Connect3D went belly up?

This isn't good. ATi is really hurting on the manufacturer front. I get this often from people who build computers on their own but are not hardcore into it, just read reviews when they feel their system is aging. On the Nvidia side you have huge names like BFG, eVGA, and ever increasingly so XFX. On the ATi side you have Sapphire and ? There are ones out there but people simply don't know them that well and have no clue about their warranties, stability of the company, etc. I tend to point people towards large motherboard manufacturer's on the ATi side like Asus, Gigabyte, etc.
 
Hercules+Tyan (high-end) and FIC+Canyon+ManLi (value) are out of the game, too (at least as for Radeons)

but there are still some good brands - Sapphire, HIS, GeCube...

Abit (+)
Asus
Canyon (+)
Club3D
Connect 3D (+)
Creative
Diamond
Elsa
FIC (+)
GeCube
Gigabyte
Hercules (+)
HIS
Jetway
JoyTech (+)
ManLi (+)
MSI
Palit
Peak
PowerColor
Sapphire
SuperGrace (+)
Triplex
Tyan (+)
Visiontek

did I forget any?
 
no-X said:
Hercules+Tyan (high-end) and FIC+Canyon+ManLi (value) are out of the game, too (at least as for Radeons)

but there are still some good brands - Sapphire, HIS, GeCube...

did I forget any?
Click to expand...

Speaking for a US market look, and even more specifically what Newegg, TigerDirect, and ZipZoomFly carry. I've never even heard of JoyTech, SuperGrace, and Canyon just from your (+) companies. Let alone ManLi, Peak, Triplex. Plus I wouldn't even start to consider Palit, Tyan, Club3D, and a few others "big names". None of those even come close to matching BFG or eVGA in brand name recognition in the US market. HIS and GeCube are semi-known for their alternative coolers but I don't believe either gives out a lifetime warranty, which is another huge downer when it comes to ATi cards. Instead you have three huge names on the Nvidia side that offer one (BFG, eVGA, XFX).
 
(+) marked companies = dead companies (or companies which stopped production of Radeons)

JoyTech, SuperGrace and ManLi (all of them were value brands) sold a lot of cards in eastern/central Europe and Asia. Tyan was once the best brand (Tyan had the best R9700PRO and one of the bests R9800PRO's).

eVGA and XFX aren't very popular here, BFG more, but life-time warranty isn't valid here and it's similar to other "better" brands (3-4 years like Asus, Gigabyte etc.). But most people prefer lower price (or better cooling) to 3-4 years warranty, because they won't use the card for more than 18 months :)

(I speak about situation in central Europe)
 
A lot of cards tend to be used on systems once they are replaced with new cards, therefore the life time warranty is great to have when the card fails awhile down the line and will often be replaced with the equivalent value card at time of purchase to a current one. Just a different way of thinking, I've noticed it a lot. The US market tends to focus more on "quality" brands and warranty and a bit less so on price (though really the separation is small, eVGA cards to be nearly the cheapest ones).
 
It may also have something to do with the fact that it seems that for resellers 1 euro=1 USD, so we tend to get shafted WRT price here in Europe. Or the fact that, as someone else mentioned, taking advantage of the lifetime warranty would be a pain etc. I do think it`s more due to that, rather than not focusing on quality-brands(eh?for standard SKUs, you get the same thing from Asus and from Palit,for example, only the stickers and the bundle are different, for super duper OC cards there may be a difference).
 
no-X said:
Tyan was once the best brand (Tyan had the best R9700PRO and one of the bests R9800PRO's).
(I speak about situation in central Europe)
Click to expand...

In the US, Tyan is only known for making server-based multi-cpu motherboards. They weren't the best brand of 9700Pro/9800Pro because no one even knew they made video cards. There the best brand of R9700 Pro / R9800 Pro video cards were genuine Built By ATI cards.
 
Ironically, I never heard of BFG until Kyle from hOCP developed some "personal" relationship with them and started pimping their cards. Seemed like from there, they emrged out of the void, but I suppose they can trace their lineage to some previous brand..? I agree that ATi could use an XFX-like (value overclocker) brand. HIS is a pretty solid bet but it's usually pretty expensive, whereas XFX often gives out incredibly competitive rebates.

In China the brand scene is a bit different. In HK I usually see:

ATi
Sapphire
Gigabyte
ASUS
MSI

(nV)
ASUS
eVGA
Leadtek
MagicPro

...I'm probably forgetting some, and in both cases, some more brands that just about nobody will have heard of overseas. If anyone really wants a list of these brands I could jot some down next time I go shopping. Most of the lesser-known Chinese brands are pretty crap, cheap stuff below reference clocks or with substandard RAM configurations. A few of them achieve pretty nice things with passive coolers, for a bit less than you pay for that kind of treatment on new models in the states. But all in all, they're not notable except for price.
 
BRiT said:
In the US, Tyan is only known for making server-based multi-cpu motherboards. They weren't the best brand of 9700Pro/9800Pro because no one even knew they made video cards. There the best brand of R9700 Pro / R9800 Pro video cards were genuine Built By ATI cards.
Click to expand...
There were a lot of reviews and news in connection with Tyan Tachyon series. Almost every HW-oriented website had it's own review.

Their products were sold even in central Europe (and thats unusual, because many known brands aren't available here). I remember many different test, which their cards won. No other company offered better cooling solution (sandwich cooling, cooled memory modules, supply circuits...), best OC potential, hardware monitoring (even for R9700), highest quality RF filters - I remember test of about 15 VGAs, where Tyan R9000 has 2nd best clarity of analogue signal (1st was Parhelia AGP4x), but I cann't find this exact review at the moment... but as for their 9700:

...were able to overclock our board to 365 MHz GPU and 700 MHz memory, the highest clock speeds we've ever seen on a Radeon 9700 Pro card...

In our minds, this is the ultimate gamers card right now. Performance is excellent, hardware build quality is top notch, and Tyan is a company we've already grown to trust over the years.
Click to expand...
http://www.gamepc.com/
As it stands now, the Tachyon G9700 PRO is the most robust RADEON 9700 PRO card on the market.
Click to expand...
http://www.firingsquad.com/
Currently, the Tachyon G9700 Pro, is the only RADEON 9700 Pro we have seen with hardware monitoring capabilities. It also has one of the most impressive cooling solutions on the market, reminiscent of what Leadtek has done with some of their recent high-end cards. At default clock speeds, it squeaked by the Maya II in the majority of our tests and it was also the better overclocker. Until someone comes along to change our mind, the Tyan Tachyon G9700 Pro is "THE" Radeon 9700 to own. Based in its feature set, performance, cooling solution and "overclockability", we're giving the Tyan Tachyon G9700 Pro a 9 on the HotHardware Heat Meter and the coveted Editor's Choice award...
Click to expand...
http://www.hothardware.com/
Overall the TACHYON G9700 delivered extremely impressive performance and overclocking capabilities and should be at the top of anybody's list for a high-end card that is available NOW!
Click to expand...
http://www.lostcircuits.com/

...more via google :)
 
Yeah, I dont recall Tyan at all. Perhaps it's because it was released late(r) to the market and significantly more expensive than the other cards? I really do not recall it at all. I do remember having my R9700 Pro for months (3-4) before DX9 was released.
 
Connect 3D went down but is not really dead. A "marketing company" selling Nvidia products bought Connect 3D brand to start selling AMD boards too. They will sell Connect 3D boards, starting this summer with HD 2k boards.
 
IIRC when it came to video cards, Tyans were the same as Hercules's (which iirc made the cards themselves), with possibly different cooler
 
Skrying said:
This isn't good. ATi is really hurting on the manufacturer front. I get this often from people who build computers on their own but are not hardcore into it, just read reviews when they feel their system is aging. On the Nvidia side you have huge names like BFG, eVGA, and ever increasingly so XFX. On the ATi side you have Sapphire and ? There are ones out there but people simply don't know them that well and have no clue about their warranties, stability of the company, etc. I tend to point people towards large motherboard manufacturer's on the ATi side like Asus, Gigabyte, etc.
Click to expand...

I do wish a company like XFX and EVGA will make ATI boards. They have excellent warranty service.

Sapphire's warranty service sucks. It can take up to 2 months to get a replacement unit from them. So for my last ATI card, I bought an ASUS one.


Tridam said:
Connect 3D went down but is not really dead. A "marketing company" selling Nvidia products bought Connect 3D brand to start selling AMD boards too. They will sell Connect 3D boards, starting this summer with HD 2k boards.
Click to expand...

Can we get a link/source from that news please.
 
Spaceman-Spiff said:
Can we get a link/source from that news please.
Click to expand...

I won't disclose my source. One of Twintech (operating mainly in Europe) major shareholder bought Connect 3D. AFAIK Twintech (Nvidia) and Connect 3D (AMD) will however remain 2 different sides/teams and Connect 3D will launch HD2000 boards this summer.
 
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