Firefox said:
...would however have liked you or any other ATi rep to come out with this before everything went utterly out of control like it has...
Sorry for the delay - but this kind of 'exchanging' is not really what we do
Although we were prepared for the situation - the timing was 'excellent' as we were away at an annual conference
We saw the numbers - contacted our benchmarking facility
(4 top guys + hundreds of boxes) and asked them if they could 'place' the results
i.e. it is impossible to know exactly what was tested and in what environment
(Sander 'sent away' for numbers - and 'numbers' is what he got back - so he says) but sometimes a 'pattern' can be recognizable
The one thing we knew 'the card'
wasn't going to be, was a final version of the R520XT for reasons that I am not going to go into here - but which we will share with Baumann et al when they have the real thing in their hands
Once our guys confirmed categorically that it did
not match the profile of an R520 series card - they then looked to see if the scores matched anything else
They don't
Anyway, the point is that we do not 'monitor & control' web forums - these things are fun because they are organic and grow in so many strange and unusual ways with little input from the vendors
However, continuing to see the same 'rubbish' being posted everywhere was something that I, personally, was not happy with
The same goes for Sander's desire to position himself as a martyr
He is a sharp-thinking, solid-built guy who certainly does not need 'looking after' - he knows exactly what he is doing
and why
I think that the discussion with Sander should take place in front of a 'live studio audience' because then we can move the conversation around to any topic that presents itself - and people can see his face when he reacts to various questions
I am not talking about a 'popcorn opportunity' - but rather a chance to see a 'quick thinker' trying to work his way out of 'tight situations'
Anyway, I suspect that this will not happen
The bottom line is that much of what I have read was rubbish
<engages Super-Geek mode>
A famous TV character once said "It is a lie, and lies must be challenged" and that is the way I feel when I see this stuff
</end Super-Geek mode>
We are making final arrangements for the R520 Tech Day and we will be giving 100 of Europe's top publications access not only to the technology itself, as well as various whitepapers, presentations etc...
...but -
most importantly - the people who actually design these chips
As far as possible, this will be a 'PR-free zone' because we want expert press to engage directly with out scientists to discover the truth
In this market, you either believe you have the roadmap or you don't - everything else is irrelevant
Despite all of the public rivalries between board partners, chip vendors and web sites...
...overall, this is a
really friendly industry
CeBIT, earlier this year, was typical of the spirit within this industry, in that we had our nVidia counterparts over to our party and we joined their's the night after
Sure we 'go at it' by day - nVidia is a tough competitor - but
after hours we get on fine with each other
The situation that Sander has created here with his 'I feel the need to write a column to drop your share price and I do not care if I have never seen the card' approach is not typical at all of the relationships that we have with the press or our competitors
As we move on to our Tech Day and new battles, he will not be able to let this go for several months - possibly years to come
In life, I would say that it is better to have a more positive purpose
Roll on R520, roll on Tech Day, roll on true numbers
