Is NVidia dogging us? >.>

[Atomicdonut17]

So, it's been on my head for a while, but I've been kinda bugged to talk about it.

NVidia; those trustworthy fellas who provide you with the top-of-the-line GPUs, because AMD really likes taking their time with Vega. They've done everything to give you powerful GPUs and game experiences that no one else can.. *cough VEGA cough*

Anyhow, is that so true? I can't help but think some of their actions are aimed in the wrong direction. For example, AMD gives us this Polaris 'refresh' (way to go, AMD, such suspense) and, in the bottom of their pile of 'new' cards is the RX 550, a low tier, sub-100 dollar GPU that seems to really be for 4k streaming, as advertised, but still usable as a very restricted budget gaming card. Not very long after, Nvidia pops out the (rumored) GT 1030, which is the.. equivalent to the 550... and... about the same price.

Great, NVidia. Stick it to your competitor! It's not like we're still on the verge of seeing some massively anticipated GPU release anytime soo-- oh, oh. Wait. Uh. Take that back?

Anyhow, another example would have to be the 'new, improved and most powerful GPU ever released' Titan Xp (not to be confused with the Titan X(P)ascal, which was also not to be confused with the Titan X Maxwell.. anyone else think these jokers should rename their cards?

Ryzen has just come around the corner and kicked Intel in the teeth, they're drawing back- great! Platform switching everywhere! Now, with these new powerful gaming and workstation CPUs, let's release a POWERFUL GPU! I mean, we totally didn't just release a card that smashed our former flagship into the ground with value to performance ratio, amirite? Pfft.

So, we get this Titan Xp (Pascal.. no, the OTHER Pascal. It's so great! It's shiny! New! 1,200 USD! And.. only.. 10 percent more powerful than the former flagship.. eughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh`


Look, don't get me wrong, NVidia isn't some evil monolith of a company trying to steal your money (I think). They're a business, it's what they do- competition, that's how capitalism works. But, while I'm no economic expert, if they really wanted to do something, they'd get to work on curtailing this big shadowing VEGA. Also, they'd not MSRP a flagship that's only 10% more powerful at the previous flagship's MSRP, which is now effectively a sub-1,000 GPU because of their *GROUNDBREAKINGLY VALUABLE* 1080Ti. Your thoughts?

 

[CRO5513Y]

To be honest you kinda answered your question. "They're a business, it's what they do- competition, that's how capitalism works".

As for the Titan XP (Again). Not everyone is tech-savvy like us on Tom's. Imagine all the uninformed Gamers/consumers who see the new Titan XP and just go for it simply due to Nvidia's top notch marketing and hype around the cards. I mean a couple 2.5x this and 150% better that and that's the card sold to x amount of people. If they sell, that's all that matters to them. It may only be 10% improved over the previous but in all honesty i think the idea of a new Titan XP (Yep the name is pissing me off too)... was only released because they messed up with the 1080 Ti beating it (the old Titan XP i mean) since Titan is meant to be the premium and king of the hill card (and should be at the price point...), so they released a slightly built up version to keep it ahead so the marketing team can rest easy.

Now to Vega... Tough question since we don't know how much on it was AMD marketing and how much about performance is true to the hype, either way i wouldn't expect it to put Nvidia in the corner, they have too much of a common fanbase for that to happen and i doubt they are sitting idle until release, they'll probably brew something up to counter or match it. Interesting topic though, can't wait for Vega to release to see what happens on both sides of the fence.

 

[JamesSneed]

What you describe from the price performance side has been going on more than decade. Its like Intel with the HEDT line they charge those prices because they can and they do because they are a for profit business. The halo products also help sale lower end cards as well because if you are the fastest for some reason that changes peoples perceptions(This is just good marketing to be honest). Really nothing else to add on that topic its just normal capitalism.

I suspect Vega will be as good as the hype seeing as how Nvidia pulled Volta dates up. Nvidia seems to be able to take AMD's pulse and adjust ahead of time pretty decently well, almost crystal ball well. How good Vega will be I have no idea neither does any else outside of AMD or maybe Nvidia.

 

[4745454b]

i doubt they are sitting idle until release, they'll probably brew something up to counter or match it.

They don't have much to counter it with their current gen. They've already got their 1080 and 1080ti, AND TitanXP out. They could go SLI on a stick if they absolutely need to. But I don't see a new card for them with current gen if Vega is somehow 30% faster than the 1080ti.

you see the same thing with cars. is the 2017 model really that different from the 2016? Not every year sees improvements from previous years. And yet the new year brings cars that cost as much or a bit more. That's business.

 

[Atomicdonut17]

i doubt they are sitting idle until release, they'll probably brew something up to counter or match it.

They don't have much to counter it with their current gen. They've already got their 1080 and 1080ti, AND TitanXP out. They could go SLI on a stick if they absolutely need to. But I don't see a new card for them with current gen if Vega is somehow 30% faster than the 1080ti.

you see the same thing with cars. is the 2017 model really that different from the 2016? Not every year sees improvements from previous years. And yet the new year brings cars that cost as much or a bit more. That's business.

If that's the case, why's it we're still buying into it? There's a LOT of GPUs on the market, at this moment, and NVidia is on the top. Even with Vega, it'll take a while before AMD tramps them out, and even *if* they do, it'll only be for a few months before Volta slaps them around, then it's just another war. It's sorta where the whole Red Vs. Green thing comes along, but everyone at this moment realizes that Green is the top tier, no questions, until we see the cataclysmic and highly hyped release of this friggin' Vega.

People say, 'wait for Vega, it'll be better, we swear', then people say, 'After you're done biting your nails with Vega, grow them back and bite them of again when you're waiting for Volta"... where's the end. There IS no end, case and point. It's almost fun to see all this constant back and forth, but it's less fun having to decide when to wait and when to buy and when to just shut up and do stuff.

 

[4745454b]

"We" don't always by into it. I'm still using my old 7950. (R9 280) I'm thinking of upgrading my card not because I need anything faster, but because the newer cards use so much less power. The 3GB 1060 looks really good to me. Same amount of Vram as my current card, but uses much less power. And is still faster. But I can't see spending $200 on a 1060 or 470 just to get lower power numbers. It will take a long time to get the money back.

Some people are constantly looking to have the best possible parts in their PC. You will always be upgrading and waiting if this is you. I hope these people are few and far between. If this is you you will always be waiting and spending lots of money. Nothing wrong if you do and have the money to spend on it. But that's an expensive habit to have.

 

[JamesSneed]

In reality most people are reasonable they want the most bang for there buck. You may see a lot of comments about getting the best but people really don't put there money where there mouth is to often in that regards. Many times waiting for the new thing gives you that bang for the buck because the improvements are pretty large. With that said im still rocking an OC'ed Intel 2500K which is really old for my standards but things have been so incremental in the CPU world I haven't seen a great need to upgrade. Ill be comparing Intels Skylake-x vs Ryzen come June for a new build(Im waiting until then to see how things fall out perf / performance wise and also Ryzen should be nice and stable with higher memory speeds if I go that route).