Brand Loyalty or Agnosticism?

[_UP_]

I voted agnostic, as at the end of the day I choose based on performance amd price/performance, but I do, slightly have a preference. Also, I'd have to agree that I have a couple of brands I prefer (EVGA and MSI).
Oh, and I'm waiting for a 3440*1440 monitor to replace my Catleap, when there's a good one. Hopefully OLED

 

[3DVagabond]

I do not understand what this means. You think I'm trolling for? or against nV?

I also had an "etc." for other similar reasons not covered.

Also:


Did you guys not read my sig... or my experiences? I'm with AMD because of feature-set. They were first to Eyefinity the way I wanted it and (used to) have more varied port layouts across AIBs.

I swear some people see a fight in anything...

I know it's not your post history to be pro nVidia. That is simply the way people argue that nVidia is better and worth more money than the same performance from AMD. I agree with Erenhardt that perf/$ doesn't need to be qualified. It's all encompassing on it's own. When people do that they are generally trying to compare performance on a limited number of parameters.

 

[DownTheSky]

I always go for best bang for the buck. My history starts with Voodoo 3 2000, then bought an Ati Radeon - > Radeon 8500 -> Radeon 9800 PRO. About 1 year after release, got an 8800 GT which was the longest lasting card I've owned. After about 4 years I upgraded to a 460 GTX that lasted me until the mining craze. Now I own 2 PCs, one with 2x R9 280X and one with a 7950.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Voted agnostic, though I haven't had anything from the green team since the 6800 days. Wonder how many people are like me and just ended up with AMD/ATi due to their cards having a better price/performance ratio at the time of their upgrade cycles.

I've also just had better luck at finding deals for AMD than NV. I remember getting my 6950 for $170 about five months after launch. I even made money selling my 7950 when mining went big - I doubt I'll be able to do that again

 

[railven]

Judge a product on its merits & not the brand.

Though saying that, for cars, I do have a brand preference... I wonder if its because cars are so visible, to all, so part of that perhaps is due to vanity. What's inside my PC, only I know.

<looks at your signature>

Yeah, I doubt you don't tell people who are into tech what's in your PC. PC components (or frankly anything we enjoy as a hobby/interest) will have similar vanity qualities. We buy cases for as much as their performance functions as their cosmetics.

I know after seeing a picture of Groove's rig I ran out and bought me some colored power extenders. And I must say, with my new case and giant window - it looks effin' amazing!

 

[Lonyo]

The majority of my computers run Intel graphics. Where's the option?

 

[WittyRemark]

Brand agnostic for the most part, but I do have soft spot for AMD.

 

[NickelPlate]

I've only ever once tried an AMD card a long time ago and the experience wasn't pleasant. Since then I've been entirely Nvidia, but my latest card (GTX970) hasn't been a very smooth upgrade. My card suffers from the "fan issue" of the MSI Twin Frozr design requiring me to forego the zero frozr feature and run a fan profile. Something that also was a problem with some Strix users. That coupled with the latest VRAM allocation issue and NV's response has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I'll be taking another serious look at AMD next upgrade.

 

[biostud]

3Dfx -> nvidia ->AMD -> nvidia -> nvidia -> AMD

I buy whatever I think is best at the time I'm upgrading.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Brand preference is affected by one's past experience of using a product. The more experience / products you have used, the less likely you are going to stick to one brand. In a nutshell, there is no black and white, and depending on conditions you tend to pick one damn thing over another.

In a duopoly situation, we do not really have much of a choice :thumbsdown:

Look what's happenning with the pissed off 970 users, some have decided to stay with the cards or upgrade to the 980's, not that many people are replacing the said cards with 290/290x. Because it is clear, that for some users 290/290x are not seen as an adequate replacement, due to older tech, power, whatever. If we had another player, things would not have looked as one-sided.

Now, we have games that are tailored to a specific vendor. What's next?

 

[el etro]

I prefer AMD, but i had Nvidia cards in the past too.

I already have a GTX 670 and a GTS 450 cards. Have a 7770, a 6850 and now i have a 7950. I make the best deal i can for the money i can spend, but when no GPU manufacturer have the best solution for my budget, i go with AMD.

 

[Charlie98]

It's difficult to not bring up drivers in a discussion like this.

True. I've had bad experiences with both maker's drivers... including the dual-monitor NV bug, and just a horrible driver from AMD that I had to recover the OS from.

Personally, all my high performance cards have been EVGA/NV... I've had very good luck with them, so I will continue to pay the premium for them. The lone AMD in my HTPC... a passively-cooled HD6450, is fixing to get replaced by the oldest of the EVGA cards... my GTX560Ti 448... probably overkill for the purpose, but then I can claim to be slavishly loyal to EVGA and NV, arousing the ire of at least half of the VC&G regulars.

 

[xpea]

if people in this pool is honest and reflects the reality, then taking into account the current market share, Nvidia has by far the best offer. right ?

oh wait...

 

[Magic Carpet]

if people in this pool is honest and reflects the reality, then taking into account the current market share, Nvidia has by far the best offer. right ?

oh wait...

Best is very subjective. Beware.

There are cases when 290 is preferable to have. There are cases where Geforce 970/980 is a must. Depends on your usage conditions, feature-requirements and of course, the price. Anyway, the current Geforce market share is about twice as large as AMD's. Obviously, there are gonna be more people voting for NV. Not a rocket-science to figure that one out.

 

[bystander36]

if people in this pool is honest and reflects the reality, then taking into account the current market share, Nvidia has by far the best offer. right ?

oh wait...

Market share doesn't necessarily mirror the forum enthusiasts.

Not to mention, there wasn't an option of, leaning towards one brand. Some buy from both, but when things are close, have a preferred brand. And then there are some which just get what ever if the fastest card at the time, regardless of price/performance. Others pick based on things like 3D Vision and PhysX often. That doesn't mean they don't buy from both at times.

 

[cmdrdredd]

3Dfx -> nvidia ->AMD -> nvidia -> nvidia -> AMD

I buy whatever I think is best at the time I'm upgrading.

I miss 3Dfx sometimes, but do not miss glide.

 

[cmdrdredd]

if people in this pool is honest and reflects the reality, then taking into account the current market share, Nvidia has by far the best offer. right ?

oh wait...

It depends, when I'm upgrading I have to take into account the games I am playing or will play and see which card is better for my need. Some people are early G-Sync adopters and might not have a choice if they want to use the feature they paid a premium for. Or they use 3 monitors and AMD had it working properly first. Each case is different. I've used both manufacturers at one time or another, even going back to ATI.

 

[MongGrel]

I've switched back and forth many times over the years myself on GPU's

I actually usually use NVidia, but have had an ASUS R9 280X TOP in the main rig for awhile now.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Market share doesn't necessarily mirror the forum enthusiasts.

The amount of people here owning 970/980/780/780ti/Titan/Titan Black/Titan Z = basically top recent cards would likely outweigh the amount of people that own 290/290x here. I am not including 280's/7970's as those cards are simply too old. Of course, it is not their fault, AMD just doesn't have many products that are worth buying at the moment. But people do favor Nvidia, and not just because of these reasons.

I miss 3Dfx sometimes, but do not miss glide.

Likewise. But I have liked Glide. It had nice colors...

 

[bystander36]

The amount of people here owning 970/980/780/780ti/Titan/Titan Black/Titan Z = basically top recent cards would likely outweigh the amount of people that own 290/290x here. I am not including 280's/7970's as those cards are simply too old. Of course, it is not their fault, AMD just doesn't have many products that are worth buying at the moment. But people do favor Nvidia, and not just because of these reasons.

I think you may be proving my point. Those cards are just a small fraction of what the market share uses, but I bet if you poll the forum, you'd probably find a much more even split (I believe I've seen these before).

 

[Magic Carpet]

I think you may be proving my point. Those cards are just a small fraction of what the market share uses, but I bet if you poll the forum, you'd probably find a much more even split (I believe I've seen these before).

Feel free to run a poll and prove me wrong. That was just my observation. Possibly there are thousands of lurkers that don't actively post here and instead are playing games on their lovely 290/290x. I am speaking of the top cards, obviously. That's where the money is. Again, I don't blame anybody. That is just naked truth.

 

[96Firebird]

I love the people who claim to be agnostic, yet explain that they will go one way or the other because of company politics (ie. 970 VRAM issue), rather than card merits.

 

[jackstar7]

I love the people who claim to be agnostic, yet explain that they will go one way or the other because of company politics (ie. 970 VRAM issue), rather than card merits.

You never take that into account for purchases of anything?

I feel like that mentality has gained a lot of ground over the last generation or so (outside the gfx card audience).

 

[bystander36]

Feel free to run a poll and prove me wrong. That was just my observation. Possibly there are thousands of lurkers that don't actively post here and instead are playing games on their lovely 290/290x. I am speaking of the top cards, obviously. That's where the money is. Again, I don't blame anybody. That is just naked truth.

This poll/thread was not about top cards only. xpea's comment was not about top cards only.

My response was that an enthusiasts forum is not "necessarily" going to mirror the market share. Your response was just adding evidence of that.

That is not any naked truth, just an observation, but of course you can expect to see the ones most excited and open about what they own to be those with the latest and fastest GPU's at any given time. That was also one of my other points. On an enthusiasts forum, many people who are agnostic or very prone to buy Nvidia more often, as they tend to offer the fastest GPU's available, if they are the type who wants to have the fastest card at all times.

 

[krumme]

Imo i think part of the 970 angry is due to people discovering they got carried away with the first enthusiasm derived partly from the efficiency talk. As RS have showed performance is also developing relatively slowly. And as RS have also showed nv have abandoned kepler. Then comes the 3.5gb and i think some have second thoughts and the 3.5 is just fuel to the small fire - small disappointment that was there before.
Nv brand is by far the strongest but even the best brand can get some scratches.