Intel is reportedly cracking down on graphics card designs that do not meet the company's approval.
Apparently, Nvidia is enforcing its Green Light program, which requires graphics card makers to send in their designs for Nvidia's approval. The approval will not be given if certain noise, power, voltage and heat levels are not met. Without that approval, those cards cannot be sold. Bright Side of News said that EVGA was one of the first to feel Nvidia's whip and had to remove the EVBot voltage control tool from the EVGA GTX 680 Classified.
Of course, it's easy to chastise Nvidia for this type of control, which will not allow extreme graphics cards configurations anymore. However, Nvidia's brand and perception are exposed with every card that is sold and it is understandable that the company wants to make sure that it is represented in the way it wants. Extreme designs that go overboard are unlikely to meet the specifications of Nvidia's marketing promises and are likely to be shot down.
It's not exactly what the enthusiast's heart desires and it most certainly impacts the creativity of vendors, which will have an even tougher time to differentiate its parts from the competition. But if you argue from Nvidia's point of view, then - if the Green Light report is true - the company surely has a case.
*scratches head*
I hope they stop this crap for the GTX 7xx and later series cards.
*scratches head*
Now we will have tons of chinese bastard companies selling garbage ware to mod the boards and what not.
Congrats!
Doubt it... This seems to have been going on since the 680 Lightning's launch at least.
"Wow, Asus, that is a great card and falls within all limits - however it is TOO good, too fast compared to future cards, too quiet compared to competition. We can't let you make it."
I mean, damn. They could make EVERYONE use blower style cards because it "doesn't fall within specs" if they wanted. This is a bad move, Nvidia. Very disappointing.
I am sure there is a lot of controversy (just like there always was) but at the end of the day NVidia is here for one - profit. They won't go crazy on every manufacturer because they don't want to sell less they just want to make sure the brand is represented right and there is nothing wrong with it.
Free market has never worked - fact. Everything needs regulation to certain extent. We will have to wait and see how this project will be carried out.
Counter-measure: Invest in better RMA process and add a record chip to the GPUs, one that is designed to catch more shenanigans (sneaky mods, software OC) than regular.
Sounds good however, then NVidia will be blamed for spying on your PC :-) PR has to be sure their proposal will work. A lot of PC component buyers and users are empty headed drones with Fisher Price tools and they are first to spread all the controversies. NVidia must be sure that these drones are not gone rogue to do what they are best at - spread false information. While there is always a better way - usually the one that satisfies most people is chosen. Sadly in some cases as alternatives are as good or better.
well it was fun while that lasted...
I can see quite a number of enthusiast moving towards AMD from now.....
I mean.....everyone can use a jet engine in their casing
On a more serious note, would this affect the launch dates of cards? cause honestly, not one Nvidia card has been on schedule to meet the competition since the GT200s
Actually I would consider it a good thing if data on a large collection of GPUs were collected anonymously. That would give interesting statistical information on what those GPUs really can take in real life which I would consider to be quite useful information.
This won't be too good for Nvidia given that AMD's line seems to cost less and as far as I know they don't have anything like this. Restrictions like this and it might keep some of the high end enthusiasts way from Nvidia's offerings.
Why bother spending more for a card then spending even more money and time in modding it? It doesn't make logical sense for the buyer.
So it's authoritarian and obnoxious to have some sort of QC over how your name is used? Don't get me wrong, i'd never go out on a limb to defend Crapple, but that statement just seems a little over-reaching.
what they are pretty much telling you is they won't allow overclocking if they don't agree with it, but will still charge more than their competion. (AMD)
All the designs have to be submitted to Nvidia and if Nividia doesn't like the design, then they can't sell it. I am currently not aware of AMD forcing their partners to anything like this. This just gives AMD more ammo.