NVIDIA's Last Minute Effort - 6850

[radar1200gs]

Its a sound business tactic. Been employed many times in the past by many companies other than nVida. Get over it.

If R420 really is as good as its meant to be it won't make any difference anyway.

Besides I thought you guys were telling me that the enthusiast market these cards are aimed were smart and read reviews/previews to make informed decisions. Doe the release of a competitors card somehow impair that smartness?

 

[Zod]

Well the NVDA Graphics group has really disappointed me with their tactics over the last 18 Months, I would be hard pressed to reward that company with a purchase of mine and would only do so if they clearly produced a part that trounced their competition. As it stands now Even if at the end of the day the cards break even or slightly better ATI my money goes to ATI.

This however will not stop me from reluctantly purchasing an NFORCE 3 250 Motherboard as they have not done any of the bullshit marketing stunts in that division of the company and they clearly offer a better solution than VIA for me.

Umm re last year - fine. You can hardly complain though about them bringing out a quicker version of the NV40 to compete though, surely.

 

[volt]

IMO the bottom line is SM 3.0 wont be a big thang until early 2005. SM 2.0 is still "the thing" for developers -- ie. we haven't seen it's full potential yet. And me? I don't see the need for 3.0 just yet.

 

[John Reynolds]

FiringSquad is just ATROCIOUS. Beyond Belief. They don't even have an X800 P/REVIEW. Their article is titled NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme and 6800 GT. Included in the review are X800 benchmarks. Seriously! Are they actually going to do a separate X800 review, or is that it?

Agreed. And they use the 61.11s too. Unbelievable. Just when you think you've seen online reviewing's worst, someone pulls out a shovel and digs the well deeper.

 

[Ardrid]

FiringSquad is just ATROCIOUS. Beyond Belief. They don't even have an X800 P/REVIEW. Their article is titled NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme and 6800 GT. Included in the review are X800 benchmarks. Seriously! Are they actually going to do a separate X800 review, or is that it?

You guys really should get all the info before you jump on ppl...

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=6524&filterLevel=1&up=&pnum=7#0

Btw, thanks for the laugh, Stryder. I enjoyed that THG comment

 

[dr3amz]

FiringSquad is just ATROCIOUS. Beyond Belief. They don't even have an X800 P/REVIEW. Their article is titled NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme and 6800 GT. Included in the review are X800 benchmarks. Seriously! Are they actually going to do a separate X800 review, or is that it?

You guys really should get all the info before you jump on ppl...

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=6524&filterLevel=1&up=&pnum=7#0

post the info at least!

Author: GX-Brandon at 06:55am 05/4/2004 Rating 1
Comment: The images don't work when you first click on
them, although they do work once you go hi-res,
haven't been able to resolve that one. Hopefully
Pongky can resolve it once he gets up.


#6: A LOT more work went into the X800 piece than
this NVIDIA article, which is why it's taking me
more time to get it up. Patience grasshopper. I
figured it was better to get the shorter article
up when the NDA expired rather than put them both
up later in the morning.

Author: GX-Brandon at 06:29am 05/4/2004 Rating 1
Comment: Dedicated X800 article is coming. Text is done
(except the conclusion) but I still need to take
my pictures, arrange screenshots, format
everything properly, take graphs, proofread,
etc...Basically I'm still a few hours from being
done.


(not to mention pulling an all-nighter)

so give the guy a break

yeah he shoulda had it ready in time, and really not launch such nvidia heavy titled articles on ati's launch day - thats kinda playing nvidias song tbf.

but i'm holding out for FS - always been good, and im sure its just a delay. Heck - they still have to post news like everyone else right?

 

[PatrickL]

FiringSquad is just ATROCIOUS. Beyond Belief. They don't even have an X800 P/REVIEW. Their article is titled NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme and 6800 GT. Included in the review are X800 benchmarks. Seriously! Are they actually going to do a separate X800 review, or is that it?

You guys really should get all the info before you jump on ppl...

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=6524&filterLevel=1&up=&pnum=7#0

It s a lame excuse and you know it. Did it occure to you that he could have done his article on the X800 if he had not spend all that time playing PR tool and building that article on the on the 6800 today ?

 

[Ardrid]

post the info at least!

so give the guy a break

yeah he shoulda had it ready in time, and really not launch such nvidia heavy titled articles on ati's launch day - thats kinda playing nvidias song tbf.

but i'm holding out for FS - always been good, and im sure its just a delay. Heck - they still have to post news like everyone else right?

What can I say? I like links

 

[micron]

It s a lame excuse and you know it. Did it occure to you that he could have done his article on the X800 if he had not spend all that time playing PR tool and building that article on the on the 6800 today ?

Holy smokes...that's exactly what I was thinking...

 

[Ardrid]

FiringSquad is just ATROCIOUS. Beyond Belief. They don't even have an X800 P/REVIEW. Their article is titled NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme and 6800 GT. Included in the review are X800 benchmarks. Seriously! Are they actually going to do a separate X800 review, or is that it?

You guys really should get all the info before you jump on ppl...

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=6524&filterLevel=1&up=&pnum=7#0

It s a lame excuse and you know it. Did it occure to you that he could have done his article on the X800 if he had not spend all that time playing PR tool and building that article on the on the 6800 today ?

Plz, give me a break. Look how damn short that article is. I sincerely doubt he spent a lot of time on it. In hindsight, maybe it would've been better for him to wait, but dropping the 6800 article first isn't going to make any difference in the world. He could've dropped them both at the same time. Now you tell me, what would've changed?

 

[dr3amz]

post the info at least!

so give the guy a break

yeah he shoulda had it ready in time, and really not launch such nvidia heavy titled articles on ati's launch day - thats kinda playing nvidias song tbf.

but i'm holding out for FS - always been good, and im sure its just a delay. Heck - they still have to post news like everyone else right?

What can I say? I like links

heh

also - if FS review does favour the 6800 - then draw your own conclusions.

Most sites have the X800 ahead in anything that matters, and further with AA/AF/RES cranked up.

ATI smack Nvidia up again, but theres one or two rogue sites that have some very bizarre numbers. :?

 

[Richard]

Its a sound business tactic. Been employed many times in the past by many companies other than nVida. Get over it.

It's not a very sound business tactic if your emergency cards actually don't "change the story" AND make it sound like you're desperate.

If R420 really is as good as its meant to be it won't make any difference anyway.

Tell that to nVidia. They were better off holding on a little longer and releasing their 6850 on their own terms with more mature drivers.

Besides I thought you guys were telling me that the enthusiast market these cards are aimed were smart and read reviews/previews to make informed decisions. Doe the release of a competitors card somehow impair that smartness?

No, but if the FiringSquad's X800 review dubbed 'nVidia's new efforts' is any indication it's likely to affect some reviewer's intelligence and common sense.

WRT to the change from "nVidia's Envy" to "Bottom line" hmm I dunno, the first seems a bit too strong and (while probably true) they have no hard evidence to support it. Again, during these 'silly times' I prefer to read facts than smart word-games. Also, easy on the "Nvidia paid them to change it"/"nVidia sent their lawyers in" remarks.

 

[dksuiko]

Personally, I don't see the big deal in releasing/announcing information about a new product to stifle your competitions happy-party. I mean, what's wrong with wanting to show that you have a better product than your competition? They are competition for Christ's sakes, there is no reason to play nice (and no, I'm not saying its okay to cheat). Firingsquad's play on this, however.. was pure shit - no arguments there.

Plus, nVidia's little tactic didn't seem to be too successful anyway - like ExtremeTech said, ATI still had them beat. The XT Platinum is very fast and will likely be out sooner than the Emergency Edition (LOL, I like that one). I believe it was May 21st from what Anand said. Hopefully I'll have the money and willpower ready to snag it.

 

[Sxotty]

I think you guys ae getting all uptight over nothing. IT isn't like they suddenly stole the show and even if they did I wouldn't care. I don't care if ATI does something like this to nv either.

It is not like cheating in benchmarks...but if it makes you so angry don't read about it

edit:

BTW the GT might not be bad if the core overclocks to that level on a regular basis...

Too bad that it seems x800 pros won't be able to be converted to x800 XT's though.

 

[John Reynolds]

1) had I been in Brandon's shoes, I wouldn't have created a separate review for the 6850 or GT parts. Not very professional at all to drop your publication's initial test scores of a new part on its day of public disclosure within a competitor's review, but I guess you gotta' keep your traffic volume high one way or the other.

2) I also would not have touched the 61.11s. How many reviewers are going to continue falling for this, year after year? If you don't have time to give a new driver drop from a competitor a fair analysis because you're crunched for time due to an NDA's expiration, you might not want to touch the driver. . .especially if you don't know whether or not said driver is ever going to be made available to the public. This is common sense, folks, not rocket science.

 

[hstewarth]

I personally feel that this race is very close in SM 2.x software, who knows what 3.0 software will do.. but I personally believe that we will find out in future shortly. With impressive list of games on NVidia game wagon, I think 3.0 will make a difference.

Also NVidia is doing all this for business purpose and I think they are not done yet. They want ATI's card out in the field first, then they will turn on some knobs before releasing there 6800's..

Also they usually release another driver after a new card that increases the performance.

All in all - this is no longer a one sided war and that is good for customer.


P.S. I like Beyond3d's and Extremetech's review and dislike HardOCP's and DriverHeavens which the latter sounds very bias.

 

[jimmyjames123]

Agreed. And they use the 61.11s too. Unbelievable. Just when you think you've seen online reviewing's worst, someone pulls out a shovel and digs the well deeper.

For the 6800 GT, he HAD to use the 61.11's...because support for this card is not included in the 60.72 Forcewares.

 

[Richard]

Most sites have the X800 ahead in anything that matters, and further with AA/AF/RES cranked up.

ATI smack Nvidia up again, but theres one or two rogue sites that have some very bizarre numbers. :?

I would hardly call it a 'smack'. Especially when there's the SM 3.0 issue to go around. Of the big three, from what I understood (I could swear a couple were trying to be obtuse) HardOCP gives the nod to ATi, THG says ATi has the performance crown while Anand remains steadfast on the fence (probably awaiting for miracle to come and decide for them). Regardless of how much I prefer B3D over any other site, realistically the three above are the most read by gamers. I don't see any of them speaking of a smack down.

Personally, I think it's too soon to tell. What's clear from the B3D p/reviews however, is that both the nv40 and the R420 are two great cards on their own right.

 

[Diplo]

Personally I think it's brilliant that competition is so close between this generation that these bullish marketing tactics are needed. If Nvidia trump ATI then hopefully ATI will come back with something better, which is why competition is so important for the consumer.

It seems like some people (the ATI supporters) want ATI to once again have a massive lead over Nvidia. But, apart from vicarious fanboy thrills, why is this a good thing? I want the competition to be close and cut thrust; I want to see desparate measures and last minute spurts. This is what drives progress, not complacency. Would Intel chips be as fast and cheap today if it wasn't for AMD? No. So why do the ATI supporters take so much glee in wanting to see Nvidia crushed? Apart from it being unhealthy to be fixated like that it's also bad for competition = bad for progress = bad for the consumer = you.

 

[breez]

Agreed. And they use the 61.11s too. Unbelievable. Just when you think you've seen online reviewing's worst, someone pulls out a shovel and digs the well deeper.

For the 6800 GT, he HAD to use the 61.11's...because support for this card is not included in the 60.72 Forcewares.

True, but GT performance could've been evaluated by downclocking the Ultra and using the less problematic drivers.