ATI renames some cards

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
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Oh for the love of Mike...

Derek's going to hit the roof and blast right through it. If this is true, whatever article he writes that covers this is going to be a hoot.:D
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
What a mess! I hope this isn't true. The way it was now was very clear and straightforward. Why change it?
 

dug777

Lifer
Oct 13, 2004
24,778
4
0
On the upside it doesn't seem quite as daft as nvidia's apparent recent decision that every new card they produce will be called the GTX 260, regardless of what it is ;)
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
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People make way too big of a deal about naming conventions for video cards.

I'd gladly have the "Hitler's Black Plague 666-AIDS" card in my computer if it provided the performance I wanted at the price I want to pay. Similarly, if ATi called their next gen the "4112" it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if performance went up, or it offered similar for less money.

Like animal rights, I see this as evidence of people having too much time on their hands, and not enough real problems. (read: there HAS to be something more interesting to bitch about)

Someone smarter than me once said "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet".
rose.gif
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
I think people's reactions to ATI's actions will be more negative, given that they are using RV6xx chips from the last generation and renaming them as if they were from the RV7xx generation.
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
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alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: nRollo
People make way too big of a deal about naming conventions for video cards.

I'd gladly have the "Hitler's Black Plague 666-AIDS" card in my computer if it provided the performance I wanted at the price I want to pay. Similarly, if ATi called their next gen the "4112" it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if performance went up, or it offered similar for less money.

Like animal rights, I see this as evidence of people having too much time on their hands, and not enough real problems. (read: there HAS to be something more interesting to bitch about)

Someone smarter than me once said "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet".
rose.gif

Beware the thorns!! .. i guess we might see HD 4-666 :p

Who cares .. agreed .. at the worst, they are only going to confuse their own customers - at the low end
rose.gif



"Hitler's Black Plague 666-AIDS"
i see you got the new album
.. does that mean the new 260 might have arrived
:D
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: nRollo
Originally posted by: dug777
You are correct, of course :)

Hey, when you're channelling Shakespeare, it's hard to go wrong. ;)

yep, i remember his references to Black Plague 666
:confused:

AMD has a marketing department that is sometimes confused, imo
rose.gif

- but i see improvement overall .. remember their juvenile advertising and absurd naming conventions? - from Rage Fury on
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. They should stick to their current naming schemes. Not to mention adding previous gen cards to current gen naming (hello nVidia? :p) is just... bad.

EDIT: But hey, it increased sales for nVidia, all those naive clients had to get that 9-series card 'cause obviously it was better than 8-series... right? RIGHT? :p
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
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Originally posted by: Bateluer
I think people's reactions to ATI's actions will be more negative, given that they are using RV6xx chips from the last generation and renaming them as if they were from the RV7xx generation.

I don't begrudge ATi wanting to clear old stock. The chips are all derivative of prior gens anyway, consumers need to read the specs on what they're buying.

AFAIK there are no significant differences in the 3870 and 4870 other than more TMUs and Shaders, people can read the number of anything significant in the parts they buy.
 

unr3al

Senior member
Jun 10, 2008
214
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Omg clearing old stock is one thing, but this is simply confusing!

How many people who just look at the model number are going to realise that they're buying an inferior product when purchasing an RV670pro-based HD4750 for the same price as an HD4650? Hypothetically speaking, of course.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
12,052
2,271
126
Originally posted by: unr3al
Omg clearing old stock is one thing, but this is simply confusing!

How many people who just look at the model number are going to realise that they're buying an inferior product when purchasing an RV670pro-based HD4750 for the same price as an HD4650? Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Is the 3850 gonna be placed higher (in terms of number) than the 4650?
 

Aberforth

Golden Member
Oct 12, 2006
1,707
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Originally posted by: nRollo

Like animal rights, I see this as evidence of people having too much time on their hands, and not enough real problems. (read: there HAS to be something more interesting to bitch about)

Do you think people who fight for animal rights are bitching? It's the most selfless thing people can do these days, does it spread violence? ill-health? No. What difference have you made to the community? You are just bitching about your rig...that's all, tell you what- you give one graphics card to a poor kid from your SLI rig, he'll remember you forever.

btw virge, I apologize for going off-topic but I had to reply.
 

extra

Golden Member
Dec 18, 1999
1,947
7
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As long as things are numbered in order of how they perform, then I see no problems with this. If like, a (pulling numbers from my ass here) 4550 card out performs a 4650 card then we have a problem.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,330
17
76
Originally posted by: Aberforth
Originally posted by: nRollo

Like animal rights, I see this as evidence of people having too much time on their hands, and not enough real problems. (read: there HAS to be something more interesting to bitch about)

Do you think people who fight for animal rights are bitching? It's the most selfless thing people can do these days, does it spread violence? ill-health? No. What difference have you made to the community? You are just bitching about your rig...that's all, tell you what- you give one graphics card to a poor kid from your SLI rig, he'll remember you forever.

btw virge, I apologize for going off-topic but I had to reply.

Now I have to reply to that......yes, they are bitching....., violence, well from those that attack labs....yes, ill-health, well if we cant test on animals, perhaps....yes!

Oh, I dont think Rollo gets to keep the cards, just use them, so he cant very well go giving them away!!

That'll be enough of that off-topic chatter, please stay on-topic. We have a separate forum if you wish to discuss other matters.

-Thanks
ViRGE
 

nemesismk2

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2001
4,810
5
76
www.ultimatehardware.net
If the article is true I see no problem with what ATI are going to do because Nvidia have done the exact same thing in the past. Anyone remember the GeForce MX 4000 which was just a GeForce4 MX 440?
 

AmongthechosenX

Senior member
Aug 10, 2008
468
0
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if you think about it, te R670 isnt that bad of a core. if youre getting that on a midrange card for very little money you could be getting a hold of some very good performance for minimal dollar, and i like that. More competition :D
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,675
146
106
www.neftastic.com
Originally posted by: nRollo
People make way too big of a deal about naming conventions for video cards.

I'd gladly have the "Hitler's Black Plague 666-AIDS" card in my computer if it provided the performance I wanted at the price I want to pay. Similarly, if ATi called their next gen the "4112" it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if performance went up, or it offered similar for less money.

Like animal rights, I see this as evidence of people having too much time on their hands, and not enough real problems. (read: there HAS to be something more interesting to bitch about)

Someone smarter than me once said "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet".
rose.gif

The point is, this is the exact same reason people are pissed and less knowledgeable consumers are frustrated with recent "releases" at NVIDIA. It is plainly visible with the G80 8800GTS --> G92 8800GTS, and with both sitting on the shelf right next to each other at first glance the G80 version (assuming 640MB) looks more attractive because it had more RAM. This is plain and simple taking advantage of the consumer, who expects the product model numbers to be indicative of performance.

Then we had pretty much the entire G9x series magically transpose itself from an 8-series card to a 9-series card (8800GTS = 9800GTX, the 9600GSO's, etc, etc, etc) while NVIDIA tries to peddle it's actual next gen GT200 series cards. Now we have the GTX260 issue.

If ATI goes that route, it will be very disappointing because it will mean yet another flood of complaints. I suppose the one saving grace is that other than performance (and AA capability which still is there somewhat), the ATI R6xx and R7xx series are essentially the same.
 

Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,397
1,070
126
Originally posted by: nRollo
Originally posted by: Bateluer
I think people's reactions to ATI's actions will be more negative, given that they are using RV6xx chips from the last generation and renaming them as if they were from the RV7xx generation.

I don't begrudge ATi wanting to clear old stock. The chips are all derivative of prior gens anyway, consumers need to read the specs on what they're buying.

AFAIK there are no significant differences in the 3870 and 4870 other than more TMUs and Shaders, people can read the number of anything significant in the parts they buy.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=9

Riiiiiight....

Actually, it does seem like they took the same architecture, added TMUs and shaders, but then put it on an interface built to eek every last ounce of performance out of the card. However, the 4xxx is by far and away a huge engineering divergence from the 1xxx, 2xxx, and 3xxx series, which were all based on the ring bus. Definitely much different than nVidia's 9xxxx to 2x0 series jump.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,583
10,223
126
Originally posted by: nRollo
AFAIK there are no significant differences in the 3870 and 4870 other than more TMUs and Shaders, people can read the number of anything significant in the parts they buy.
What about the better hardware 4X AA performance? Supposedly the AA hardware was borked in the 38xx cards so it had to be done via shaders.

 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
How about I just stipulate I didn't accurately characterize every difference between 3-4 series? Mostly my point was that people make too big of a deal out of names for video cards, and it's up to the buyer to research his purchases.

People selling things often try to make them appear better than they are.