"tq96" wrote in message
...
Back when 3DFX died and ATI was a joke, NVidia had a virtual monopoly on
the GPU market and cards like the GF3 were very expensive. Now we see
that
ATI has stepped up the plate and provided very good competition but there
is a huge price difference between the 5900 Ultra and the 9800 Pro

Even the 9800 can be usually clocked to Pro spec, though one would hardly
notice much with anything but the fastest CPUs. Oh, and they take up one
slot and don't weigh more than the sum of all your other peripherals
either...you know, it reminds me a little of the Voodoo 5 vs. the GF2
situation. What comes around...of course, it's really the beginning of the
end if ATI sues Nvidia then assimilates what's left...


and
only a small performance differencial.

Usually in ATI's favor, no less...and we won't talk about the infamous
softmoddable 9500 non-Pro, seems to be made of unobtainium these days...

It's as if NVidia's prices are
still in the monopoly era.

(assemble soapbox)

They are drifting (perhaps "d" should be replaced by "g"?) out of touch
with their market, methinks. With the state of ATI drivers improving
seemingly with every release, and Nvidia pulling questionable hijinks to
look faster (while not yet fixing certain filtering issues, wonder why?),
ATI is practically guaranteed a face-hugger's (think "Alien") liplock on the
hi-end this round. Who woulda thunk, given the last few product cycles
before R300? If Nvidia's pricing was more competitive, who knows?

The hi-end market isn't really where the profits are anyway, nonetheless
Nvidia is poised to bleed market share like Caesar on the Ides of March at
this rate, something investors may want to consider, never mind the SEC
investigation. Once they lose the bulk of the OEM deals, there goes the
ballgame. Then that Intel chipset license might be essential for survival,
though I doubt they'll step that far in it that this will be the case. After
all, nobody thinks ATI stayed solvent all those years based on the merits of
performance of their Rage Pro, I hope?

Looks like ATI is a little bit better at remembering to bring a pack of
condoms before hopping into bed with the Devil, if info WRT Xbox deal is any
indication...we'll see what's what next round, provided Nvidia has the
strength to pull their sore thumb out of the anterior singularity they've
managed to create for themselves...for now, one word: "hubris".

(soapbox breaks, too fat...)