Comments on: Reconsidering Nvidia http://www.automaticable.com/2008-01-03/reconsidering-nvidia/ adjective: of or pertaining to things that should work but go awry Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:21:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Kyle W http://www.automaticable.com/2008-01-03/reconsidering-nvidia/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Kyle W Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:58:00 +0000 http://www.automaticable.com/2008/01/03/reconsidering-nvidia/#comment-6 I think you are right that ATI will gain market share. It just makes sense that a more stable and reliable product will end up selling.<br/><br/>I just wrote a whole lot more here supporting your side, specifically that gamers will switch to ATI once they get extended support for their cards once they become older...but I realized once I wrote that sentence that it was kind of contradictory. Gamers are in the market for high-end graphics cards. To me, this means that they will not even be dealing with old-driver issues, since gamers will be upgrading to bigger and better cards before that becomes an issue. Right? <br/><br/>I still think that your claim, that nVidia will lose steam, is completely valid. In my mind, it will come from the IT/support side as you said before, but not from the gamers/high-end users. <br/><br/>Just another 2 cents from me, since I'm bored at work. I think you are right that ATI will gain market share. It just makes sense that a more stable and reliable product will end up selling.

I just wrote a whole lot more here supporting your side, specifically that gamers will switch to ATI once they get extended support for their cards once they become older…but I realized once I wrote that sentence that it was kind of contradictory. Gamers are in the market for high-end graphics cards. To me, this means that they will not even be dealing with old-driver issues, since gamers will be upgrading to bigger and better cards before that becomes an issue. Right?

I still think that your claim, that nVidia will lose steam, is completely valid. In my mind, it will come from the IT/support side as you said before, but not from the gamers/high-end users.

Just another 2 cents from me, since I’m bored at work.

]]> By: Scott Wegner http://www.automaticable.com/2008-01-03/reconsidering-nvidia/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Scott Wegner Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:09:00 +0000 http://www.automaticable.com/2008/01/03/reconsidering-nvidia/#comment-5 I see where you're coming from-- most of the user base is on Windows, and most of those Windows users are oblivious. But there is also a strong group of IT professionals that need to support these Windows users, and they are the ones getting shafted by shoddy drivers and lack of updates.<br/><br/>Also, I feel like the demand for new and current video drivers comes largely from the gaming community, who also use Windows. Depreciating support for older cards means that these gamers will try hacking the new drivers (which is what's happening). This leads to incompatibility, and bugs that Nvidia won't touch because the cards are "unsupported."<br/><br/>Coupling these two points-- depreciating support, along with closed-source drivers-- are two strikes against Nvidia. The third is that ATI cards are gaining more popularity in general. You won't see a revolution here, but I think Nvidia is losing steam. I see where you’re coming from– most of the user base is on Windows, and most of those Windows users are oblivious. But there is also a strong group of IT professionals that need to support these Windows users, and they are the ones getting shafted by shoddy drivers and lack of updates.

Also, I feel like the demand for new and current video drivers comes largely from the gaming community, who also use Windows. Depreciating support for older cards means that these gamers will try hacking the new drivers (which is what’s happening). This leads to incompatibility, and bugs that Nvidia won’t touch because the cards are “unsupported.”

Coupling these two points– depreciating support, along with closed-source drivers– are two strikes against Nvidia. The third is that ATI cards are gaining more popularity in general. You won’t see a revolution here, but I think Nvidia is losing steam.

]]> By: Kyle Wegner http://www.automaticable.com/2008-01-03/reconsidering-nvidia/comment-page-1/#comment-4 Kyle Wegner Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:36:00 +0000 http://www.automaticable.com/2008/01/03/reconsidering-nvidia/#comment-4 Good evaluation there, but I wonder how much this will really sway the popular stance on nVidia/Geforce.<br/><br/>With the linux community still so small, especially in the consumer PC market, will newer/faster driver upgrades really be noticed? I see how old drivers not being supported could be an issue, but I feel like the average consumer assumes their hardware will be out of date in 2-4 years anyway, so (in their limited knowledge) instead of finding a workaround for their old nVidia card, they will assume it is just time for a new gfx card, or maybe even a whole new computer! Most people will not fault the lack of drivers to nVidia, or notice that ATI may last longer because there is open source support, I think they may just fault their "old" PC and assume it is time for an upgrade.<br/><br/>Just playing a little devil's advocate, but I think there is going to have to be more than old driver support issues to shatter the reign of nVidia. Good evaluation there, but I wonder how much this will really sway the popular stance on nVidia/Geforce.

With the linux community still so small, especially in the consumer PC market, will newer/faster driver upgrades really be noticed? I see how old drivers not being supported could be an issue, but I feel like the average consumer assumes their hardware will be out of date in 2-4 years anyway, so (in their limited knowledge) instead of finding a workaround for their old nVidia card, they will assume it is just time for a new gfx card, or maybe even a whole new computer! Most people will not fault the lack of drivers to nVidia, or notice that ATI may last longer because there is open source support, I think they may just fault their “old” PC and assume it is time for an upgrade.

Just playing a little devil’s advocate, but I think there is going to have to be more than old driver support issues to shatter the reign of nVidia.

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