TG Daily is reporting that Q3 2006 graphics cards sales are down over 12% from Q3 2005 and 4.4% down from Q2 2006.
"Graphics cards sales down more than 12%"
- Thread starter Miksu
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I guess we are at a point where there (to the casual observer) seems little to justify spending up large on a new card. We don't have any half-life 2s, Doom 3s, etc.
Me? I'm happy with my x1800xl until a decent vista card hits. (*Sigh* this card was top of the line a year ago!)
If only I could upgrade my laptop. It's 6600 is by far the weakest link.
Me? I'm happy with my x1800xl until a decent vista card hits. (*Sigh* this card was top of the line a year ago!)
If only I could upgrade my laptop. It's 6600 is by far the weakest link.
Those numbers are interesting - I'd like to mention that TG Daily is confusing unit shipments and revenue though. The revenue of entry-level stuff would be downright laughably low if these numbers would be accurate 
Still, I'm surprised by the $200 to $300 segment. That certainly makes NVIDIA's strategy this gen quite ecnomically logical; G73 and G71 covered it nearly perfectly, and now that G73 dropped, it's just plain G71 ftw. ATI has been very nicely aggressive there with recent products too - I ponder how good their margins are though, but marketshare with 20-25% margins is better than no marketshare with 50% margins, definitely!
Uttar
Still, I'm surprised by the $200 to $300 segment. That certainly makes NVIDIA's strategy this gen quite ecnomically logical; G73 and G71 covered it nearly perfectly, and now that G73 dropped, it's just plain G71 ftw. ATI has been very nicely aggressive there with recent products too - I ponder how good their margins are though, but marketshare with 20-25% margins is better than no marketshare with 50% margins, definitely!
Uttar
CaptainGinger
Newcomer
Coincidently Valve is updating the steam survey right now.
After I sent my info in I took a look the current steam survey results and it seems ATI's current X1 series is being soundly out sold by Nvidia's 7 series equivalent cards.
At the time of posting they have 671116 Unique Samples.
ATI must be hoping the R600 family does better.
After I sent my info in I took a look the current steam survey results and it seems ATI's current X1 series is being soundly out sold by Nvidia's 7 series equivalent cards.
At the time of posting they have 671116 Unique Samples.
ATI must be hoping the R600 family does better.
I am always shocked (continually) how poor the average PC gamers hardware is.
The listed GPUs cover a little over 10% of the market in the survey of users with Steam. I think the consoles will slowly improve the bottom end in the next 24 months in regards to what developers aim for, but after that will be holding back PC hardware for another 3 years. I think that is what has been happening to the PC to a degree. Lack of quality games on a regular basis to justify the hardware costs as well legacy hardware holding back development houses and the "Xbox1" effect where most games released in 2005 on the PC could have run in one form or another on an Xbox1. Seeing all the PC developers targetting the consoles with big franchises is slowly making PC gaming less enticing imo. Of course KB/MS, mods, ultra high end graphics, demos, free apps, niche game genres, and so forth keep many of us coming back, but I do wonder how the impact of so many "PC" titles getting console love (id's next game, C&C3, LotR:BFME2, Oblivion, etc) is impacting the market and thus GPU sales.
Nice to see sanity prevailing at least.
I am always shocked (continually) how poor the average PC gamers hardware is.
There's also the reverse of that though. You mentioned the Xbox effect and I do believe that to be true to a point, but we're not heading into the 360 effect. With Microsoft's added support and tools to make the transition extremely easy we are seeing games that I would not have expected to come out on PC. I believe that the console effect comes into play towards the end of that consoles life in a negative form anyway. I fully expect a rebound from PC gaming, no it will never be "the" gaming platform for the mainstream but I do believe that it will grow a bit in the coming years.
GPU's are competing against 2 high end consoles and 1 very desierable one. And with GPU's, the return on investment seems to be getting lesser and lesser so more people get turned off even more.
For PC gaming to do well, DX10 really needs to come through on the effeciency side. What I mean by that is, when you get a new $300 GPU, it needs to have good performance for atleast a couple of years. Soon the 360 will be at $300 and if the new GPU is running at $300 but say a game like RB6:Vegas or SC-DA is still running better on the 360 than your brand spanking new $300 GPU, you're going to have a hard time convincing yourself to get the GPU. It's is NOT the smarter choice. That's really my take on PC gaming as of late. It's a money pit and that sorely needs to change.
The most alarming thing about valve survey is the amount of audience it captures. I'd say a fairly large chunk of PC gamers are exposed to Valve/Steam and to see those pitiful numbers is a shame.
For PC gaming to do well, DX10 really needs to come through on the effeciency side. What I mean by that is, when you get a new $300 GPU, it needs to have good performance for atleast a couple of years. Soon the 360 will be at $300 and if the new GPU is running at $300 but say a game like RB6:Vegas or SC-DA is still running better on the 360 than your brand spanking new $300 GPU, you're going to have a hard time convincing yourself to get the GPU. It's is NOT the smarter choice. That's really my take on PC gaming as of late. It's a money pit and that sorely needs to change.
The most alarming thing about valve survey is the amount of audience it captures. I'd say a fairly large chunk of PC gamers are exposed to Valve/Steam and to see those pitiful numbers is a shame.
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A large amount of Valve's gamers have low end hardware though. Was the server asked of everyone? For example what about people still playing good ole CS 1.6? These people tend to have extremely low end gear and there's still a decent amount of them. Or what about CS:S? That group has higher end hardware but because Source can run on damn near everything well a lot of people see no reason to upgrade. I always submit my information and the pop up came up after a game of CS:S, so I'm curious as to what segment of gamers this captures, the attitude of gamers it captures (some people do not like sending this information,etc). The Valve survey is however just about our best representation, if not that great of one.
I'm also of the thought that if you want to just play a game then the PC is not for you. The PC to me is about control. For example, where would CS:S be at on a console? Not so well, but probably not for the reasons you'd expect. Nearly every servers (I'd venture nearly 85%) out there for CS:S run a mod of some sorts, the vast majority running some type of admin mod, its very difficult finding a CS:S server without Mani Mod for example. This is what draws me into PC gaming still, its the fact that the gamers have control over the product once its on our PCs. I also generally believe that and the control scheme is why the high end market is very dedicated, if not that large.
I'm also of the thought that if you want to just play a game then the PC is not for you. The PC to me is about control. For example, where would CS:S be at on a console? Not so well, but probably not for the reasons you'd expect. Nearly every servers (I'd venture nearly 85%) out there for CS:S run a mod of some sorts, the vast majority running some type of admin mod, its very difficult finding a CS:S server without Mani Mod for example. This is what draws me into PC gaming still, its the fact that the gamers have control over the product once its on our PCs. I also generally believe that and the control scheme is why the high end market is very dedicated, if not that large.
Supernatural
Newcomer
Sorry to ask, but... how much 12% amount to?
I mean: how many DX9 graphics cards sell every year, and how many have sold till now?
I mean: how many DX9 graphics cards sell every year, and how many have sold till now?
The steam surveys are run from the client or have been in my experience. It prompts if you want to participate, you click yes, and it lists your hardware for submission.
The numbers being down in the 3rd qtr doesnt surprise me that much. The next gen was on its way and time to clear inventory.
The numbers being down in the 3rd qtr doesnt surprise me that much. The next gen was on its way and time to clear inventory.
How significant a factor would it be?
It's all of one click. Unless there's a big reason why one person would care more than the other, the distribution of opt-ins should be close to random.
Except for the ultra-high end rigs. The e-penis factor would probably make them over-represented.
I think it's pretty significant. Not only is anyone who's purchased a graphics card more likely to be enthusiastic about getting support for it (which would seem to be the ultimate result of these surveys), but you have to factor in all those people with low-end hardware who don't even know what they have. There's a lot (the majority) of people who only know they have "a pentium".
As an aside, when I was a young kid, I'd fill out surveys for fun, and always lie on every detail. I'm not saying this is necessarily significant, but I bet it's not rare, either...
I think it's pretty significant. Not only is anyone who's purchased a graphics card more likely to be enthusiastic about getting support for it (which would seem to be the ultimate result of these surveys), but you have to factor in all those people with low-end hardware who don't even know what they have. There's a lot (the majority) of people who only know they have "a pentium".
As an aside, when I was a young kid, I'd fill out surveys for fun, and always lie on every detail. I'm not saying this is necessarily significant, but I bet it's not rare, either...
Can't really lie on this survay though the game already knows your system specs
Can't really lie on this survay though the game already knows your system specs
Someone could be smart and defer doing the survey and even do it on another person's ultra-high end rig using their steam password . Or just throw some stuff that they have lying around into the rig and turn up the AA etc to unplayable settings , Valve would be none the wiser .
Well until they see a 128 mb FX5200 running at 1600X1200 with 6XAA , 16XAF and all of the possible goodies turned on .
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