heard a rumor that XFX is jumping to ATI.

[nyker96]

saw it on Tom's other day that XFX is jumping off exclusive Nvidia partnership. Does that mean we will see Alpha Dog 4850/70s? with lifetime warranty!? that's a killer combo!!

Edit: here's news bit:
http://www.tomshardware.com/ne...XFX-Gainward,6455.html

I guess they didn't say if XFx will go intel or ATI. But at least by leaving Nvidia exclusive partners give these companies possibility to pick up ATI. And I hope XFX will. Foxconn I don't really care so much for.

 

[Andrew1990]

If XFX goes over to the Red team, I am sure they would make a killing within the ATI vendor community if they offered their warranty.

All other companies would have to do major revamps just to keep their products comparable.

 

[Zebo]

Awesome! Black PCB's maybe. I won't buy a red card, clashes with my systems black and yellow motif.

I've have or had XFX's 7800's, 7900's and 8800's all are very nice.

 

[SolMiester]

Hmmmm Black PCB, just like the sparkle.....Would be good for ATI if XFX joined them, they might get some decent coolers on the current generation of cards.

 

[footballrunner800]

all xfx needs to do is offer a stepup program. Imagine stepping up from a 8800gt to a 4870x2!

 

[AmberClad]

Is this the old rumor from a few months ago? Or a recent rumor?

 

[rjc]

The old rumour was that XFX was going to intel wasnt it? They do motherboards as well dont they? i guess if an intel motherboard line shows up soon that would be a kind of a confirmation.

According to the fudzilla guy the european partners to go are Foxconn, Club3d, ECS, Biostar and Albatron. The article has some strange logic about nvidia cutting the smaller ones so the big ones survive. More likely with intel in town some of the bigger ones gave nvidia an ultimatum that couldnt be refused.

Sort of like in nature when the first born chick pushes the other eggs out of the nest.

 

[faxon]

i personally would love to see XFX start manufacturing cards other than Nvidia's. they make good boards and as with zebo, the red theme wont really go quite as well with my new built once its all set up. would be interesting to see a step up program from Nvidia to ATI cards lol.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

The rumor last more was EVGA was headed to ATI, I think.

 

[bryanW1995]

if bfg, xfx, or evga go non-exclusive that will be a huge win for ati. I think it's a big advantage for asus right now that they sell both brands, just look at newegg sales of 4850's. people who were happy with their asus 7800gt could jump to an asus 4850 and stay with the same company. I think that it's a no-brainer in today's business climate for companies to keep their options open.

 

[semisonic9]

I agree, I too would like to see more companies making ATI cards.

It would increase competition and let NV know they really need to step it up for the next round. Plus, I love EVGA so far. The only ATI-based company that comes close is Leadtek, imo.

"Can I please get some ATI step-up programs with my lifetime warranty, excellent customer support and high quality (for low prices)? Thanks a bunch, guys!"

 

[rjc]

Originally posted by: semisonic9
"Can I please get some ATI step-up programs with my lifetime warranty, excellent customer support and high quality (for low prices)? Thanks a bunch, guys!"

I think that kind of service can only come with high margins, like if the GTX series was still selling at $400 and $650 then the AIBs would be able to roll out the red carpet for their customers.

Looking at current prices the product that seems free from serious pricing pressure is the 4870x2 the rest of the products are getting hammered.

Anyway, the rumours before were all about open relationships and mainly to do with partnering intel when larabee comes out. Ati/amd only picked up gainward and that was because the parent company had something to do with palit which wanted an outlet for ati cards.

According to quality, reliable and unbiased news sources XFX has already signed the agreement with intel.

 

[raisethe3]

Damn, don't know how NVIDIA is going to cope. They seem to be doing well with the XFX brands.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: rjc

Originally posted by: semisonic9
"Can I please get some ATI step-up programs with my lifetime warranty, excellent customer support and high quality (for low prices)? Thanks a bunch, guys!"

I think that kind of service can only come with high margins,

You got it! All those "features" which people like costs money to offer. That's why some companies who are known for having lifetime warranties sell cheaper cards without that vaunted warranty (merely offering a 1-2 year warranty). I guarantee some people will be very suprised in the future that the dirt cheap video card they bought with a "lifetime warranty" brand doesn't really have a lifetime warranty.

Then again, people are still caught off guard by the "register within 30 days" that all lifetime warranty NVIDIA partners require.

Originally posted by: rjc
According to quality, reliable and unbiased news sources

LMAO!

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: rjc
According to quality, reliable and unbiased news sources XFX has already signed the agreement with intel.

You mean according to this source, and the agreement was for the Intel X58 SLI boards. NVIDIA officially authorized this arrangement:

NVIDIA Brings SLI Technology to Intel Bloomfield CPU Platforms

They have no other rational choice. As major NVIDIA partners whose product lines are heavily tied to SLI, the only way to get SLI on Nehalem is through X58. Otherwise, they would be limited strictly to AMD boards at a time when Intel has the stronger and better selling product. Failing to have SLI options for Nehalem would result in at least half their business being lost to competitors with X58 SLI boards.

This is not like, "To NVIDIA, we flip the bird at thee by switching to another chipset vendor" as The Inquirer portrays in its usual way of distorting the truth. NVIDIA freaking negotiated and put its stamp of approval on the entire thing.

 

[nemesismk2]

If this story is true then it's great news for ATI

 

[taltamir]

this is about the fifth time I am hearing about XFX, BFG, or eVGA (or all of them together) jumping to ATI... the last 4 times proved to be false rumors...
Toms harware is the most reliable source yet, but i can't see if they are just reprinting fudzilla or not because that link you posted does not work.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Zap
You got it! All those "features" which people like costs money to offer. That's why some companies who are known for having lifetime warranties sell cheaper cards without that vaunted warranty (merely offering a 1-2 year warranty). I guarantee some people will be very suprised in the future that the dirt cheap video card they bought with a "lifetime warranty" brand doesn't really have a lifetime warranty.

Then again, people are still caught off guard by the "register within 30 days" that all lifetime warranty NVIDIA partners require.

Like my EVGA 9600GSO, only one year warranty.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: taltamir
this is about the fifth time I am hearing about XFX, BFG, or eVGA (or all of them together) jumping to ATI... the last 4 times proved to be false rumors...
Toms harware is the most reliable source yet, but i can't see if they are just reprinting fudzilla or not because that link you posted does not work.

Yep and it looks like Tom pulled this rumor from the site....

Dear Visitor. The page you requested couldn't be found

I'm really not sure what is to gain by spreading such FUD.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Right now, my opinion is that Nvidia's last ace up it's sleeve it it's board makers. They're just better then AMD's, generally speaking. They seem to have more and better perks, and many have life time warranties (XFX, even better then life time actually). If XFX jumps ship and does well, who knows that may make others do the same. Good news if true.

 

[nyker96]

Anyways, it's good to at least hear rumors about the possibilities of XFX jumping to ATI side. I'd be buying a 4850 from them for sure provided they change nothing on double lifetime warranty, cool PCBs etc.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Didn't amd already say they wouldn't let nvidia manufacturers build their cards because they felt it would be betraying their current manufacturers by making them compete with actual good companies?

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu
Didn't amd already say they wouldn't let nvidia manufacturers build their cards because they felt it would be betraying their current manufacturers by making them compete with actual good companies?

Yeah I heard this too. They didn't want to screw them over after they stuck with amd during the bad times.

 

[WelshBloke]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Right now, my opinion is that Nvidia's last ace up it's sleeve it it's board makers. They're just better then AMD's, generally speaking. They seem to have more and better perks, and many have life time warranties (XFX, even better then life time actually). If XFX jumps ship and does well, who knows that may make others do the same. Good news if true.

Well that and the fact that they make really good video cards.

 

[LordGestle]

Originally posted by: Sureshot324

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu
Didn't amd already say they wouldn't let nvidia manufacturers build their cards because they felt it would be betraying their current manufacturers by making them compete with actual good companies?

Yeah I heard this too. They didn't want to screw them over after they stuck with amd during the bad times.

And yet many of those companies build Nvidia cards. Think that is more of a rumor as if AMD could make more money, why not.

If I recall correctly Sapphire == Zotac. What is odd is that if you buy a Zotac you get a 3-5 year warranty but if you buy Sapphire your lucky to get 1-2 years.

If evga, BFG, or XFX would jump on the ATI Train they would be my first pick. Right now I'm trying to stick with Visiontek.