Card (The Case itself can be extended to up to 2.75 Feet), has its own fans, Power Supply, Temp. Monitoring Units, LCD Display etc etc. And To boot, these casings are stackable for SLI/Crossffire

Benefits:
Heat Source Removed From PC Case.
No Size Restrictions
Removed Strain from PSU/Dedicated PSU.