Dimahnbloe
Newcomer
Let me just say one thing before I get started: Reading this forum is as fun as can be. I never thought it would feel so good to have my girlfriend call me a full fledged, bonified GEEK! Don't get me wrong, I don't have 10% of the knowledge that about 75% of you guys have in here, heck half the time I find myself using words that you guys post, but don't even know what they mean, except the fact that they all translate into two simple words: MORE POWER!!!
Just like most of you I am pretty excited about the up coming graphic card releases in a few short days. I personally want the fastest technology no matter what and am willing to pay the price to get it. Hell I think I spend three to four thousand dollars a year on personal computer peripherals alone
While all this excitement is going on I am beginning to get a little worried. :? Here is my Delima:
My primary use for my PC is as an HTPC that does a heavy dose of gaming and did I mention that I love toys and options.
Because of this I am relegated to Go ATI no matter what Nvidia releases our how powerful it is. Even sadder is that I have heard about the new multimedia features of NV40 and I am drooling. What's the problem you say? Well, Nvidia will not integrate a tuner directly onto a card and they will not have an HDTV tuner product in their line up, at least not one that I have heard of.
Simple, Buy a third party HDTV tuner add in card you say. I could do that, But I do not trust any of the third party companies Manufacturing them. Most of them are here today, maybe gone tomorrow and problems with products are generally not resolved in a timely manner. I am not saying that those solutions are bad, simply that if ATI or Nvidia releases an HDTV tuner than you expect timely driver releases and updates to their Multimedia software on a regular basis, even if the product is not perfect.
Enough about the HTPC stuff lets get into the reason why I posted this information in this forum and not the AVS forum. This is why I am concerned about being relegated to ATI this time around.
TIME TO MARKET:
ATI could have crushed nvidia when it comes to getting it's product to the market first this time around, but they backed off considering the success it enjoyed in getting to the market first last time around, I can't help feeling that they are scared of the NV40.
-Yes I have heard the theories about not stepping on their partners two when it comes to diminishing the their ability to get rid of hardware they have in stock, but for some reason I don't by that
PRODUCT EVOLUTION
While it was not by intent, I personally feel that ATI does not have anything to offer this time around except for raw power (which is not bad, but it's not exciting) The canceling of the original r400 may do them in this time around. Meaning that because of design decisions, they had to take a chip that should have really been called R39x and release it as the r4xx. Basically they missed a generation and I think they will pay for it with the market share they earned with the r300. In addition, I feel that because of this they are forced to play all of the cards up front, Don't be surprised if we see R500 really, really early.
SILENCE:
If I remember correctly, before the release of the r300, ATI was quietly Cocky, not completely Silent. So far this time around, there has been nothing said about r400, no cocky remarks except for one or two of them really early on. After that and still now, nothing has been stated.
LEAKED PRESENTATION
I information that was leaked into the press accidentally and was first reported by Anand has me feeling disturbed. Ati never denied that the information that was reported in the notes as being false, but as expected, they responded to it, by stating that it was taken out of context. I was so hoping that they would have stated that no such notes exist and it was all fabricated by Nvidia, but that never came.
X800 XT
The early release of this card scares me to death and indicates that standard 420 performance will pale compared to it's NV40 counter part.
LEAKED BENCHMARKS
Based on all of the above information and high memory clock speeds I am beginning to feel that the r420 may not be a very efficient chip and indeed have a hard time cracking 10000 3dMark 2003 Points. I am not a video card expert so I do not know how NVIDIA attained their scores (some of you say it is in the game one test, where the nv40 actually acts like a true 16 pipeline card), but from what I have seen in the past from cpu manufacturers, the higher the clock speed the less efficient the architecture. I am pretty sure that You guys are going to Roast me on that one.
FEATURE SET
Again, in my opinion, the r420 does not bring much to the table. The reason that R420 does not support PS 3.0 is because it's still an R300. While NVIDIA is tooting new Antilaising, hardware encoders, decoders, overall image quality. ATI can only say that we are faster than before
(I was hoping to get some goodies for my Home Theater Fix) The Bottom line is that I do not feel that ATI should have called this Chip an R4XX, doing this leads us to believe that it is new architecture when in fact it isn't. Unless something changes, I am beginning to feel cheated. Maybe I will feel better when I see their spec sheet. I don't think that this card will perform much better than an r300 in most games unless they are extremely shader dependent.
Don't get me wrong I think that the card will be competitive, in fact because of the HDTV wonder option that will Come with the All In Wonder x800 I am going to buy this card regardless of it's performance unless it is completely unacceptable. I have purchased the last three generations of All in Wonders and this outlook will probably not change unless Nvidia begins to offer an HDTV tuner option
In another forum, When r300 was released I praised it and spoke my mind about my dissatisfaction with the NV30, and was happy with my purchase. This time around I feel that the roles will change. But in the back of my head I hope is doesn't. I guess I better brace myself
Just like most of you I am pretty excited about the up coming graphic card releases in a few short days. I personally want the fastest technology no matter what and am willing to pay the price to get it. Hell I think I spend three to four thousand dollars a year on personal computer peripherals alone
While all this excitement is going on I am beginning to get a little worried. :? Here is my Delima:
My primary use for my PC is as an HTPC that does a heavy dose of gaming and did I mention that I love toys and options.
Because of this I am relegated to Go ATI no matter what Nvidia releases our how powerful it is. Even sadder is that I have heard about the new multimedia features of NV40 and I am drooling. What's the problem you say? Well, Nvidia will not integrate a tuner directly onto a card and they will not have an HDTV tuner product in their line up, at least not one that I have heard of.
Simple, Buy a third party HDTV tuner add in card you say. I could do that, But I do not trust any of the third party companies Manufacturing them. Most of them are here today, maybe gone tomorrow and problems with products are generally not resolved in a timely manner. I am not saying that those solutions are bad, simply that if ATI or Nvidia releases an HDTV tuner than you expect timely driver releases and updates to their Multimedia software on a regular basis, even if the product is not perfect.
Enough about the HTPC stuff lets get into the reason why I posted this information in this forum and not the AVS forum. This is why I am concerned about being relegated to ATI this time around.
TIME TO MARKET:
ATI could have crushed nvidia when it comes to getting it's product to the market first this time around, but they backed off considering the success it enjoyed in getting to the market first last time around, I can't help feeling that they are scared of the NV40.
-Yes I have heard the theories about not stepping on their partners two when it comes to diminishing the their ability to get rid of hardware they have in stock, but for some reason I don't by that
PRODUCT EVOLUTION
While it was not by intent, I personally feel that ATI does not have anything to offer this time around except for raw power (which is not bad, but it's not exciting) The canceling of the original r400 may do them in this time around. Meaning that because of design decisions, they had to take a chip that should have really been called R39x and release it as the r4xx. Basically they missed a generation and I think they will pay for it with the market share they earned with the r300. In addition, I feel that because of this they are forced to play all of the cards up front, Don't be surprised if we see R500 really, really early.
SILENCE:
If I remember correctly, before the release of the r300, ATI was quietly Cocky, not completely Silent. So far this time around, there has been nothing said about r400, no cocky remarks except for one or two of them really early on. After that and still now, nothing has been stated.
LEAKED PRESENTATION
I information that was leaked into the press accidentally and was first reported by Anand has me feeling disturbed. Ati never denied that the information that was reported in the notes as being false, but as expected, they responded to it, by stating that it was taken out of context. I was so hoping that they would have stated that no such notes exist and it was all fabricated by Nvidia, but that never came.
X800 XT
The early release of this card scares me to death and indicates that standard 420 performance will pale compared to it's NV40 counter part.
LEAKED BENCHMARKS
Based on all of the above information and high memory clock speeds I am beginning to feel that the r420 may not be a very efficient chip and indeed have a hard time cracking 10000 3dMark 2003 Points. I am not a video card expert so I do not know how NVIDIA attained their scores (some of you say it is in the game one test, where the nv40 actually acts like a true 16 pipeline card), but from what I have seen in the past from cpu manufacturers, the higher the clock speed the less efficient the architecture. I am pretty sure that You guys are going to Roast me on that one.
FEATURE SET
Again, in my opinion, the r420 does not bring much to the table. The reason that R420 does not support PS 3.0 is because it's still an R300. While NVIDIA is tooting new Antilaising, hardware encoders, decoders, overall image quality. ATI can only say that we are faster than before
(I was hoping to get some goodies for my Home Theater Fix) The Bottom line is that I do not feel that ATI should have called this Chip an R4XX, doing this leads us to believe that it is new architecture when in fact it isn't. Unless something changes, I am beginning to feel cheated. Maybe I will feel better when I see their spec sheet. I don't think that this card will perform much better than an r300 in most games unless they are extremely shader dependent.
Don't get me wrong I think that the card will be competitive, in fact because of the HDTV wonder option that will Come with the All In Wonder x800 I am going to buy this card regardless of it's performance unless it is completely unacceptable. I have purchased the last three generations of All in Wonders and this outlook will probably not change unless Nvidia begins to offer an HDTV tuner option
In another forum, When r300 was released I praised it and spoke my mind about my dissatisfaction with the NV30, and was happy with my purchase. This time around I feel that the roles will change. But in the back of my head I hope is doesn't. I guess I better brace myself
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