NVIDIA Analyzes 3870 X2

[BTK]

FULL ARTICLE
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...snow-financial

1) I say pics or it didn't happen.
2) I don't trust the Inquirer.
3) They always bash NVIDIA
4) If true, that's bad. Or good?
5) Basically BS!

From: Michael W Hara <MHara@nvidia>

To: Amanda Hindlian <amanda.hindlian@gs>; Andrew Buscaglia < abuscaglia@thinkequity>; Arnab Chanda <arnab.chanda@db>; Bobby Gujavarty <bobby.gujavarty@db>; Brian Piccioni <brian.piccioni@bmo> ; Craig Berger <cberger@fbr>; Daniel Ernst <daniel@hsqr>; Daniel Gelbtuch <daniel.gelbtuch@us.cibc>; Daniel Morris < daniel.morris@us.cibc>; David Hodgson <david.hodgson@genuitycm>; David Wu <david.wu@globalcrowncapital>; Devan Moodley < devan_moodley@scotiacapital>; Dinesh Moorjani <dmoorjani@bear>; Doug Freedman <dfreedman@amtechresearch>; Elizabeth Pate <epate@fbr>; Garik Shmois <gshmois@longbowresearch>; Glen Yeung < glen.yeung@citigroup>; Gordon Johnson <gordon.johnson@lehman>; Gurinder Kalra <gkalra@bear>; Hans Mosesmann <hans.mosesmann@raymondjames>; Heidi Poon <hpoon@tweisel>; James Covello <james.covello@gs>; Jan-Jesse Flores <janjesse.flores@lehman>; Jason Pflaum < jpflaum@tweisel>; Jean Orr <jorr@nutmegsec>; Jean-Pierre Becker < jean-pierre.becker@tdsecurities>; Jesse Tortora <jesse_tortora@prusec> ; JiHyung Yoo <jihyung.yoo@citigroup>; Jim Karlis < jkarlis@williamblair>; Feeney, JoAnne <joanne.feeney@ftnmidwest>; Joel Jackson <joel.jackson@bmo>; Kamal Das <kamal.das@lehman>; Krishna Shankar <kshankar@jmpsecurities>; Larry Cao <larry.cao@morningstar> ; Michael Masdea <michael.masdea@credit-suisse>; Michael McConnell < mmcconnell@pacific-crest>; Naser Iqbal <niqbal@salmanpartners>; Nicholas Aberle <naberle@cariscompany>; Peter Karazeris < peter.karazeris@citigroup>; Quinn Bolton <qbolton@needhamco>; Rick Schafer <richard.schafer@us.cibc>; Robert Burleson < rburleson@thinkequity>; Ryan Elliott <ryan.elliott@tdsecurities>; Shawn Webster <shawn.r.webster@jpmorgan>; Sidney Ho <sidney_ho@ml>; Simona Jankowski <simona.jankowski@gs>; Suji De Silva <sdesilva@kbro >; Tayyib Shah <tshah@longbowresearch>; Terry Thib < terry.thib@nbfinancial>; Thomas Smith <thomas_smith@sandp>; Tim Luke <tim.luke@lehman>; Uche Orji <uche.orji@ubs>; Will Gabrielski < wgabrielski@amtechresearch>; Yuka Miyake <yuka.miyake@gs>

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Sent: Wed Jan 30 15:53:29 2008

Subject: Analysis of Radeon HD 3870 X2

On Monday, January 28th, ATI launched the Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card. This is a dual-RV670 board that ATI is positioning at ~$449-499. Attached is a comparison presentation that outlines the advantages of the GeForce 8800 GPUs over the Radeon HD 3870 X2. There are a couple important things to keep in mind regarding the 3870 X2:

1) Radeon HD 3870 X2 relies on CrossFire driver technology, and thus has the same poor driver support that CrossFire has suffered from including:

- Poor support for next gen DirectX 10 games at launch

- Poor scaling and compatibility on games that are not top benchmarks

2) ATI has not been able to get their Quad drivers for 3870 X2 working and has delayed driver support for QuadFire until March(!). This indicates they are having serious problems with Quad support. GeForce 8800 in SLI remains the undisputed fastest gaming platform on the market.

3) GeForce 8800 GTX prices have been coming down, with overclocked versions readily available for <$449. As you can see from the attached presentation, GeForce 8800 GTX delivers superior DirectX 10 gaming performance than Radeon 3870 X2, and with overclocked 8800 GTX's available for less than Radeon 3870 X2, 8800 GTX continues to deliver the best price/performance. Even the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB beats Radeon HD 3870 X2 in a number of games and at ~$299 delivers outstanding price/performance.

Enjoy. <<3870 X2 Launch Analysis.Jan08.pdf>>

Michael Hara - NVIDIA Corporation - Vice President of Investor Relations - (408) 486-2511 - Fax: (408) 486-4511

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