nvidia is in big trouble now....

When I hear S3 or SIS all I think of is, in fact, LOL.

For me, the entire presence of S3, SIS, and to some extent, ATi, is a joke. ATi drivers, I've found, are ugly (esthetically unpleasing) and of poor quality. S3, even though they're combined with Diamond, have THE worst website I've probably ever been to. Have you tried navigating the thing? It's frustrating. Then there's SiS - a company that has formed its entire product base on cheap cards.

NVidia, on the other hand, have always been pushing the graphics chip since the get-go. Albeit frustrating for the consumer, they're newer cards have always been of excellent quality for all ranges of the market. Add to the good driver support and you have a company that will be on the top of my list.

From past experience with ATi, S3 and SIS, I wouldn't be caught dead buying 1 of their products.

As for sound, I can still play any game on the market with my old SB16. Sound is of little priority in a system. Heck the MX300 is dirt cheap now and the drivers.... oh! wait. Yet another example of the www.sonicblue.com website.


----------------------
Thanks,
[dB]Luca

"He who laughs, lasts"

Actually there isn't a lot wrong with the current Radeon, and it is streets ahead of the old Rage chipset...They're even getting better at writing drivers. Current Radeon is just a bit slow, but picture is pretty fab.
As for Nvidia being in trouble...I guess I'll wait and see for the next generation of Radeons and NV20 before making my mind up on that one.
Even if NV20 wasn't that good, Nvidia still have a lot of cred...bit like Intel once had lol, and it will probably sell well on that cred.
But ATI are definately back in the game....
S3....errrr well errr...It'll take some convincing me that they've got anything better than a couple of yoghurt cartons and a long piece of string in the pipeline...Sorry but S3 doesn't immediately spring to mind as makers of viciously fast hardware....

Ray

rcf84 is a corporate whore.

"Crash And Burn"

Is that not what people said about 3DFX a few years ago? That they owned the market and would dominate if forever? Hmmm.... Nvidia is putting out great chips and even if the NV20 is not much faster than the Geforce2 Ultra, its still way ahead of the best Radeon out there. ATI has some catching up to do... As for S3 and SIS....HAHAHAHA what a joke.....

<i>"C Windows; C Windows Run; Run Windows Run; Run Damn it Run!"</i>

Aureal was a great company... but I guess in the world of business they come and go. I don't really care if Creative supports the Vortex line or not, although I run a Vortex2 myself. What I really want is for Creative to integrate Aureal's superior 3D sound into EAX. Then we will get the best of both worlds: the great sound of EAX AND great positional 3D.

About nVidia being in big trouble.... yeah right. Any company can die eventually but they aren't headed there yet. In fact I think they are really just warming up. And BTW, nVidia the company, though also a "market leader", is nothing like Intel. You could hardly find 2 semiconductor companies more different.

Regards,
Warden

I'm not sure where Nvidia is going technologically, but I know they aren't in it for the consumer. That, it seems, has been apparent for a long time. They're web page is the page of a dedicated business, not in any way inviting to the consumer. It is a statement. An ethos of dollars and cents. In any event, I think they still have the lead in their corner of the industry, and as far as the market goes, I don't see them being in any trouble. I'd still buy and Nvidia board, and intend to continue doing so, despite being wary of their drivers. Personally, I'd like to see an Nvidia chip released that makes use of 3dfx's anti-aliasing, which they now own the rights to. I own a Voodoo 5 5500, and although I am still lamenting the fact that there will never be another driver revision, I still I enjoy playing Battlezone II with their beautiful 4-step anti-aliasing. A board with the pure horsepower of Nvidia's repute could really highlight the capabilities of 3dfx's proprietary anti-aliasing technique.

TheTinker:
Good thoughts man. And yeah, seeing a little 3dfx quality FSAA on an nVidia board would be a happy thing indeed.... *looks all dreamy*

Warden

Tinker,
I was poking around the web just now and ran across this link (http://www.reactorcritical.com/review-nv20/review-nv20_3.shtml) with a couple interesting points about the NV20, including this quote:

"Multisampling support is also on order. It will bring in better antialiasing similar to that in Voodoo 5 5500, along with a multitude of other cinematographic effects like motion blur, depth of field and so forth. It is rumored that the whole shebang will be named A-Buffer on an analogy with the 3dfx T-Buffer technology. These are the features and functions which one can assume with a high degree of certainty to be natively supported by the NV20."

Hehe, dream come true? We can only hope this is right.

Regards,
Warden

Ace,
I was glad to read your other post about $800 being for the 128MB NV20 verson with the 64MB version only (only?) running $500. It makes more sense as it gives a dream card to shoot for but keeps the main card in line with the pricing of the Geforce2 Ultra.

Er, uh, back to the subject of this thread.... yeah I still don't think NVIDIA is in any trouble. Main thing I've noticed about NVIDIA is that rcf84 really really doesn't like them. But hey, to each his own.

Regards,
Warden

the ATi web page looks more fun then nvidia webpage.

First person to get a topic banned. ABIT BP6 Lives FOREVER!!!

Screw ATI, they always promise, but never deliver. Radeon was supposed to be an Nvidia "killer". And look at it....it cannot match Geforce 2. You DON'T know how fast NV20 will be, nor any forth comming ATI cards, so just wait for the product releases. Specs can be deceiving. Most people thought 3DFX Voodoo V5500 would beat Geforce 2, as it had better specs (in many ways)...well it didn't did it........bye bye 3DFX.

The day an ATI, SIS, or S3 card rules on the market will be the day hell freezes over....if there is a hell.

--SR

that what you said about 3DFX what about it 2 years ago. where they now, bought and sold to nvidia.

First person to get a topic banned. ABIT BP6 Lives FOREVER!!!