The FUTURE of ATi.. you thoughts..

[Toxin]

Just notice that Nvidia took a bite out of ATi again.. seeing that the newere G4s on the MAc are going to be Nvidia technology...

what does this bode for ATi?...

any thoughts?

 

[Howard]

Less than a week ago there was a deal between ATi and Intel, something about having ATi in more of the integrated market, but that's all I remember.

 

[rickn]

That intel deal won't help them one bit. I think ATI's time is very limited, prime for a takeover. Wouldn't surprise me if Intel ends up purchasing them. They have repeatedely shown over and over and over and over and over and OVER and OVER they cannot be trusted when it comes to support of their products. It will never end until the company is bought and their incompetent management is replaced.

 

[Toxin]

how about Matrox and ATi joining up?

a possibility?

 

[Raincity]

<< ATI's time is very limited >>

I really doubt it since they are King in video chipset sales and hold about 70% of the market. They are stupid not to provide proper support for their retail cards. VAR resellers and homebuilders account for less than 10% of the pc market. Its my assumption that ATI does not care about our percentage in the marketplace so we get ignored and get poor driver and tech support from them. It is a bad business practice of ATI since ATI decided to be in the retail market, even if it only generates a small amount of revenue compared to their oem sales. ATI has the finacial backing and product to beat Nvidia in the retail market but present managment needs to clean up its software development team and tech support and get the marketing staff to regain our trust with them.

Rain

 

[Orbius]

They have many markets which Nvidia isnt in, they have the set top box market in their pocket. Also dont forget that Ati gets 64% of its sales from Asia, since the CEO is Chinese they have an inside track in that country. Their chips will go into the Gamecube. They are also working heavily on system on a chip technology which will probably another reason they went into an alliance with Intel. Don't worry about Ati.

 

[Taz4158]

Not to mention the dollar exchange advantages from being a Canadian company. They also just announced a last quarter profit.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

ATI and Matrox should join together...the image quality that resulted would be enough to convince everyone to buy from them...trust me, I have a radeon and the quality is absolutely outstanding when compared with my friend's GF2GTS.
Shiz.

 

[Raincity]

Ya maybee ATI could develop the product and Matrox could write the drivers since they are known for their rock stable driver support. I would dump my Gforce ddr for a Radeon 64 meg All in Wonder card in a second if I could ever trust ATI again to develop proper software that really works in Win98 and Win2k.

 

[Taz4158]

<< Ya maybee ATI could develop the product and Matrox could write the drivers since they are known for their rock stable driver support. I would dump my Gforce ddr for a Radeon 64 meg All in Wonder card in a second if I could ever trust ATI again to develop proper software that really works in Win98 and Win2k. >>


Well I suggest you &quot;dump&quot; because the drivers are solid and fast. Don't judge by the way the situation was 2 years ago. You might want to check out all the nVidia driver complaints as well.

 

[Raincity]

I run Win2k and I know that the drivers are not mature yet in Win2k and there are still alot of problems running the tv tuner and Video capture in Win2k. ATI may be getting better but they have a long ways to go in resolving their poor software and tech support.

Rain

 

[Soccerman]

wow, there are alot of.. single minded people, who fit alot of the American stereotype that we see up here in Canada.

well ATi isn't doing THAT well in North America, I guess the story must be the same all around the world!

it's interesting, though, ATi is still doing well in North America, though nVidia caught some real OEM deals recently.

if ATi can prove themselves as good or better then nVidia in that industry, then they deserve to stay, however with people blindly saying things like this (ATi's driver's suck @ss), then there's no question WHY good companies like Aureal, 3dfx, and others go down.

image means alot when it comes to stocks.

I wish that people wouldn't jump on bandwagons, it drives me insane!

the interesting thing is, ATi has done alot better in the areas that you are talking about (drivers), however they aren't perfect, just not quite as good as nVidia (hey FSAA anyone?).

ATI may be getting better but they have a long ways to go in resolving their poor software and tech support.

does that mean that even if they manage to keep driver updates and quality as good or better then nVidia, their previous image of bad driver quality will continue?

absolutely. people live in the past.

 

[Raincity]

ATI driver support still sucks like it did two days, two weeks, two years ago, ever since ATI started producing video chipsets 10 years ago. They have well earned their bad rap for service and support with their products. The Win98 drivers for the Radeon are the only ones that work. Is there decent drivers for the Radeon in Win2k NO. Is the Radeon AIW software fully funtional in Win98 or Win2k NO. Are there decent drivers for the Rage 128 in Win2k NO. Is the AIW 128 software fully funtional in Win2k NO. Win2k TV wonder drivers still in beta and still dont offer video capture and where released 6 months and 28 days later than promised by ATI. These are the conditions of their driver support of now. Nobody is jumping on any bandwagon, its just the plain simple truth that ATI needs to get their act together and service what they sell.

Rain

 

[Remedy]

How come when a site reviews an ATi card , the defenders of ATi in this forum don't go bashing the reviewer for making the same comment about driver development? When someone from in this forum has an opinion about ATi driver support then the defensive bashing comes around. :disgust:

 

[The Wildcard]

Well their driver support does suck. It seems like they spend only 1 week testing it out with various apps, games and operating systems.

ATi really needs to get their act together. They need to release a product at the same time as the NV20 and it needs to be comparable in performance. If not, it better be damm cheap cuz we all know NV20 isn't gonna be. Afterwards, they need to make sure their drivers are supported constantly.

If they can't do all 3 of those things, then they are dead. I don't think Intel is gonna buy them. I dont't hink Matrox either because they don't have enough money, lol. Maybe Nvidia will, lol.

 

[Remedy]

This is what i don't get, if ATi are supposed to be the leading oem supplier and have so many assets. Why didn't they buy 3DFX or Gigapixel for that matter? Or some help from another known company?

 

[LXi]

Taz4158:

For the truth, check the thread where you can ask ATI questions, and see how many people are complaining about the drivers.

Note, there is a high possibility ATI will find a dance partner, they're NOT going away anytime soon.

 

[Taz4158]

No problems here and never has been. A lot of the complaints can be chalked up to user error, and there are JUST as many driver complaints on nVidia boards. Driver complaints and Vid Cards seem to go hand in hand.

 

[Remedy]

Taz why do you always point the finger at someone other than ATi? Maybe your better at getting the Radeon to work than others but for most conumsers they shouldn't have to wait and become frustrated over the reason that ATi hasn't dropped a driver in reasonable time. I had the Radeon and it looked good, but it just wouldn't work with the games i was buying. I spent like 80 dollars on games only to find out the games didn't work! I can imagine how most ppl feel when they have like 20 games and only 2 or 3 work with the Radeon. No one is bashing ATi(atleast not me), ppl just want what 3DFX and Matrox have been doing and that is stable drivers in a good time frame.

 

[LXi]

<<and there are JUST as many driver complaints on nVidia boards>>

Just as many huh? Can you find any thread that shows this? I can tell for sure the driver support for nVidia has been more pleasant than ATI's.

 

[Soccerman]

really, I never saw any real complaint threads for ATi either.

that one thread for suggestions for the interview is full of people who either don't own a Radeon (and are going along with what other people have said in the past) or are running windows 2K, where drivers aren't quite that good yet.

so, I'd like SOMEONE to tell me, where can I find a thread where people have examples of the problems that there are with the LATEST (even BETAs) drivers.

and finally, there are problems with nVidia drivers, as I stated in the above post, FSAA isn't quite as compatable, as 3dfx's FSAA was.

 

[LXi]

<< windows 2K, where drivers aren't quite that good yet.>>

Until they do, we have reasons to say their driver support needs improvement. If nVidia and 3dfx can be sucessful in Win2K, I dont see why ATI can't.

Plus, for those non-Radeon owners, shouldnt ATI for responsible for the drivers of other chipsets as well?

 

[BFG10K]

ATi really need to get their act together with driver support and updates. nVidia are much better than ATi in this regard.

 

[bluemax]

By releasing &quot;beta&quot; crap every couple weeks?
What is the point of new drivers ever two weeks, especially when the betas will solve one problem and cause another?
The &quot;official&quot; release Detonator drivers are far less frequent, and ATI is releasing at least as many Radeon drivers as that.
ATI is making big efforts to keep the Radeon line going as well as possible, and it's getting more drivers than most users (who don't have Radeons!) give them credit for!
The Rage128's on the other hand....

 

[sandorski]

Rumours of the demise of ATI have been greatly exagerated.

Many ATI detractors have overlooked one vital point, that point is ATI's overwhelming lead in multimedia features. With the Radeon, ATI has finally produced a competitive and compelling 3d gaming chip. All new vidcards have some driver issues and I think ATI has been improving in this area as well.

ATI will not be going out of business anytime soon. In fact, with the introduction of the Radeon, ATI is the most formidable opponent that Nvidia has ever faced.