ATI and Nvidia, in-direct partnership?

[nib95]

Well, I was just wondering. Isnt it a total coincidence that all these GPU's perform so close to each other? If they were truly competeting, when a GPU has near enough the same release date as the other competitors part, whats not to say one will be far superior due to some breakthrough R&D find? But this rarely happens, not since the 9700 Pro days, now all GPU are give or take a few fairly comparable.

Do you think there is communication between Nvidia and ATI, or some sort of deal to ensure one or the other doesnt bring something out thats too far ahead of the current competition?
Or perhaps they both just have moles in each others companies that report on what is up and coming?

I personally think that perhaps the 7900 GTX was intended to have 32 pipelines, but last minute Nvidia took them out as they realised the extra pipes were unecessary based on their current competition.

Might sound really farfetched, but what are your thoughts?

 

[Alaa]

i was thinking about that too, seems tht there is an agreement between them! Or maybe other technologies are holding them back?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

No, the speculation about 32 pipes were just the dreams of fanboys. Just as the R520 was supposed to have 32 pipes and then 24 pipes only to end up with 16. Then it was supposed to be the R580 with 32 pipes, then 24, but still only has 16 (granted the boost to 48 pixel shaders helps a lot).

Its obvious they're going about supplying performance in pretty different ways, its just coincidence that they're performing so close to each other.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Or perhaps they both just have moles in each others companies that report on what is up and coming?

nV was in such a dominant position for so long as far as what matters to them that they waited to see what ATi would come up with and then released a product that was good enough to compete- and offer them the largest possible margins. The 7900GTX is still a NV4x based product and nV at this point is positioning it, the 7900GT and the 7600GT to make them as much money as possible. This is what I said I would do some time prior to launch if I was nVidia. Rake in as much revenue as possible off this core. It is possible that they had a 32pipe part in the works and decided against it as it would have been overkill in terms of what they needed as a business not to mention it would have made the NV50 seem less dominant when it made its way into public.

Doing it the way they did they make the consumers happy as we see a sharp decline in the pricing of high end boards, this follows up nV switching to hard launches. I think they are making a very serious effort to make ATi look like what they always used to be- disinterested in the core gamer market. With the end products they delivered they give the appearance of helping out the typical gamer with reduced pricing- forcing ATi to slash their own, while doing so in a manner that allows them to maximize their margins. I don't invest in either company, but in the business sense it appears that nVidia is firing on all cylinders right now while ATi is struggling(speaking on a business level).

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: nib95

Might sound really farfetched, but what are your thoughts?

I think you need a new tinfoil hat 😛 j/k

Corporate espionage does happen, and I wouldn't be surprised if one or both perpetrate it on the other. However, it is a ludicrous notion that they are "in bed together" IMO.

 

[TheRyuu]

One of the companies should just release a UBER FAST card that blows everything away.

Then profit.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: wizboy11
One of the companies should just release a UBER FAST card that blows everything away.

Then profit.

ATi and nVidia are both working on just that . . . [g80 vs. r600]

. . . and to suggest that ATi and nVidia are "working together" is to say intel and AMd are also 😛
[BTW, expect Conroe to be UBER FAST and blow away AMD's offering . . . it is intel's "r300" 😉]

occasionally they do leapfrog each other by a couple of jumps 😀

 

[Budarow]

They each want our money, BUT they each have to balance performance with cost in order to GET our money. ATI or nVidia could come out with a product that would CRUSH the other's product from a performance standpoint. BUT would they make any money in the process (i.e., the vast majority of peeps would likely say..."that video card is to expensive...I'm going to settle for less performance for 1/2 the cost). A complicated GPU with the FASTEST RAM would cost an arm and a leg to produce so how many would they sell and would they get a big profit from the sales?

To be frank...it seems more likely for ATI and nVidia to "agree" on NOT producing any more top end AGP parts (i.e., they would both win if all peeps had to upgrade their PCs with PCI-E AND a new video card).