ATi 2900XT

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Kind of ironic, given that ATI=AMD...

essentially i meant AMD as the CPU counterpart.

also, i really hope the new drivers improve it further, and the price comes down.

from now on, its best performance for money. "fanboy-ness" is done. best performance for what im paying. thats what im looking at, and what most ppl should look at.

we'll have to wait and see.

[Dr. V]

ooo nice article post!

saw that one a few days back. really detailed.

[Capper]

uuuuuuuuuuggggggggh......

sometimes I literally bang my head on my desk trying to get my point across.

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by Capper

uuuuuuuuuuggggggggh......

sometimes I literally bang my head on my desk trying to get my point across.

oh THATS what happened! all the banging --

never mind that...

sorry capper what was the point you're talking about?

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Capper

uuuuuuuuuuggggggggh......

sometimes I literally bang my head on my desk trying to get my point across.

Bang it, cmon. Am I on your testament yet?


Fanboy-ness aside, i'm really tempted to buy a 8900 when they get out. Seeing ATI pull a "crap" card like that on us... I've been holding myself from buying a 8800GTX for a while now (6 months!) and that's what I get? We were supposed to get a nVidia killer right here and instead we got a mainstream GPU.

[gvblake22]

Ok, I think you guys are being too hard on this card. Yeah it's not an 8800GTX killer, but how about you take it for what it is? In reality, the 2900XT is priced to compete with the 8800GTS. We are all so used to getting an ultra high-end card on new generation launches that you are all so quick to tear down what is still a solid product. It performs on par and is priced competitively with the 8800GTS, so being upset that it is not an 8800GTX killer is really not fair. Now if you want to criticize AMD for not having an ultra high-end product, then go right ahead, but don't belittle the 2900XT for not being something you want it to be.

With that said, what do I think about the 2900XT? I think it is a start, but nowhere near what I was hoping for. The performance is decent, but the power requirements are getting a little out of hand. But the specs of the 2900XT are quite impressive, and seeing as how it will actually outperform an 8800GTX in certain situations, I have a feeling this card will perform much better compared to the GeForce 8 series cards in a DirectX 10 environment. But that is pure speculation so who knows, we'll just have to wait and see...

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

Ok, I think you guys are being too hard on this card. Yeah it's not an 8800GTX killer, but how about you take it for what it is? In reality, the 2900XT is priced to compete with the 8800GTS. We are all so used to getting an ultra high-end card on new generation launches that you are all so quick to tear down what is still a solid product. It performs on par and is priced competitively with the 8800GTS, so being upset that it is not an 8800GTX killer is really not fair. Now if you want to criticize AMD for not having an ultra high-end product, then go right ahead, but don't belittle the 2900XT for not being something you want it to be.

With that said, what do I think about the 2900XT? I think it is a start, but nowhere near what I was hoping for. The performance is decent, but the power requirements are getting a little out of hand. But the specs of the 2900XT are quite impressive, and seeing as how it will actually outperform an 8800GTX in certain situations, I have a feeling this card will perform much better compared to the GeForce 8 series cards in a DirectX 10 environment. But that is pure speculation so who knows, we'll just have to wait and see...

I know generally people are being hard on this card, but you have to see it from the usual consumer point of view too. Waiting 6 months for a product from ATI, canceled launches one after the other and only getting an on par card not even with the highest model from nVidia? "Why did we wait?" is what comes to mind. Besides you're getting a product that consumes more power than the biggest model available from nVidia and costs more than the model competing with (that I can understand, it just got out). Nevertheless, it's still not very attractive for someone searching for a video card right now.
I'm sure ATI will come out with something again very soon able to compete with the 8800 Ultra series, i'm just "scared" that by that time nVidia churns out the 8900's...

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by polobunny

I know generally people are being hard on this card, but you have to see it from the usual consumer point of view too. Waiting 6 months for a product from ATI, canceled launches one after the other and only getting an on par card not even with the highest model from nVidia? "Why did we wait?" is what comes to mind. Besides you're getting a product that consumes more power than the biggest model available from nVidia and costs more than the model competing with (that I can understand, it just got out). Nevertheless, it's still not very attractive for someone searching for a video card right now.
I'm sure ATI will come out with something again very soon able to compete with the 8800 Ultra series, i'm just "scared" that by that time nVidia churns out the 8900's...

Yes, I generally agree with that. It is unusual/disappointing to wait so long only to get something that is, to say the least, a little lack-luster. The performance per-watt is indeed pretty sad. But something that comes to mind is how ATI was originally late to the game with Shader Model 3.0 and HDR, but when it did arrive, it was implemented better than nVidia's (GeForce 6 and 7 series at the time). So maybe (hopefully) this card will perform better under DX10 than DX9. Not saying that makes up for the cards shortcomings, but it may have more in it than meets the eye. But I still hope that there is another new generation of mid-range and high-end cards out of AMD's doors pretty soon because they really don't have much to seriously compete with nVidia in the high-end segment right now. I'll save judgement on the HD 2600 cards and the mid-range segment until I see some reviews and benchmarks.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by ST!X

essentially i meant AMD as the CPU counterpart.

I know what you meant, but it doesn't affect the irony...

[polobunny]

Truth be told, I'd/I'll be the first to scream YAY if/when ATI comes up with something to beat the Santa Clara based chipmaker. :P
Something bugging me though is how game developpers always go nVidia for their optimizations. It's about time they give the Canadian company some love, I think. We've seen a few go ATI but still...