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Interview - Andrew Han of
eVGA
Questioned By:
Jonathan Martini
April 17,
2001
Mike and Brian have been adding a little something extra in their past couple
reviews; interviews with company executives or public relations staff.
Interviews are a great way of surpassing the performance aspect of the video
card market and get to know the people who make it tick, as well as the inner-workings
of the company delivering these high tech commodities.
I've had the pleasure of examining three different card from
eVGA based on variations of the GeForce2 Chip (MX & Ultra). Each has card
has surpassed my expectation of what a relatively unknown company (a year ago)
could accomplish when working together to provide an excellent high-quality
product at prices lower than most of the competition.
eVGA is making quite a name for itself as of late. It's a
relatively new graphics card company looking to provide the consumer with the
best possible product at the best possible price. Although you might find cards
retailing for less, one must recognize that eVGA is now a certified NVIDIA Select
Solution Provider which guarantees that all products meet the strict
requirements necessary for building quality NVIDIA components.
Another step eVGA is taking to ensure it's customer's are
content with their purchase is that they guarantee their GeForce2 MX based card
come equipped with 5.5ns RAM which is above the required NVIDIA spec of 6ns,
thus allowing to increase the memory bandwidth by running the RAM stable at
higher speeds.
eVGA's commitment to deliver tier-1 caliber products while not
skimping on any details is becoming more evident with each product. They're
definitely heading on the right track to become one of the big boys in the
consortium of companies building NVIDIA-based cards.
nV News: How long have you been involved in the computer
industry?
Andrew:
Ever since the glory days of The Western Digital/Paradise Corp. and the first
VGA specs,
to subsequent formation of eVGA.com, with its challenges and rewards, I venture
to say that I have been in the thick of it for 14 years.
nV News: Can you give us an overview of eVGA? What makes
eVGA tick?
Andrew:
eVGA.com was founded on the core belief that we could not just do it better, but
also take the concept of the VGA industry and make into
something different, something grand. So we prompted our internal industry
analysts to provided us with the shortcomings this sector have experienced as a
community, and based on that information, the eVGA management developed an
ongoing business model that addressed these issues with focus on eVGA's main
business partner, our customers. What makes us tick...well, let's just say that
when we gauge the market share we have now versus what we had just a year
ago...tick, tick, tick...
nV News: The list of NVIDIA add-on card manufacturers is
long and filled with established companies such as Asus, Creative Labs, Elsa,
Hercules, and Leadtek. How will eVGA be able to survive against these heavy
hitters?
Andrew: WE ARE DIFFERENT. When our
"competition" is standing in the parking lot yelling at each other for
attention, eVGA is batting up on the diamond. Actually, it's simple...we decided
long ago to differentiate or message and our product to make sense on levels
that end user cares about, you know... quality assurance, customer support, ease
of use and of course a set of patent pending utilities that nobody else have. We
don't survive, we conquer!
nV News: What are your thoughts on NVIDIA's GeForce
chipsets in general? Do you feel that gamers are better off today with a
graphics processing unit that can accelerate transform and lighting (T&L)?
Andrew: nVidia makes an extremely impressive chipset,
this is already on the record. As a company, they are much more dedicated to
pushing technology than many others - more product value less hype, with the
result being powerful graphics chips into the mainstream much faster than would
otherwise happen. As far as where this leaves gamers, in regards to Hardware
T&L, of course they are in a better position than they were before. Hardware
T&L (as it exists prior to the GeForce3) may not mean that much to people
with 1.2GHz Athlons and the like, but to the average gamer out there it brought
life into their computer and the games they play. It took some doing and a major
dollop of engineering genius but I don't think that there were too many
arguments with the results.
nV News: Do you believe another company could come out of nowhere to revolutionize 3d graphics and take away NVIDIA's speed crown?
Andrew: The 3D Graphics community is a very tight knit group of
people; and for somebody to come in under the radar with a ground-braking technological concept so original that it would
displace the current market leaders and claim that position is not very realistic. Could it happen? Sure…but it would extremely difficult.
nV News: What are your thoughts on the Kyro II?
Andrew: There
is some work left to do there, but still a pretty good attempt.
nV News: What are your thoughts on the NVIDIA acquisition
of 3dfx?
Andrew: Well,
let’s get the facts straight. NVIDIA did not acquire 3dfx - but rather 3dfx's
technology and asset portfolio - a big difference, and ultimately a pivotal
factor in that transaction, property - yes, legacy - no. From a practical point
of view, it was a great move on behalf on NVIDIA's management team, it ended all
the squabble and added substance to NVIDIA's patent collection. We applaud NVIDIA
in the execution of that strategy.
nV News:
Now that NVIDIA has acquired 3dfx who will push NVIDIA to continue to innovate? Game developers, Microsoft, ATi, Matrox, Sony, Intel?
Andrew: Until everybody in this segment stops to competing for market share,
NVIDIA and eVGA.com will continue to be innovative. With a very aggressive
product schedule and performance goals beyond anything ever attempted
before, I believe our customers will be very satisfied with the level of
sophistication that our product line maintains.
Page 2: The GeForce3
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