Well, considering how fast ATI is coming out with these cards (2900 to 3800 to 4800), and how quickly it is trying to take away the lead the 9800 GX2 has established (ATI cards are set to come out in May), it would be foolhardy to assume ATI will sit back and watch the GT-200 keep the performance crown JUST because it represents a newer generation of cards.Originally Posted by grimREEFER
I have no doubt that the GT-200 WILL take the crown, but expect ATI to respond quickly, even if it isnt the most convincing response i.e. they will release a card that gives close performance to it at a lower price range, but it might not beat it. I am not talking about the 4870 X2 here, which may be shortlived thanks to the GT-200. The 480/32/16 config is cheap and easy for ATI, and will most likely give it a sufficient boost to battle the 9800 series, as ATI likes to play catch up with Nvidia in an annoying tit-for-tat way.
However, the RV670 and RV770 represent architectures that have a lot in common with each other, and if Nvidia were to make the GT-200 a vastly powerful card (a single card beating the 9800GX2), ATI, while still on the same type of architecture, can probably go 640/32/16 or 480 /32/32 or any similar configuration with little difficulty considering how fast they are ramping up to smaller processes (45nm later this year). The worst case scenario for ATI would be that the GT-200 is far too powerful far too soon, forcing it to play a pricing game with Nvidia (which it can do considering the similar architecture to RV670), but with the inability to take a faster card out for at least 5-6 months after release (being stuck with possibly slower 48x0 until end of 2008). Worse case scenario for Nvidia is that it doesnt blow the 4870 at $299 or 4870 X2 at $499 out of the water (whichever price range it ends up in), which is unlikely, knowing Nvidia.
I would hate to see this being decided on a drivers war X(
Perkam
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