Well, been quite a while since I've posted - been happy just to lurk. However, I have had a bit of an email exchange with Ed - who really is a decent person. Remember, his website is value oriented, so $400.00 videocards are not very appreciated there
Ed has accually been ranting quite a bit lately. Please excuse the length & those parts that are not specific to this discussion.
My email:
Ed, while I agree with you about the total failure of almost all of the internet site to be anything but the manufactures lapdogs, I do have to take issue with your rant on ATI themselves. As far as the Quack 3 thing, is that any worse than the nVidia 3DMark problem?(you know - the fact that GF4's score higher with the title screen enabled than without!) NOT!
I also take issue with the fact than the 9700 is only faster then the 4600 at very high resolutions. If you do not use FSAA and/or anisotropic filtering, this may be true, BUT.....FSAA(4xS) and full anisotropic filtering bring the GF4 Ti4600 to it's knees....believe me, I use one. If the ATI 9700 can run with 4X(or 6X!!!) FSAA & anisotropic filtering(128 samples, no less!) , as most of these "reviews" say, run as fast or faster than the GF4 Ti4600 with nothing turned on, then that is a huge difference. It's not even close, Ed.
Now, don't get me wrong, I take all this with a very large grain of salt.......I will not believe it till I see it. But, I have to say that I am very excited about the possibilities. If this turns out to be BS.....well, we will all know it pretty quickly. I'm sure you will tell us about it...;-)!
As a game player, I have to admit I have never been especially happy with the IQ of nVidia's cards......I really miss the visual quality of my V5........course, I don't miss the lack of speed, to say the least. nVidia has alway gone for speed over IQ.......and, even with 4xS FSAA & full anisotropic filtering the V5 just plain looks better, period!
I will pick one of the 9700's up when they are availible, and let you know.
BTW, I have 6 comnputers set up right now, and they all use nVidia cards.....(2 - TI4600's, 1-GF3, 2 - TI200 & a M64 TNT). So I'm not anti nVidia, at all. However, I can only applaud ATI for finally giving nVidia some real competition .....it can only help all of us.
While I understand your rants, I do believe you have been ranting a bit too loudly recently. Please remind your readers, from time to time, about the value of competition. If not for AMD & ATI, just where would we be right now? Let's pray they both do well.....the worse thing for us as users would be for either company to fail to compete, don't you think?
And, remember the boy who cried wolf.......and mellow out a bit, ok?
Ed's reply:
If you put a gun to my head and said, "Tell me what you think this card will end up really being like," I would probably say, "This card will probably be very suitable for those running at very high resolutions and/or using heavy additional processing like AA." That is not the same as saying "this is a great card for everybody."
You can't give companies free passes from criticism. AMD is not in trouble because Ed Stroligo said something; AMD is in trouble because they aren't doing too well right now.
You want to say the proportion of "rants" has been too high lately, I would tend to agree.
My followup:
I don't think anyone would deny that any $400.00 videocard is not something everyone should have.... no matter who makes it. But, to those that are in the market for a high end "gaming" videocard this very well may be a revolutionary product - worth at least as much as a GeForce 4 Ti4600. As far as it's other capibilities, well, that remains to be seen. The only fly in the ointment would be ATI's history of poor driver development. However, they have been doing much better on that front recently, so lets hope thay are on the ball this time. Again, we will find out shortly.....IF the spin doctors at the major sites can get their heads out of the manufactures butts - which I doubt, but you will hear at least some truth from them....just take it, like all things from the net(your rants included!) with a bit of healthy skeptisicm! If you are interested in a great site devoted to "honest" videocard reviews, check out Beyond3D. The people there are among the most knowlegible group I have seen on the net. And, the Reverend is famous for telling it like it is.
As far as free passes from criticism, I agree with you. I never said you were in any way responsible for AMD's problems. However, it's not all doom & gloom. Say your mind, Ed. Just remember that there is an eb & flow in this industry, and keep that in mind. In fact, thats probably the best thing for us, the knowledgeable consumer. It pushes the companys to give us better products, and at the same time for lower prices. If Intel & nVidia had no reason to give us better product for compeditive prices.....would they? Thank the stars for AMD and ATI.....otherwise we'd be using P2 400's with TNT's.......for a bunch of money!
While AMD's fortunes are down at the moment, let hope Hammer is everything they need to come right back to the top. Lets hope it kills the P4.....so we can get even more for our money! And, same thing is true about ATI & nVidia. Hey, if the R300 is all it's cracked up to be, and absolutely slays the TI4600, that great! And, if in 5 months the NV30 comes out and beats the bejesus out of the R300....even better! Those of use that can afford to buy these thing swill have a ball being on the bleeding edge. And, everyone else will make out like bandits as the technology moves down! Think about it: GF3 TI200's for $80.00 & Radeon 8500's for $90.00. Would this have been possible IF ATI & nVidia didn't keep the pressure on each other? I don't think so!
Ed, just think about this when you begin to get in a ranting mood.......don't stop the rant (hey, I love rants myself!). Just give us some objective "hope" at the end of the gloomy tunnel!
I'll post a reply, if there is any.......
