nVidia – Roumazeilles.net

Is the GTX280 worth its price?

Yves Roumazeilles — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:22:28 +0000

This is the question asked by ArsTechnica in a confrontation between the latest of the fast-running graphics cards from nVidia and a few older cards. The conclusion is hard on them: The price is not right. It’s better to purchase a Palit 9800 GX2 for 150 dollars less. They even insist that all is in the price. You’d have to admit that 500+€ or $600+ cards could difficultly attract more than the most manic gamers.

Only a few days before the GTX200

Yves Roumazeilles — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:11:14 +0000

The newest graphics cards from nVidia are upon us. In less than a week, they should be officially launched, but nearly everybody seems to know what there is to know about this new generation of cards targetting both avid video gamers and lovers of cinema-on-the-PC. Let’s do a small summary.

First, there will be a very large line of different cards. There will be a GeForce 9300 and GeForce 9400, both based upon the previous generation of technology, but hitting the market at very low prices – 120$. Higher in the range, there will be first the GTX 260 then the superb (and probably expensive) GTX 280. Performance figures start to flow onto the Internet (apparently many people have difficulties complying with the confidentialty clauses of the NDA signed with nVidia). Both cards will be VERY powerful, but the GTX280 seems to be longer than usual (and so, may not usable in some PC).

Finally, let’s not forget that nVidia should launch all this on ~~June 17th~~ June 16th. Only a few days to wait before every web site will show us all the details.

AMD/ATI back at the top and bottom of graphics range

Yves Roumazeilles — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:40:37 +0000

I waited a little while before reacting and writing, but these recent last weeks we have witnessed an interesting move in the little world of graphics cards. While ATI (now AMD) has recently been relegated to the troublingly systematic position of follower or challenger in the competition for the pockets of PC graphics cards buyers, they finally reacted through two noticeable actions:

On the one hand, in the lower-end of the range, AMD/ATI launched a new nice price solution under $100: The new HD 3400 and HD 3600 are there to grab the awards for the lowest prices and simultaneous 3D graphics (DirectX 10.1, but don’t expect them to be enough for a crusher like Crysis) and HD video capacity (1920x1080p Full-HD resolution). The HD3400-based boards could even go under $65!
On the other hand, at the star-end of the range which was recently left to nVidia, here is a solution obviously attractive even if not elegant: HD 3870 x2. When you’re short on performance, you can always double it by grouping 2 GPU on 1 card and crash prices down to kick the hell out of your competitors. It’s not 100% perfect (some games will not be optimized for two graphics cores) but this is a (realtively) easy technical solution to setup. ATI did it and robbed the limie light from nVidia (at least for now).

Ok! This is not enough to forget the raw performance of the nVidia boards. But it is interesting to see how AMD/ATI fights with all available tricks to be able to come back a little later with some still-undisclosed new graphics cards.