Except, you forget I did buy a 7970 GE, which I always agreed was the top of the line solution at the moment. I switched to a 670 because I got a good price for the 7970 GE (thanks to everyone's hype) and I got the 670 for what ended up being $130 less than what I paid for the 7970 GE.
There were plenty of times when GTX670 was the best GPU to buy last year. I recommended it for nearly 2 months straight from launch to late June 2012. My point is you made a sweeping generalization regarding AMD's mediocre products. If you said Bulldozer, A10-5800K or overpriced $550 HD7970, I wouldn't have even pointed that out. Since this is a GPU thread, I am guessing you are discussing existing HD7000 cards. Problem is that generalization hasn't generalization applied in at least 6 months since HD7000 has delivered very competitive, if not leading, price/performance+overclocking since mid-summer. It certainly does not apply to desktop HD7000 products today, which is why continuing selling them for another 2 quarters isn't detrimental to losing any momentum.
The point is, you seem pretty intent on rallying everyone to support AMD by buying their GPUs. There's a bit of bias in that alone.
I recommend based on price/performance and overclocking. People here have short memory. When NV had products that delivered on those in spades (8800GT, GTX460/470, GTX670 in early 2012), I wholeheartedly recommended them. I don't see anything in NV's existing desktop line besides GTX690 & occasional sales on a GTX650Ti under $120 or GTX670 at $299 that stands out. What should I recommend, more expensive, worse overclocking, slower cards with inferior game bundles? You call that biased?
What I said, is that if they do produce mediocre components, then it's their fault they're in the hole. Which is why they are in the position they are now... they've had mediocre solutions for a number of years and only now have they come back with the 7000 series. Why they need to push on a 8000 series launch is that they don't lose their momentum, I'm happy to see AMD being relevant again.
HD4870 that beat GTX260 for $100 less was mediocre? It prompted NV to rush GTX260 216 just to match it. $260 HD4890 that matched $500 ($649 launch price) GTX280 for less 9 months later was mediocre? HD5850/5870 that beat Fermi by 6 months and cost just $259/369 were mediocre? HD6950 that unlocked into a 6970 that easily matched a GTX570 for less $ was mediocre? 2 HD6950 2GB unlocked that cost the same as a GTX580 3GB was mediocre? Whatever you say.
Further, you are saying AMD shouldn't lose momentum and then in the same post claim their products are sub-par to begin with. How can you lose momentum if your products are sub-par? That means you never had any positive momentum to begin with. And if AMD's products are not sub-par, they aren't losing any momentum since no one else is beating their product line convincingly for them to lose that momentum. Your comment is akin to stating that NV is losing momentum because their GTX700 series got "delayed" to Q4 2013, which according to the same sources it did. It seems to me both GTX700 and HD8000 desktop cards may not come out until Q3-Q4 2013 and Titan is the next big product for us to get excited about. All the rumours of GTX700 series also being pushed back are being ignored though.
I supported AMD whenever they provided a good solution (in the past, with their processors, with their GPUs, and now with a 7970). But if they consistently produce mediocre solutions with a few good ones, then I'm not obligated to continue supporting them.
What's your GPU history from HD4000 to 6000 series? With GTX200 vs. HD4000 series, you either got rapped by GTX280's early adopter price premium, or paid one
hundred more for a barely faster GTX285 over 4890, or bought the slower GTX275. I can understand why someone bought GTX470/480 but HD6900 was a walk over most GTX500 line because for the price of a single GTX580, one could purchase nearly 2 unlocked 6950s. GTX570 was overpriced vs. 6950 unlocked too and couldn't beat it in games. In today's titles GTX570 has serious issues with just 1.28GB of VRAM which means in hindsight it was a far worse GPU than HD6950 2GB unlocked. GTX570 not only cost more, it had a more fragile VRM design which resulted in many of those cards simply failing from overclocking. Sounds peachy.
Again, I stayed consistent in my recommendations on price/performance + overclocking which is why I recommended HD4870 and 4890, then 5850 when it launched, then 460/470s when they launched, then HD6950s when they launched, and then GTX670 when it launched. No emotional attachment to those cards, just mathematics.
Sorry, but you seem to think AMD is the win-all solution for everyone, when it's not. Look in my signature, my purchase history ranges over AMD, Intel and nvidia. In fact, I've bought more AMD-based products alone over everything else. But I don't believe in brand support, I don't harp a single solution. Why do you?
No, I don't believe in that. I recommend based on price/performance and overclocking. It's that simple really. Whichever side is winning in those metrics I recommend. I also consider specific features someone might want
if they explicitly state them (i.e., running 3 2560x1600 monitors with 2 over DL-DVI, SLI vs. CF, PhysX is a big deal to them, etc.). The reason I bring up bitcoin mining is because it ties into price/performance since it effectively pays for the cards. PhysX, 3D Vision, Eyefinity, they don't affect those metrics which is why I assume the person has already done their research on these specific features. Price/performance + overclocking can be measured. For these other features, each buyer should assess their importance for themselves because they are qualitative in nature, not quantitative. By me focusing on the quants, the buyer can focus on qualitative features. The quants is what I focus on.