ATI responds to Nvidia, clears up post-takeover rumors
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Jul 27th 2006 at 5:30PM }
Not too long after Nvidia CEO, Jen Hsun-Huang, described AMD's purchase of ATI as a "gift" and as a sign of their main competitor "throwing in the towel," comes this retort from the newly formed CPU-GPU monster:"The PC market is a tough place to be without any friends. ATI now has all the resources of AMD behind it, and will be producing faster, more compact GPUs and reaching the channel more effectively than ever before. Nvidia's words are bravado, designed to confuse the market while the company tries to find a way to compete now that it's standing alone."
Oh my, such comments are in desperate need of thermal paste and an officially endorsed heatsink and fan combination! Or, um, burn. While Nvidia is hardly "alone" in the market, the point ATI makes is not entirely without merit. In a considerably competitive hardware market, combining resources and technology couldn't easily be labeled as a terrible strategy and certainly not as a white flag flapping in the wind. Both companies have valid points -- we'll see which is more convincing once they start releasing their next generation of wares.
The rest of AMD's response is aimed at several rumors that have cropped up since the original takeover announcement. They pledge to remain committed to GPUs and to support graphics solutions on Intel platforms, rubbishing the suggestion that Intel is revoking ATI's license. Perhaps that's where Nvidia and ATI can agree: having a strange PC hardware format war would be unpleasant for all parties involved.
[Via Voodoo Extreme, thanks devian!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Night Elve @ Jul 27th 2006 5:44PM
Well if i recall well the only time that Ati was owning Nvidia, was when Nvidia released the crappie Geforce 5 serie.
Because since then the Geforce 6 GPUs were a great success and the Geforce 7 serie are kick ass GPUs.
ahamsandwich @ Jul 27th 2006 6:02PM
way to stick it to the man! nice!
Fuzz @ Jul 27th 2006 6:02PM
One of the added benefits here is that, eventually, ATI GPU's will be made at AMD fabs, which brings more control to the process, quicker revisions and smaller, more advanced fabrication processes that are unafordable, or unavailable from fabs like TSMC where ATI currecntly gets the GPU's manufactured. This will bring cost savings, and potentially a huge advantage in technology.
It will also allow better integration of the entire platform, brininging lower cost machines with more graphical horsepower to handle Vista in an integrated package. Not helpful for gamers, but good for everone else.
epobirs @ Jul 27th 2006 6:28PM
AMD isn't getting anything from ATI it couldn't get for far less cost from acquisitions of smaller companies. The big difference is that ATI brings a lot of positive revenue with them while fulfilling those other needs. The merger will not be allowed to interfere with the ongoing revenue from those products.
Mark D. @ Jul 27th 2006 6:30PM
That's an awesome response Ludwig. Witty :)
boots @ Jul 27th 2006 7:15PM
ATI makes piece of shit GPUs (I've had two of them, not including my 360 and my future Wii purchase), so who cares if they wanna cat-fight? Anyway, I doubt intel will want to give a hand to AMD by allowing ATI GPUs to be sitting next to an intel processor.
What could end up happening is that people will have to choose either an AMD CPU and ATI GPU, or an Intel and nVidia (if they reach an agreement); and frankly, even if AMD makes good CPUs, I'm wouldn't sacrifice having a good GPU like that of nVidia's in exchange for that of ATI's.
Besides, what makes ATI think nVidia can't make an alliance too?
Tyler @ Jul 28th 2006 1:27AM
Your just all silly pretending you understand the workings of a computer while saying Nvidia is anymore than a piece of crap. If you want a good video card go with ATI. Granted they have had downfalls like the 9800xt but all in all even a piece of tin foil is better than Nvidia. With ATI and AMD together maybe finally computers will advance without dumbass Intel and Nvidia making things slower. Maybe Microsoft will even subcome to Linux...though I hope that doesnt happen just for the sake of my cureer
Luka @ Jul 28th 2006 5:39AM
and I think it's safe to say that Nvidia doesn't have much friends in the industry, to be honest ;)
byelaw @ Jul 28th 2006 8:36AM
NVidia are alone in the industry, they have no other manufacturing or engineering resource. That is why they have siad themselves they are the only GPU house that is totally independant (after the AMD+ATI merger).
This is going to hurt NVidia in the long run.
byelaw @ Jul 28th 2006 8:38AM
NVidia would be very expensive to buy (Aparently 10Billion!!) and ATI on the other hand is cheap as chips.... so it would be more difficult to merge NVidia with another engineering house...like, Intel :)
Anthony @ Jul 28th 2006 9:37AM
If I wanted a good video card, I would go with ATI, Tyler? Oddly enough, I have had nothing but problems with my Radeon 9700, because ATI's drivers are SO MISERABLY CRAPPY. I don't care if ATI outperforms Nvidia in lab tests - it means nothing to me if I am constantly running into problems due to crappy drivers for the card. Nvidia drivers, from what I hear, are rock solid. I've already decided that my next video card purchase will be an Nvidia card, unless ATI really turns around their driver woes.
SuicideNinja @ Jul 28th 2006 11:59AM
You elistist PC gamers are straight out strange.
I use ATI and Nvidia cards all the time, and have no serious problems with either. I haven't had problems with ATI drivers since Windows 98, and that was just because I was using multiple monitors.
I'd like to point out that Nvidia's drivers and software is equally as invasive as ATI's as well. Whether gaming or not!
Eric @ Jul 28th 2006 12:27PM
Forget the ATI/Intel chipset worries, the biggest worry I have would be the AMD/nVidia chipsets. I know I love mine, and can imagine a large AMD nForce audience out there. Could they possibly kick nVidia out of the AMD chipset market?