Originally posted by deadzombie
I do think it's funny that so many people are calling nVidias demise just because ATI currently has the gamer performance crown. Let's look at the entire market for a second, and see how nVidias made some amazing gains this past year:
1.) Game consoles; nVidia is still making a slight profit from the xBox, and will be in the second generation console. ATI is stuck in the Game Cube, which is far behind PS2 & xBox in profitability. nVidia has a future in xBox.
2.) GeForce2go has gained incredible ground in the laptop market. An area nVidia had no viable market share in a few years ago, nVidia now dominates the laptop graphics market, which was once dominated by ATI.
3.) nVidia pushed further into Apple systems, with the inclusion of of GeForce cards in iMacs, iBooks, TiBooks and G4's...nVidia has taken over an area that was once the sole domain of ATI. Some Apple systems still include or offer the option of an ATI card, but they are fewer and farther between...
4.) Probably the most surprising area nVidia has moved into is the motherboard market. The nForce2 is an amazing chipset, delivering memory, sound, graphics solutions that add up to an amazing motherboard. For the first time since the beginning of the PC market, nVidia actually offers a complete solution to motherboard manufacturers...this is an area I'll be watching with anticipation, as nVidias second offering in the nForce2 is damn near amazing.
And let's not forget, nVidia still has an amazing share of the PC gamer market and the professional workstation market. They'll come back fighting with the NV35...and while I don't think it will retake the performance crown from a driver tuned R350 (which will be released at least a few months before the NV53). I'd imagine nVidia has something surprising up it's sleeve - like how it killed 3Dfx with the GeForce. I'll be very surprised if nVidia drops the ball against ATI - it will just take time.
Speaking of 3Dfx, I'm not certain how many of you remember the speculation of how much trouble nVidia was in when the new Voodoo's were being released...we've heard this scenario before. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
let me put a couple of mis-conceptions to rest
1. nvidia no doubt has a brilliant gpu in the xbox... they are not making a profit because the xbox is making a profit... to the contrary they will get their contractually obligated sum from m$ based on projections m$ put forth and has not met... the arbitration ruling in favor of nvidia was for this... and ati did nothing concerning the gamecube gpu
it was a company called ArtX which ati bought and finalised negotiations with on the flipper chipset... if you compare the 2 with raw processing power.. the flipper does a very admirable job considering the 'cpu' is a lot slower than in the xbox...
2. nvidia sells gpu's based on their reputation... having a top performer on the market = more OEM sales and therefore more sales in lower-end markets... @ the moment ati has a CLEAR lead in mobile processing units and has the most powerful mobile processor on the market... and with the m10's release shortly... the lead will only be extended...
3. ati has been supporting linux/apple as well... perhaps the market penetration was not as great as nvidia's but nvidia has more money and much greater sales based on reasons in section 2 above... reputation sells...
4. there is no doubt the nforce2 platform is brilliant... it certainly is a welcome change from the ridiculous nforce setup they bandied around and nvidia is the clear choice for socket A motherboards... via took its lead for granted I think... sis caught em and now the nforce platform is up there as well
so enthusiasts market surely is being controlled by nvidia in terms of motherboards... and I am glad they brought out a dual cpu setup... that will be quite attractive as well..
concerning the gpu market... over the most recent months ati has outsold nvidia... this by a company that had an at least 2:1 disadvantage in sales previously...
nvidia has for far too long relied on just rehashing its old cores and selling it as 'new' products... heck the more you read about it... the more the gf FX seems to be an upgraded core moved to a smaller process
(yah ok.. it is new tech
)
the fact is that nvidia is a product cycle behind now... heck almost TWO product cycles behind @ the rate the gf FX keeps getting delayed...
also... please do not say that ati has been tuning drivers a lot longer than nvidia... the products have existed for almost the same amount of time... nvidia is basically tweaking and tweaking... their drivers SHOULD be pretty stable... after all when did the product tape out ? WAY back when...
nvidia should have a decent release in the nv35... but the r400 like I said is due to be the behemoth of the year in terms of RAW performance and with FSAA and AA enabled... well we shall see...
if the nv40 can be released before schedule.. perhaps nvidia will overcome this gap... but untill we see a stable gf FX ultra out on the market... all bets are off..
speaking of 3dfx... I am not sure if you are aware that nvidia would have probably gone under had they not bought the company (3dfx) for the lawsuits levied against nvidia for copyright infringement... they are not the most ethical of companies... hence my dislike for their PR et al...