Reverend at The Pulpit #7

[Reverend]

End of Year Edition! And, no, there won't be any separate "Site Stuff" and "Personal Stuff" this time!

First of all, I hope the Christians among you had a great time during the Christmas period. I had sent a very simple "e-card" to a few of the folks I know, some of them due to friendships fostered due solely to my involvement in this hardware reviewing business, others I don't quite know (very well) but of which I appreciate their participation in this site's forums and others still (namely, the game developers) who have been kind enough to accept and respond to my numerous emails. I find it quite refreshing (but not surprising) that Brian Burke of NVIDIA took the time to send me an NVIDIA e-card... the two of us argue like hell year round (every year) after all. I suppose it's important to recognize professional disagreements for what they are. Personal relationships are a whole 'nother (more important on a personal basis) separate matter.

There should be an interview with a Microsoft Windows evangelist soonish here as far as my next contribution to the site is concerned. Not terribly exciting stuff but then again I respect the position that particular guy is in and avoided asking "difficult" questions. If he ever reads this post, I sure hope Braden is a good and healthy kid.

I'm beginning to think I'm getting a bit rusty in writing video card reviews as I haven't done that for some months now (August was my last review, and I haven't received any hardware to review since) and when I tried to write a review of my trusty Radeon 9700PRO just for the fun of it (I realized I haven't reviewed this card at all anywhere and of all the cards I have had the pleasure of experiencing over the past 2 years, surely this is the card above all else that I would want to write a review of), I got stuck on page 2! This is a purely "for the heck of it" review, prompted by our on-going "Review Your Own Board" competition where I thought that I'd write something that doesn't quite fall in line with the usual B3D type of review. Not sure if I'd end up finishing it though... after all, it's a no-longer-available product and it's a 15-month-old product at that. It's probably been covered to death already!

During the year, I'd received some memorable emails ("I can't make up my mind... is Beyond3D a ATI or NVIDIA fan site? Coz I've been told that Dave Baumann is a ATI-lover-and-NVIDIA-hater and that you are a NVIDIA/3dfx-lover-and-hate-everything-else... what site should I go to if I love both my NVIDIA and ATI cards to get personal satisfaction on both counts?"... ), . I won't post all of them here (well, ok, I just posted one!)... except for one, because it's the most memorable one for me... because it was the most "frightening" at the time I received it :

You are being pushy. I have been advised that I really shouldn't respond when someone resends a message, because it encourages them to always do that. There is obviously some truth to that.

Hehe Of course, John has written me since then so I guess all is fine.

Anyway, my personal wish list for the New Year, in no particular order of importance nor if any of them are remotely possible or not :

Radeon 9800 PRO
John Carmack to reply to every single email of mine to him
21-inch CRT
A free copy of DOOM3
Kristof to remove his beard and no longer wear lipstick
A free copy of Half-Life 2
NV40 to be very good just so Doomtrooper has something nice to say about NVIDIA
John Reynolds to find some hair-growing cream that works for him
A reference R420 board from ATI
A reference NV40 board from NVIDIA
A reference Series 5 board from PowerVR
NV40 to be very good just so Hellbinder has something nice to say about NVIDIA
Eric Demers to find some hair-growing cream that works for him
The next 3DMark to be "better" than 3DMark03

and finally, and most importantly...

... to be able to meet all my B3D colleagues for the first time.

Here's hoping 2004 will be the best year for everyone. A little early but Happy New Year, Friends!

 

[Tim Murray]

A reference Series 5 board from PowerVR
NV40 to be very good just so Hellbinder has something nice to say about NVIDIA

AMEN.

No LCD yet, though? Any particular reason besides the exorbitant price for a large LCD with a 16ms response time?

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

my wish is for there to be ATi on top for a while to humble Nvidia and their business tactics as they are really nothing to be proud of especially this last year.....................

 

[ByteMe]

There should be an interview with a Microsoft Windows evangelist soonish here as far as my next contribution to the site is concerned. Not terribly exciting stuff but then again I respect the position that particular guy is in and avoided asking "difficult" questions. If he ever reads this post, I sure hope Braden is a good and healthy kid.

I hate to be the killjoy. But what kind of reporting is that?

 

[akira888]

LCDs look horrible at every resolution except their native one (the actual resolution of the crystal matrix). That's a fact that can't be worked around very easily - I have one in my office furnished to me by the university and it drives me absolutely bonkers. Trinitrons are a much better value for the money AFAIC.

 

[Reverend]

There should be an interview with a Microsoft Windows evangelist soonish here as far as my next contribution to the site is concerned. Not terribly exciting stuff but then again I respect the position that particular guy is in and avoided asking "difficult" questions. If he ever reads this post, I sure hope Braden is a good and healthy kid.

I hate to be the killjoy. But what kind of reporting is that?

I think it's called "I know this guy for quite some time now, we talk about family and stuff and I have respect for his position at Microsoft".

 

[Reverend]

No LCD yet, though? Any particular reason besides the exorbitant price for a large LCD with a 16ms response time?

LCDs suck for gaming.

 

[Paul]

LCDs suck for gaming.

*Nods*

They still can't match the best CRT's in image quality yet either.

Give it another 5 years.

 

[Sage]

They still can't match the best CRT's in image quality yet either.

debatable. at their native resolution they are far better than a CRT. at a non-native res they are far worse. after having used an LCD for a few weeks it became very bothersome to have to look at a CRT (my LCD's refresh is 25ms, and the CRT was running at 120Hz refresh, so dont go talking about how "you just need to raise the refresh rate") of course, for some people a CRT is better. LCD pixels have very sharp edges, and some people dont like that so much.

 

[Tim Murray]

Maybe I will take a 21" CRT to college. God, my roommate would love me for that. "No, you can't put that there! That's where the monitor goes! No, that's where the monitor goes too! Yes, it goes both places!"

 

[ByteMe]

There should be an interview with a Microsoft Windows evangelist soonish here as far as my next contribution to the site is concerned. Not terribly exciting stuff but then again I respect the position that particular guy is in and avoided asking "difficult" questions. If he ever reads this post, I sure hope Braden is a good and healthy kid.

I hate to be the killjoy. But what kind of reporting is that?

I think it's called "I know this guy for quite some time now, we talk about family and stuff and I have respect for his position at Microsoft".

I can understand that. A confict of interest eh? I would suggest that you mention such at the begining of the interview. If you change your mind and want some "difficult" questions just say so, I got a few.

 

[ByteMe]

LCDs suck for gaming.

I recently got a 17" (NEC) one with a 16ms refresh. Best picture I've ever seen. I prefer my 21" CRT tho. Bigger is better.