Well, as someone already mentioned here you're never going to be able to upgrade if you keep holding back for the next big thing. I think the best thing to do would be to just upgrade when you have the cash. You should also look for something with good price/performance ratio (GF4 Ti 4200, Radeon 9000 Pro) so you get the most bang for your buck. I think ChrisRay has a point though. Most second generation products just extend the technology of the previous one (at least for Nvidia cards):
TNT - TwiNTexel technology (multi-texturing)
TNT2 - Faster core, memory, better optimization
GeForce 256 - Hardware T&L, quad pixel pipeline, DDR memory
GeForce 2 - Faster core, memory, 2nd gen. hardware T&L, second texel unit
GeForce 3 - Programmable vertex & pixel shaders, LMA
GeForce 4 - Faster core, memory, second vertex unit, LMA II
Nvidia products seem to follow this system (although ATI doesn't). They first introduce the technology, then extend upon it and make it better. It takes some time for developers to adopt new features so it'd be best to wait a generation so that when you finally do purchase something there's already some support for its features in the industry. Still, when something as fast as the Radeon 9700 Pro comes along it this rule doesn't quite apply. Even if its DX9 features aren't applicable to any game its sheer speed and image quality more than justifies it.
__________________
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Mobo: Intel DX48BT2 Memory: 8192 MB PC10600 DDR3 Videocard: PNY Geforce 9800 GX2 Soundcard: On-board SigmaTel High Definition Audio Hard drive: 1 TB Seagate & 1 TB Hitachi Optical drive: LG GGW-H20L (2x BD-R DL) PSU: Nexus 1000 Watt OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)
Proud millionaire folder of the NGEmu folding team
