I think they'll release a Titan 2 at that event. I expect a 990 and 990ti in the summer or slightly later to counter the R300 series high end.
That's what we wish, but economics 101 teaches us that every company wants to maximize profit. And Nvidia knows how to do that better than all of us. If they don't release Titan 2 at the conference, then that means that their calculus is simply different(and more informed) than our wishes, which are frankly based on what we want, not what's good for Nvidia's bottom line
Just like with the Titan, people were cautioned -- don't get a 980 now, you'll get a meager 15% over the 780 Ti and 290x and it'll get replaced in 6-9 months. And yet people swarmed over the 980s for that 15%. And if this is to be believed, then it'll get leapfrogged massively 8-9 months from its launch
The difference between Titan 1 and 780 vs the Titan 2 and the 980 is the time interval. 8-9 months is not that short, or it didn't use to be that short in the GPU space.
Plus, I'm not even sure if the 980 and the Titan 2 are the right measurements. I'd think that you'd get a GM200 consumer version (1080 Ti if you will, although it'll likely be called something else) that will compete instead, and that'll likely get released around the 380X timeframe.
Indeed. Terrific post that seemingly captures the reality of the market and the complexity of the situation.
As much as some might argue that Nvidia's best interest would be killing AMD's GPU division, that is hardly the case. It's situations like these that allow them to make money and steer clear of legal issues by owning the market..
That is misinformed. The reason why oligopolies and monopolies are formed is precisely because those situations are good for the companies involved. Would Microsoft have preferred a 70% market share or a 90% marketshare during the desktop PC era in the first decade of the 2000s(before smartphones/tablets got mainstream and other OS'es with them)?
When you control a market, you can set higher prices. People will still buy GPUs, just like the vast majority of people will buy Intel CPUs for their desktop PCs because AMD can't compete there. If you think Nvidia would want a weakened (but still relatively strong) AMD over total control of the GPU market then I think you're misinformed, and grossly so.
Rumors have been floating around that the price is going to be $1350 for the GTX Titan II. If they really aren't releasing this until April then Nvidia will have to cut prices drastically within a month or two when 380X hits the shelves.
I'm not surprised over that rumor. I was surprised how a 1K card could even sell but Nvidia proved me wrong. Not making that mistake twice.
As I've said many times, GCN 2 is their make or break architecture.
Imagine if NV bring the hammer down on AMD with GM204 at $250 and $400. AMD won't be able to sell any Tonga or Hawaii SKUs without making a loss.
Then the final blow would be GM206 at $175. AMD = dead, single digit marketshare and bleeding cash, damaged beyond repair for many generations. It becomes a monopoly.
There's one risk to that strategy: AMD in its dying woes will sell off the GPU IP and division to someone more capable of management, such as Samsung or Apple...
Speculation here, but maybe Maxwell's more competetive pricing reflects Nvidia's urge to finish AMD off, even if they knew that they could charge higher prices. Nvidia's revenues were lower in end of 2013 as the Tegra fiasco was made apparent and then NV refocused on their GPUs. (Hence the higher prices to stop the bleeding).
Now NV is a better position financially and can take lower margins to advance market share.
Lisa Su seems to me to finally be the right CEO for AMD. AMD had a bunch of suits for a long time. John Byrne was head of sales yet was promoted to a technical position. This is lethal for any technology company. Their last CEO wasn't exactly the most qualified for a Silicon Valley company, to put it mildly, he mostly employed slash and burn tactics and their console design wins gave them temporary relief.
With Su, she's cleaning out the marketing/sales people who someone promoted each other to technical positions. The question is: will she be too late? And that is a very real possibility.
People have speculated that maybe Samsung will buy AMD. Well, there's plenty of talent there. Qualcomm snapped up their mobile GPU guys, who now make the Adreno(Radeon backwards, as we all know) GPUs in their Snapdragons.
Samsung buying them could cripple their dGPU business, though, and force them to become Samsung's Qualcomm Adreno equivalent. So maybe Intel would be a better buy, because it could give Intel a turnkey solution for desktop gamers, especially as Intel is now understanding that desktop PCs are not dead and indeed growing(at least the performance market, and by a healthy margin).
Intel buying AMD might be seen as a scandal, but if Zen flops, it'll be over.
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