Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollo
Hmmm. So for three of the four you agree with me, period. (this says a fair amount about my point in and of itself)
We weren't talking about dual GPU cards, we were talking about single GPUs. (and even if we did speak about dual GPUS, ATi only wins one of the four generations produced- 7800GX2>(no ATi), 9800GX2>>3870X2, GTX295>4870X2- so it's not like ATi is king of the dual cards)
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Ok... but Nvidia didn't have an answer to the 5970 until they finally released the GTX 580. Once again, Nvidia's past records have been fine, but AMD's current architecture is spot on. For you to not acknowledge that shows just how biased you truly are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollo
The 5870 did indeed go uncontested for 6 months- much like the 7800GTX and 8800GTX did before it. Parts don't always launch on the same month. Nonetheless, the GTX480 was NVIDIA's answer to the 5870 and it had more features and was faster. I use "Eye Finity" all the time with NVIDIA cards, and some GTX295s can do it on a single card as well. It wasn't even ATi's idea, they were the last company to bring this to market. Matrox had it long ago, and NVIDIA was doing it with their Quadros.
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It's a cycle, but the fact that ATI came out with the 4870, 5870, and 5970 in the gap between when Nvidia launched the GTX 2xx cards and the GTX 480 should tell the story. AMD pulled ahead... big time. Even the GTX 480 wasn't the king of the hill. The 5970 was. Also, you're bringing professional cards into your evidence? How is that relevant? Eyefinity was designed as a feature for gaming, and as it stands, Nvidia cannot drive 6 monitors from a single GPU core on a consumer product... period. AMD wins on multi-monitor support, no contest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollo
GTX480 feature list:
PhysX - Gimmick/dying
3d Vision - neat, but AMD has 3rd party support as well.
3d Vision Surround - See above
NVIDIA Surround - Beaten By AMD's eyefinity (6 monitors per card vs. 3 monitors on 2 cards)
Force Ambient Occlusion - Not practical
CUDA apps - Neat, but still a gimmick. Will be replaced by OpenCL.
HD5870 feature list:
EyeFinity - superior to Nvidia's offerings
STREAM - includes OpenCL extensions, although a gimmick as well
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Red = AMD advantage
Green = Nvidia advantage
Black = Gimmick/no advantage
To put it in perspective, Eyefinity is not totally practical either, but hey, you don't have to buy 2 cards to use it either.
AMD wins squarely on multi monitor support, while Nvidia is ahead in GPGPU support. CUDA won't last though. OpenCL will probably end up being the industry standard since it isn't governed by either company.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollo
If the 6970 launches with less performance and features some day, it will only solidify my argument that ATi builds second tier GPUs. However, being in second place at world leading tech isn't all bad, as I noted. Makes for competition, lower priced alternatives.
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Wrong again. If the 6970 is slower than the GTX 580, then it will also be cheaper. This market is not determined by who has the fastest card. This market is determined by who has the best product. Usually that is swayed depending on price and performance. That item is still up in the air, but knowing AMD's current track record, I have a feeling that AMD will be ahead on the "value for money" front. Also, while we're speculating about upcoming cards, the 6990 is also in the works and Nvidia's got the GTX 595 supposedly. AMD has all but formally announced the 6990, while the GTX 595 is nothing more than a rumor... I guess we'll see what happens.
Also, doesn't AMD support more monitors on their 68xx cards? I believe they now support 4 natively with the option to add more with other cards. The gap on multi monitor support is widening as time goes on. You know that Nvidia wants a slice of that pie since they released 3D surround... too bad 3D surround isn't as good.