Fermi is out. Thumbs up or down you decide with poll!

[nOOky]

The release of Fermi doesn't help me at all. If anything it makes me wish I would have gotten in on a 5850 when they could be had for a $259 introductory price. Of course I think $400-$500 is too much for a card, some people don't. If they can stand the heat and noise and have the cash have at it. To me to be releasing cards only somewhat faster after a competitor puts out a decent product 6 months ago or so is kind of foolish.
One thing nvidia fans have is a base of loyal customers, and the cards will sell well regardless. It's not like they suck or are not worth having, they just aren't for everyone.

 

[schneiderguy]

I'm not sure I'm in between keeping my GTX 260 or getting a HD58xx card!

Same. If the 5850 would hit $200 I would buy one. I have problems spending more than that on a video card though D:

 

[Genx87]

The poll needs a "Not at all. Sticking with my 5xxx series card." option . Considering the dual 5850's I have are cooler and quieter than the GTX480 and completely stomp it all while costing the same $500, there's no reason to consider Fermi.

Why would anybody bother with a side upgrade?

 

[leon2006]

I have a BFG 280 OC on my other quad core setup. That will remain until a respectable product comes out from Nvidia. The Fermi concept is too much for 40nm process. It will probably work better at smaller transistor geometry ~ 32nm?

Too much wasted energy to power 3b transistor with little gain. A lot of features with no real world application for common users or even gamers.

 

[Zebo]

I'm sticking with what I have ATM

1. WCing is a PITA to xfer stuff
2. not an improvement over 295
3. too hot, too much power - I don't like rewarding inefficiency - and for those on air LOLZ

 

[MrK6]

Why would anybody bother with a side upgrade?

It'd be nice if either Fermi part was even a side upgrade (same performance, different/better features), but they're both downgrades for 58xx owners. That was the point.

EDIT: To clarify, when the 5xxx series was released in September, I "side upgraded" from a GTX295 to a 5870 and it was awesome. That simply is not happening here.

 

[Flyby]

I was hoping the rumors about these new Fermi cards were being under-representative. But having read various reviews around the web, I think the 5850 has some strong reasons ($$$) for consideration, particularly if one does not own a 30 inch monitor, nor plan to run with multiple monitors. It seems to be the best bang for the buck; not the fastest, but the better value. Sadly, I think the prices for ATi's 5870 and 5850 will remain at their current levels or even go up slightly. Nvidia has not put for a strong enough case (imho) to buy it's new cards. I was hoping the GTX470 might be the new "5850" but it does not seem to me that it accomplished that goal. Guess I'll have to get used to the idea of Crossfire, after having been thirsting for some genuine Nvidia goodness for all this time.
Flyby out

 

[Maximilian]

:thumbsdown:

 

[Lonyo]

I'm sticking with what I have ATM

1. WCing is a PITA to xfer stuff
2. not an improvement over 295
3. too hot, too much power - I don't like rewarding inefficiency - and for those on air LOLZ

It's not inefficient, it's just that AMD has under-engineered its parts which means they are using less power than they rightfully should, and NV has over engineered their parts so your Harvard Professor will look upon you favourably when you tell him you have a Fermi.

 

[Genx87]

It'd be nice if either Fermi part was even a side upgrade (same performance, different/better features), but they're both downgrades for 58xx owners. That was the point.

EDIT: To clarify, when the 5xxx series was released in September, I "side upgraded" from a GTX295 to a 5870 and it was awesome. That simply is not happening here.

Benchmarks dont back up your theory.

 

[T2k]

It sucks that Fermi is a complete flop unless price starts dropping quickly - I was hoping for a second 5870 in May around $300...

 

[Lonyo]

Benchmarks dont back up your theory.

Which resolution? At 2560x1600 they do.

 

[Hauk]

Massive fail. I was ready to buy two. My psu can handle them but geez, if I can get near 480 performance (or match with an OC), why not enjoy lower temps and less power consumption?

I firmly belive what we've seen is why nVidia was tight lipped for months. Hate to say it, but Charlie called this one. I'd LOVE to read a full story from an insider. You know it's gotta be a good one..

 

[T2k]

I'm sticking with what I have ATM

1. WCing is a PITA to xfer stuff

Yeah, I stopped putting WC on my VGAs - they got replaced much faster (every year) than the rest and each VGA block would add $50-100 to the card's price... no way.

 

[SolMiester]

nvrmnd..

 

[T2k]

Massive fail. I was ready to buy two. My psu can handle them but geez, if I can get near 480 performance (or match with an OC), why not enjoy lower temps and less power consumption?

I firmly belive what we've seen is why nVidia was tight lipped for months. Hate to say it, but Charlie called this one. I'd LOVE to read a full story from an insider. You know it's gotta be a good one..

It's been widely published already, here's one account: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3740&p=1

Basically AMD knew NV will run into serious problems - the reason was that they did too but since ATI was using mid-tiered, non-critical SKUs for piloting new mfr'ing processes for years it didn't hit them nearly as hard. NV chose to debut its new architecture's flagsip on a new process - BIG, BIG MISTAKE... and on top of that they faced with a critical bug, without having previously delat with it like ATI did they simply FAILED to deliver in time... it took 6+ months more and numerous compromises to even get something working out the door, now called GTX480.

 

[SolMiester]

It's been widely published already, here's one account: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3740&p=1

Basically AMD knew NV will run into serious problems - the reason was that they did too but since ATI was using mid-tiered, non-critical SKUs for piloting new mfr'ing processes for years it didn't hit them nearly as hard. NV chose to debut its new architecture's flagsip on a new process - BIG, BIG MISTAKE... and on top of that they faced with a critical bug, without having previously delat with it like ATI did they simply FAILED to deliver in time... it took 6+ months more and numerous compromises to even get something working out the door, now called GTX480.

Which is undisputedly, the fastest GPU in the world...even with the delay, the manufacturing bugs etc....

 

[T2k]

Which is undisputedly, the fastest GPU in the world...even with the delay, the manufacturing bugs etc....

"Undisputedly"... by who? There are several games where it loses badly.

You might call it the fastest singlu GPU on average but it's certainly not undisputedly anything (sans the most inefficient GPU, that is.)

 

[SlitheryDee]

It's about what I figured it would be. I've been waiting for Fermi to come out just to see what that was going to do to AMD's pricing. My guess is that things will be getting interesting when we're closer to the holiday season. AMD's got a lot of room to drop prices and Nvidia might be a bit desperate to move parts by then. Could be very good for the consumer no matter which they want to buy.

 

[T2k]

It's been widely published already, here's one account: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3740&p=1

Basically AMD knew NV will run into serious problems - the reason was that they did too but since ATI was using mid-tiered, non-critical SKUs for piloting new mfr'ing processes for years it didn't hit them nearly as hard. NV chose to debut its new architecture's flagsip on a new process - BIG, BIG MISTAKE... and on top of that they faced with a critical bug, without having previously delat with it like ATI did they simply FAILED to deliver in time... it took 6+ months more and numerous compromises to even get something working out the door, now called GTX480.

Another similar summary of the story: http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/02/17/nvidias-fermigtx480-broken-and-unfixable/

Interestingly they came out around the same time...

 

[Genx87]

Which resolution? At 2560x1600 they do.

Looking at ATs benchmark suite and the 480 and 470 do just fine against their competition at that resolution.

 

[zerocool84]

You just really expect something that's been delayed 6 months and was hyped as being able to DESTROY the 5xxx series would have been faster than this. I as others just really expected more. My 5870 isn't going on the market as I hoped.

 

[aka1nas]

Performance seems on par, power is a concern. I have to give Nv a little bit of shit for not actually going triplehead like the 5xxx series.

If Nv delivers on 3d Vision Surround support for the GTX 200 series, then I'll stick with my current setup long-term. Otherwise, I'll probably be looking at a Fermi refresh or Radeon 6xxx series when they are out.

 

[SolMiester]

"Undisputedly"... by who? There are several games where it loses badly.

You might call it the fastest singlu GPU on average but it's certainly not undisputedly anything (sans the most inefficient GPU, that is.)

Okay, there are games where it doesnt win, however driver refreshes may well fix that, however it wins more than it loses okay!....it has the crown, NOT happy?...
Besides which, I dont think there are many of us out there with 30" LCD's for this card, certainly not me and very few in my country I would wager. I also think the 5870 saturated the HD resolution market, so really, there isnt much of a market for the card...

 

[PuppettMaster001]

Performance for the GTX480 is good but not good enough for an upgrade from my 5870. Good to see some competition, just waiting to see some real street prices and availability.