A First in the Graphics Market for XGI?

Honestly?

Look at those big rocks. It looks like ambient ligting in the xgi shot while in the other shot they seem to have gradual changes in the color values of pixels as they would if there was a light on the othe side of the rocks but not on the other. Calculating lights is computational task quite different than just assigning ambient values.

look at this picture:



Here I have modelled a close to similar structure and taken a screenshot of it twice. Once with just an ambient color values and once with colors calculated from one light and with some ambient addition on top of it. Can you spot the difference there? Which is which? Don't you think it looks familiar to those aquamark shots?

 

Thank you for good explanation, I did not see it until I maxed my brightness. Looks you are right, Volari scores of aquamark are really too high.

 

*cough*

Club3D Deltachrome S8 = 103€
Club3D Volari Duo V8 = 139€

The price difference is so slim that I would hardly talk of one being "budget" and the other "high performance".

Well, S3 is too silent.
They don't reply to emails (unless of course you're a big hardware publication).

If marketing is what got XGI so far, then S3 should fire their marketing team as well as their managers for not doing anything.

So if I understood right, you tried to be their best buddy when you found out they were going to release a high end card and was hoping for a sample (especially an early sample).

When you found out the card's performance was poor, you dumped your "good friendlies" and went back to licking other IHV's heels.

Talk about making friends with a motive

Totally unjustified.

I wholeheartedly agree that we should point the finger at them when they commit errors such as the poor image quality with their early drivers (I've no idea about their current drivers, so I leave them the benefit of the doubt). However, your suggestion to mock them is far too excessive and is close to fanboyism.

 

Notice how most of the people defending XGI are doing so annonymously?

 

Exactly!

Really? You have no idea about current drivers? Then let me tell you that they resort on volunteers to get the job right. Awesome, isn't it?

 

Huh? Could you elaborate a bit please? I was really hoping whoever said it was just kidding about KillerBleep making DNA drivers for XGI that worked. :?

 

Who, Killersleep? Doesn't he get volunteers to test his ATI and Nvidia drivers too?

Or do you mean XGI getting volunteers to beta test drivers, very much like ATI does?

 

Well, I don't know much about the issue. I don't have a Volari, and don't plan to get one, either. There was this guy, Kill-something... Dunno whether it's all about "inf-modding-science" or real programming.

 

Well, at least the guy has something decent to test from ATi/nV, right?

If he's merely "testing" stuff, why are they caled DNA-drivers, anyway? "Volari-official-supa-drivers-tested-by-DNA" would make it for a nice name...

Btw, since you're updating this thread on a regular basis, why don't you try and get an account. It's free, you know...

 

He doesn`t write drivers, he mods inf files. And it`s not the driver`s fault that the hardware it`s meant to drive is mostly crap. And dare I defend XGI without being a guest?Since I actually had 2 duos, I`ve seen them in action and....tadadada....they suck.Badly.But the guys there are OK, and maybe with this gen they`ve sorted their stuff.

The duo wasn`t bad because it was a dual-chip approach, it was bad because the V8 chip is unspeakably weak. If they hadn`t built that damn card and made those stupid claims about 9800 pro and 5900u performance, a lot of people would have been more forgiving.Can at least the benefit of doubt be given though? Maybe their earlier mistakes were due to being fresh out of the mother`s womb in the 3D market?Making chips at sis for integrating into mobos is one thing, standing up on your own is a totally different thing. All IMO

 

To complement Mendel's "This is how they're positioned" illustration:


Scorn, ridicule and enthusiast contempt aside I was initially looking forward to XGI's products after the flurry of exciting press just after the company's creation. IIRC, there seemed to be a generally upbeat buzz at that time, with the hope that the merged XGI would improve on its previous incarnation and go on to gradually challenge the big boys, which in turn would be better for the consumer.

However, the whole Volari Duo/3DMark shambles, while initially drawing much attention, especially from those willing to give XGI the benefit of the doubt, backfired pretty spectacularly once supporting info, other metrics and image quality concerns were raised. While a few (pre/re)views eeked out with promises of improved drivers and with almost no availability, ATI and nVIDIA were prepping or releasing new cards.

I can admire XGI's gumption for basically stating publicly within their first year of operation, "Hey, we have the fastest card in popular benchmark X, and we have the results to prove it!" but to do so when that wasn't the case and when the product was clearly burdened by a host of other detrimental issues, was rather disingenous and I would think has rightly turned a number of previously supportive users right off.

IMO, considering XGI don't yet have the resources, R&D budget, etc as ATI and nVIDIA, I would have thought it better to try and replicate the "success" of STMicroelectronics/PowerVR's KYRO I/II from the start, i.e. build a solid, compatible, low-to-midrange part that can be competitively priced. Build up a customer base that recognises the XGI brand as being reliable and then slowly branch into higher end products as the company's R&D capability improves. I wish XGI all the best for the future and hope they can turn around some good parts eventually.

Cheers,


BrynS

 

I know who KillerTwerp is and what he does, me and him go waaaay back.

I usually don't do this really, I don't think it's right to make fun of someone's handle and they should be judged rather on their words, but I've just gotta make an exception in this case...

"Oh noes", sayeth the Digi with his voice a tremble with fear, "Morgoth the Dark Enemy has shown his true face and entered the fray in defense of XGI!"

I think the annonymous accusers were better off.

 

OH NO, somebody has discovered my tricksies.What to do?

I wasn`t telling you that he mods inf files, since you didn`t ask that, now did you? OTOH, guest is nice, but you can`t post in other forums, so I had to sacrifice myself

 

Okay folks I think there's been comments made about XGI already. The flaws of the hardware and drivers are now clear enough for all to see; no need to take it to the point that the thread will need pruning.

 

Well, I gotta say I was wrong on this subject then. For my defence, last time I saw them for sale over here they were selling for 450 euros and stayed that way until they mysteriously disappeared. Nowadays around here these cards are nowhere to be found. They are not for sale, not in importers list and not listed in a local price search service that I use.

Selling them for that pricerange almost makes a lot more sense. That said, my point about image quality still remains.

 

The Duo is no longer being made.That being said, could we steer the discussion towards the new hardware?We should let the dead rest in peace

 

Sure!

So do you think they're going to lie about their new hardware's performance as much as they did their last generations? Do you think they'll be using image quality reducing tricks (from hell!) to make their benchmark numbers competitive looking for their new hardware?

 

I really don`t know, my crystal ball is out of batteries.The only numbers that I`ve seen are from 3dmark, both 2003 and 2005, and that doesn`t seem like a good sign :? Anyway, I`d rather maintain interest in this rather then throwing it in the trash-can. A third competitor isn`t a bad thing, au contraire.

Heck, in an ideal world, S3 would release something good, PowerVR would be back and we`d have 5 competitors and perhaps prices would cease to be so ridiculous.It`s horrifying that 1k vid-cards aren`t considered as absolutely insane these days.Just my 2 cents

 

Hey, I wanted the Duo to be a good card and I wanted XGI to be a player....but they ain't. :?

Until they can prove themselves a bit to me I'm just not all that interested in 'em, 'cept for mebbe some humorous popshots.

 

Yes, yes and yes and of course. If there're two things this company / former devision of SiS has mastered its GPU suckage and lieing through their teeth.

Now I'm all for another competitor in the graphics market, but the sorry excuse for a GPU company that markets itself under the XGI moniker is so far from being a competitor in said market, they could just as well sell used tires off a yunkjard somewhere in ol' Taipeh.

I mean the nicest thing I could think of about XGI is that the former Trident team apparently knows how to do a cheap, low-power 2D core, and not having had any personal experience with one of their chips in recent years, I'm not even sure about this. XGI is a lost cause.