TR Forums

I'm just wondering how much these two companies depend on their 'latest, bestest' card to sustain the company. Even if the Geforce FX 5800 ain't the king of the hill like nVidia used to make em, but nVidia still produces Quadros and nForce boards and whatever they put into the Xbox. These product lines should pull in enough revenue for sustenance and future R & D.

I don't think it matters as much to them if they can't rule the gaming industry with the Geforce FX. Sales is not about who has the highest priced card but rather the margins you can earn from them.

nVidia probably has enough diversification to hold through, and not follow the road of 3dfx. Look at the Radeon 8500, spectacular on paper but crappy in drivers when initially released, and after all the headaches, they finally have the 9700 Pro that's stable and fast enough.

Not even sure what point I'm trying to make, but all companies will have their ups and downs.

nVidia will be fine even if this GeforceFX release turns into a fiasco. These companies don't put much stock into their top of the line cards because they can sell more of the **** MX type cards than the higher end Ti cards. Most people simply don't care what kind of card they are getting as long as the price is right. Though overall sales may not hurt much, they will lose money on all of that R&D, not to mention the better informed stockholders may not like this whole FX release/marketing scheme/fiasco when it finally surfaces. I personally am not happy with nVidia's decision with the new FX, but they have so much going for them that they don't need their latest and greatest to be the most popular.

I think it goes without saying that ATI & Nvidia are here to stay. They have both made an impact in the graphics market, and will continue to do so for a good while. It is a competition. Not long ago Nvidia was king of the hill, and we were all saying how wonderful and grand the Ti4600 was (in comparison to R8500), now ATI has the upper hand. Competition is great for tech, just look at AMD & Intel and the race to 1ghz, 2ghz, and 3ghz. In a competition like this, the tide will turn several times.

As far as Nvidia making it as a company, I think they are fine... They have Nforce boards, and the professional graphics market as was mentioned above. Your high end graphics card isnt what the company is entirely centered on either. You have your budget cards and sort of "middle of the road" cards too, which make up a huge chunk of sales.

Just picked up this article today

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/ ... 093187.htm

heh just read that article today on the actual paper of the Mercury News. good article.