Slashdot Mirror
AMD Finally Launches Low-Price DX10 Cards
Steve Kerrison writes "The Radeon 'R600' HD 2900 XT was late coming, and so by extension are the lower cost parts derived from it. The Radeon HD 2400 and 2600s are now available, just the same, with pricing aimed at knocking mid-range GeForce 8 series cards off people's shopping lists. There's more to a graphics card than price; performance and driver functionality are key too. HEXUS had some fun and games testing the new Radeons: 'The hardware designers may now be sitting back, content that their DX10-supporting midrange SKUs are at least as compelling as the competition's. But, and it's a big, big but, the current drivers aren't realizing the kind of performance we'd expect from a knowledge of the Radeon HD 2600 XT's setup.'" A very useful article ... unfortunately spread across a dozen pages with no 'print view' available.
Seriously, we are going to keep using SKU? This is an acronym worthy of being added to the everyday lexicon? It's not even a techie acronym, it's for marketing and accounting!
Sometimes, life itself is sarcasm...
OSS drivers for Xorg ? No ? Not interested.
Why can't a company have several trademarks/brands? Oh, I see it in a shop: "I need a new PC. There are Intel CPUs and AMD CPUs. I'll take Intel please. Now there are video cards - nVidia and AMD. Since I bought Intel AMD won't work with it, right?".... Or something like that. Educating people is hard. Preventing confusion is easier.
Intel's graphics chips may not be powerful enough for heavy gaming, but that should not be an issue for Linux users anyway.
Right. Because I have a completely separate computer that I use to boot windows games. Oh wait...
I see your point, but this is slashdot... not "Microsoft office user formum and portal system framework v3.0" (At least that's what I'd imagine they'd call it.)
Point is we are largely technology enthusiasts... and there is nothing in intel integrated graphics to be enthusiastic about. Their drivers yes... but the chips themselves... hell no.
I won't be needing a DX10 graphics card for some time. Microsoft has really let down their strategic partners by not building compelling reasons to upgrade into Windows Vista. If the main reason to buy one of these cards is DX10, and DX10 is Vista-only, and there's no good reason for me to upgrade to Vista, why would I want one of these cards?
It wasn't that long ago that I really coveted the latest computer technology - software and hardware. But today, I look only for the best technology that fits my current needs, since I'll be buying a new system within a couple of years anyway. I don't know if it's because I changed and am not as impressed by the latest and greatest, or because the whole machinery of software and hardware vendors who used to work together to give us reasons to upgrade have fallen down on the job. I look at the PS/3, iPhone, Vista, and I just don't get that reflex that makes me want to run out and buy them.
I've been thinking back to when XP came out, because I've seen the comment around here that peoples' experience with Vista being a disappointment also happened when XP was released. I've decided that it wasn't the case. I bought XP the second month it was available, and except for one minor application, I was able to use all of my hardware and software the day I upgraded. I did NOT have the ugly experience of being pissed off at the OS for bothering me about what I can and cannot do nor did I have the sickening feeling that DRM gives me. I recall being really happy about the performance improvement and the quality of the drivers that were available less than 60 days after XP came out.
So for the next year or so, I'm going to spend more time being productive with my Core2duo/X1950 system and less time upgrading to a new OS. I will re-assess the situation in '08.
You are welcome on my lawn.
ATI has a great reputation but AMD does too. However AMD has no negative reputation (ATI is thought to have poor production and overpriced)
Q: Does replying to the first post just to make your completely separate comment appear higher up in the discussion make you cool?
Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.