Tom's Does XGI

[Voudoun]

Originally posted by emailthatguy
ok im trying to think of something positive here for these new guys... umm..


umm.....


they doing a lot better than bitboys? =p

Who isn't? :)

Voudoun

[Unit01]

Originally posted by ChrisRay
Why is this turning into an anti Nvidia thread? I mean the product performs lousy compared to ATI as well you know. There are plenty of ATI users who are unsatisfied with what they have seen.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Nvidia really.

hm didn't expect my post to me read as an anti-NV post.
Better say what i actually meant before this escalates into something totally wrong.
What i meant with my post was that some certain individuals on this board just loves to throw crap and spread rumours and bull**** about non-NV companies.

Read my post from before and what i mentioned

And i repeat to stay on the safe side. The post was not meant as an anti-NV post.

[The Baron]

Originally posted by Unit01
hm didn't expect my post to me read as an anti-NV post.
Better say what i actually meant before this escalates into something totally wrong.
What i meant with my post was that some certain individuals on this board just loves to throw crap and spread rumours and bull**** about non-NV companies.

Read my post from before and what i mentioned

And i repeat to stay on the safe side. The post was not meant as an anti-NV post.
and certain individuals spread crap about non-ATI companies, and certain individuals spread crap about non-S3 companies, and certain individuals spread crap about non-PowerVR companies. okay, well not so much the last two, but definitely the ATI bit. I think we'll see a very significant speedbump on XGI cards by the time we see cards ship, and we'll probably see an increase of 15% or so within 6 months after the cards launch from drivers alone.

[Voudoun]

Originally posted by The Baron
I think we'll see a very significant speedbump on XGI cards by the time we see cards ship, and we'll probably see an increase of 15% or so within 6 months after the cards launch from drivers alone.

Sounds plausible and good when the card is looked at in isolation. Looked at in the context of what's happening and what will happen, it doesn't sound quite as good. By that time the R420 and NV40 series cards will be out, and may even be on the way to their first refresh. I'm not sure what kind of timeframe there is on the PowerVR5, but if that comes through in that time period, they're not even assured of 3rd place. I'd like to see another strong competitor come through, but are enough people going to desert ATi and nVidia to enable the smaller company's to keep up? Wait and see I suppose.

Voudoun

[The Baron]

Originally posted by Voudoun
Sounds plausible and good when the card is looked at in isolation. Looked at in the context of what's happening and what will happen, it doesn't sound quite as good. By that time the R420 and NV40 series cards will be out, and may even be on the way to their first refresh. I'm not sure what kind of timeframe there is on the PowerVR5, but if that comes through in that time period, they're not even assured of 3rd place. I'd like to see another strong competitor come through, but are enough people going to desert ATi and nVidia to enable the smaller company's to keep up? Wait and see I suppose.

Voudoun
Well, six months from the Volari launch, Volari 2 will be out, probably. So the speed bump for Volari cards is semi-moot, but it means that Volari 2 cards would perform that much better as well. I dunno. I'm hoping for a Third Competitor... and since no Series 5 till 04, it looks like I'm going to have to keep hoping.

[Voudoun]

Originally posted by The Baron
Well, six months from the Volari launch, Volari 2 will be out, probably. So the speed bump for Volari cards is semi-moot, but it means that Volari 2 cards would perform that much better as well. I dunno. I'm hoping for a Third Competitor... and since no Series 5 till 04, it looks like I'm going to have to keep hoping.

True. What I was trying to get at was the level of resources though. Given the dominance of the big 2, will people buy enough Volaris to fund the Volari 2 and refreshes with the same regularity as ATi and nVidia? I hope someone's able to compete. Given the cost though, will it be a graphics card manufacturer, or a company that has significant revenue coming in from other sources to fund their graphics division while they establish themselves?

Voudoun

[The Baron]

Originally posted by Voudoun
True. What I was trying to get at was the level of resources though. Given the dominance of the big 2, will people buy enough Volaris to fund the Volari 2 and refreshes with the same regularity as ATi and nVidia? I hope someone's able to compete. Given the cost though, will it be a graphics card manufacturer, or a company that has significant revenue coming in from other sources to fund their graphics division while they establish themselves?

Voudoun
They're a combination of SiS and Trident, so I would imagine they have significant financial backing. Plus, aren't they using TSMC?

[Voudoun]

Originally posted by The Baron
They're a combination of SiS and Trident, so I would imagine they have significant financial backing.

Of course. I forgot about that. :confused:

Voudoun

[StealthHawk]

How much better will Volari2 really be than Volari? I wouldn't expect miracles or else I doubt they would be able to release it so soon after Volari1. Think refresh. I still think Volari1 will be out before R420/NV40, but Volari2 will have to go up against new architectures from the Big Two in R420/NV40, and possibly refreshes of those architectures.

Given the state of the drivers(I'm not talking about performance here, I'm talking about default quality being bilinear, FSAA not working, AF not working) I'm not filled with confidence. This sounds like Xabre all over again. It seemed like a decent card for the price at the time, until we learned about the shoddy drivers. It really looks like they haven't learned their lesson. The launch is obviously not going to occur this month, or if it does, the drivers will be horrid.

Pick your poison. Delays or a poor launch.

[The Baron]

Stealth--I bet it will use .13 with low-K (or possibly .11) and have more chips (or a very significant core speed boost and still have two).

Heh. It's the Voodoo5 Route!

[Skuzzy]

I would think poor launch would be out of the question. There is a shining example of how to NOT release a video card in the ATI 8500.

Good hardware (for its time) but pathetic drivers.

After it was all said and done the 8500 was a pretty decent product. Competes well with a GF4Ti4200 and costs a lot less (although ATI had to cut the cost to move them and probably lost thier shirts on it).

Nope, bad releases are not the way to go.

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by The Baron
Stealth--I bet it will use .13 with low-K (or possibly .11) and have more chips (or a very significant core speed boost and still have two).

Heh. It's the Voodoo5 Route!

I'm not sure how good an example that is since the Voodoo5 6000 never came out. Only the two chip 5500 did.

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
I would think poor launch would be out of the question. There is a shining example of how to NOT release a video card in the ATI 8500.

Good hardware (for its time) but pathetic drivers.

After it was all said and done the 8500 was a pretty decent product. Competes well with a GF4Ti4200 and costs a lot less (although ATI had to cut the cost to move them and probably lost thier shirts on it).

Nope, bad releases are not the way to go.

Xabre was released after the r8500 and it's drivers sucked. Granted I don't think SiS was aiming at anything other than the budget market, so performance & IQ weren't quite as important then as they are to the midrange/high end segment of the marketplace. But still, in the last year or so I've learned to never say never.

Parhelia- the card that doesn't know whether it's targeting professionals or gamers.

R300- ATI actually releases a card with good drivers.

NV30- delayed, delayed some more, poor release drivers, denials of it being canned, canned, NVIDIA makes fun of it and CEO admits it was a failure and a mistake.

[The Baron]

Originally posted by StealthHawk
I'm not sure how good an example that is since the Voodoo5 6000 never came out. Only the two chip 5500 did.
My point exactly. It's a crappy strategy.