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So how does Gainward play into all this? If ATI's recent success can convince exclusive partners to reconsider their allegiance, it opens up a whole slew of scenarios and 'what ifs.' For example, what if a company like BFG or XFX broke their ties and started offering Radeon videocards backed with coveted lifetime warranties? And whether them or someone else, will Nvidia try to sweeten the pot to keep AIBs on their side? If so, we could be looking at even lower prices in a market that's already considered advantageous for gamers. Never before has the GPU market offered so much bang for your gaming dollar.
Regardless of how the situation plays out with Gainward, the road won't get any easier for ATI. Nvidia is showing no plans of slowing down, and is doing everything in its power, like releasing a tweaked 9800GTX+, to steal the thunder away from ATI. And then there's the matter of in-game physics support and licensing issues. On that same token, how will chipsets affect the playing field? To this day, SLI remains tied to Nvidia, and CrossFire to Intel.
A lot of questions remain, but no matter how the different scenarios play out, we can be assured of good things to follow with ATI finally back in the game.
Comments are closed on this article
usp211816
July 01, 2008 at 6:28pm
It seems to me that it’s more of a personal preference than a performance issue @ this point.
As long as you’re smart enough to buy the video set (SLI or Crossfire) that runs with the motherboard you’re running everything should run nice and smooth.
My 3 HD2600 (512mb version)ATI’s as run smooth on my Intel Board. As my friends 2 8800 GTS (640mb version) Nvida's run on his AMD board. His bench test a lot higher but performance varies by game. And we both paid about the same for either setup. It appears the cards are only as slick as the person installing them and the platform there running on.
if all else fails...
Paul_Lilly
July 01, 2008 at 3:42pm
That was in context to the chipset, and not the GPU. If you want to run CrossFire, you'll need an Intel-based motherboard.
jwalch.hawk
July 01, 2008 at 3:36pm
**cheers on AMD**
Yay for competition!
<yoda>Competition a happy consumer does make. </yoda>
