Rahul Sood quizzes ATI

[BrynS]

The VoodooPC founder fires off a couple of questions to Toshiyuki Okumura, Director of Channel Marketing and Business Development at ATI. The article accompanying the questions should appear in the March 2006 issue of CPU Magazine.

3) What can we expect to see in 2006 from ATi on the desktop space?
[Toshiyuki Okumura] In 2006 you will see a lot of great things from ATI: Continued leadership top to bottom starting with the introduction of the X1K family in 2005 and the upcoming X1900 family. X1900XTX will be the fastest, most feature rich product available in the market. You will also see ATI deliver to our commitment in 2006. No more launches without product availability. You will see the proof of this with the X1900 family launch.

You will also see proliferation of CROSSFIRE as a technology platform. We now have Tier 1 Motherboard vendors committed to the CROSSFIRE Chipsets not to mention our support of the Intel i955 and i975 chipsets. Another inflection point will be the introduction of VISTA OS. MS endorsed ATI at CES on our readiness for VISTA TODAY. We also anticipate that the introduction of VISTA will also increase the TAM for discrete graphics products.

You will also see ATI take leadership in the transition to newer FAB processes like 80nm in 2006. Last but not least, you will see ATI launch new and innovative products into the market in 2006 which we can not discuss here today.

AXIOM, highs and lows of 2005, Quad SLI, mobile and consumer electronics and portfolio diversification are also mentioned.

 

[Moloch]

The VoodooPC founder fires off a couple of questions to Toshiyuki Okumura, Director of Channel Marketing and Business Development at ATI. The article accompanying the questions should appear in the March 2006 issue of CPU Magazine.


AXIOM, highs and lows of 2005, Quad SLI, mobile and consumer electronics and portfolio diversification are also mentioned.

Funny how he says continued leadership from top to bottom when ati is only the leader at the top atm.

 

[Sxotty]

Funny how he says continued leadership from top to bottom when ati is only the leader at the top atm.

What do you expect? Interviews almost always pander and say how wonderfull everything is

 

[Moloch]

What do you expect? Interviews almost always pander and say how wonderfull everything is

Well the problem I have is that the enthusiast market knows that ati doesn't have top to bottom leadership so people like me will point out the errors of his ways :smile:

 

[Pete]

What do you expect? Interviews almost always pander and say how wonderfull everything is

Well, more like marketers always market ... and how!

 

[Moloch]

Well, more like marketers always market ... and how!

 

[Tim]

Funny how he says continued leadership from top to bottom when ati is only the leader at the top atm.

The x1300 beats the 7300 at the button, the x1600 is clearly faster than the 6600 - the only place Ati does not have the leadership is at $200-300.

 

[_xxx_]

The x1300 beats the 7300 at the button, the x1600 is clearly faster than the 6600 - the only place Ati does not have the leadership is at $200-300.

X1600 wasn't positioned against the 6600, but rather 6800gt or now 7800 GS.

 

[Kombatant]

X1600 wasn't positioned against the 6600, but rather 6800gt or now 7800 GS.

Actually you are mistaken. It was positioned against the 6600GT and the 6800. I have the PDFs to prove it

 

[Geo]

The way NV keeps running crippled high-end parts at X1600 is fairly indicative of the fact that it is a pretty good part for its intended market. Wake me up when 7600 ships.

 

[Cartoon Corpse]

MS endorsed ATI at CES on our readiness for VISTA TODAY.

i wonder what this means with respect to dx10? a 1900xtx today won't be 'garbage' on new years '07?

 

[Sxotty]

The way NV keeps running crippled high-end parts at X1600 is fairly indicative of the fact that it is a pretty good part for its intended market. Wake me up when 7600 ships.

The 6800 gs is not a crippled high end part, it is the 6800GS, the core is a 12 pipe core, there is nothing that is remotely high end about it at this point in time Geo.

 

[swaaye]

LOL it's rather hard to figure out where things fit. These two companies have flooded the market so well, just what is midrange? Why buy a 6600GT when a X800GTO2 is within like $20? Or why get a X1300 instead of a 9800XT? Why buy a X1600XT instead of a 6800GT? LOL. It's all just one big nutty mess.

Oh yah. Features. Well Features never helped Radeon 8500 or GeFarce FX.

 

[Pete]

X1600 wasn't positioned against the 6600, but rather 6800gt or now 7800 GS.

That's a bit of a stretch, isn't it? The 6800GT debuted at $400MSRP and I don't think it's officially hit $250MSRP yet. The 7800GS, so far only AGP, is at $350MSRP. The X1600XT debuted at a ridiculous $250MSRP, but now sells for around $170, so you have to think ATI lowered its MSRP along the way.

I think it's more accurate to say the 6800GS is positioned against the X1600XT, and the X1600XT was positioned against whatever high-end 128-bit part NV will unveil next at an equivalent MSRP--but it competes with "older" 256-bit cards, for now, and not always well. IT competes well with the 128-bit 6600GT performance-wise, but only in price with the 256MB version. The 128MB version is still a decent deal in comparison, and one for which ATI doesn't have a "next-gen" answer.

Actually, PriceGrabber does show one 128MB X1600P: $111 at NewEgg, so right in line with the 6600GTs. It's pretty tiny, too, tho it has that terribly noisy stock cooler. I wonder how a 500/380 Pro compares with a 500/500 GT?

 

[thatdude90210]

Actually, PriceGrabber does show one 128MB X1600P: $111 at NewEgg, so right in line with the 6600GTs. It's pretty tiny, too, tho it has that terribly noisy stock cooler. I wonder how a 500/380 Pro compares with a 500/500 GT?

I just checked newegg, and that looks like the same cooler as the one on my Sapphire x1600 pro AGP. The one I have is very quiet, I can barely hear any difference when I stop the fan. My HTPC is as quiet now as it was when there was a 9600pro with an Arctic cooler (with fan on low) in there.

 

[Deathlike2]

The 6800 gs is not a crippled high end part, it is the 6800GS, the core is a 12 pipe core, there is nothing that is remotely high end about it at this point in time Geo.

Eh?

 

[ben6]

It was rather amusing that ATI's sole complaint on my x1600xT review was that I compared it against a $19 more 6800GS.

 

[Moloch]

It was rather amusing that ATI's sole complaint on my x1600xT review was that I compared it against a $19 more 6800GS.

linky plz.

 

[Pete]

I just checked newegg, and that looks like the same cooler as the one on my Sapphire x1600 pro AGP. The one I have is very quiet, I can barely hear any difference when I stop the fan. My HTPC is as quiet now as it was when there was a 9600pro with an Arctic cooler (with fan on low) in there.

Really? That's news to me. Does your fan vary in speed? Maybe that's why reviewers noted the X1600 as loud--fixed fan speed?

I notice a reviewer at the Egg said his fan was loud, but, again, maybe that's drivers not working the variable fan speed.

Do you have this fan or this one? I was referring to (and only saw) the first, which I think matches the XT review units.

Er, scratch that. The Sapphire cooler looks different than the reference one. All of them also seem to have just two leads from the fan, so maybe the card doesn't dictate fan speed, but a thermistor on the fan itself?

 

[Geo]

The 6800 gs is not a crippled high end part, it is the 6800GS, the core is a 12 pipe core, there is nothing that is remotely high end about it at this point in time Geo.

It's an ex-high-end part that has migrated to the mid-range with a name change as it has neared EOL. It was not designed to be a mid-range part even tho it is being sold as one now. It was a $300 sku at introduction.

It's a great competitive move on NV's part, and a solid value for consumers --but it was not designed to be a mid-range part.