[Computer Base]ATi Radeon HD 4870 X2 Cat 9.x + GTX 295 review

[tajoh111]

I agree with hardwarecanucks sentiments, that they should not test a beta driver that is not available to the public in real review. Especially in the competing products first review. This driver was meant to entirely take the sales out of the gtx 295 momentum which is pretty dirty because this is a publically not available driver(and thus not testable by the actual public).

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-19.html

HWC got this driver but did not use it in their review because they only test with publically available drivers for good reasons. Heck, the site in this topic is the only one that did this and I can't imagine NV paying off 30+ sites off.

Some reasons that I could think of personally is optimizations that degrade image quality in actual gameplay settings or increased instability.

This type of performance gains really needs an image quality test because the gains over a single 4870 1gb is significantly over 100% in some cases. Heck these type of gains with a driver of require their own review(like big bang) because they not only require a review of the performance gains but a review of the image quality and how those gains were obtained.

[hurleybird]

This driver was meant to entirely take the sales out of the gtx 295 momentum which is pretty dirty because this is a publically not available driver(and thus not testable by the actual public).

Remember Radeon 8500? It's Nvidia that started the practice of ruining the product launches with super-drivers. They got what they had coming to 'em.

[AbelJemka]

I agree with hardwarecanucks sentiments, that they should not test a beta driver that is not available to the public in real review. Especially in the competing products first review. This driver was meant to entirely take the sales out of the gtx 295 momentum which is pretty dirty because this is a publically not available driver(and thus not testable by the actual public).

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-19.html

HWC got this driver but did not use it in their review because they only test with publically available drivers for good reasons. Heck, the site in this topic is the only one that did this and I can't imagine NV paying off 30+ sites off.

Some reasons that I could think of personally is optimizations that degrade image quality in actual gameplay settings or increased instability.

This type of performance gains really needs an image quality test because the gains over a single 4870 1gb is significantly over 100% in some cases. Heck these type of gains with a driver of require their own review(like big bang) because they not only require a review of the performance gains but a review of the image quality and how those gains were obtained.

You're so funny
What's the goal of 295GTX december "paper launch"? To spoil 4870X2 Christmas sales! Which drivers this preview used? 180.87 and 180.88 beta . Were this drivers available? I don't think so but what i know is that this card was not available!
Between testing a non avaiblable card or a non avaiblable drivers which is the worse.
http://74.125.43.100/translate_c?hl=...7RwclkMsbkLK7g

Nvidia unveiled its new high-end in mid-December. Une préannonce destinée à gêner AMD pour les ventes de Noël, ce qui est de bonne guerre. A preannounce to impede AMD for sales of Christmas, which is fair game. Nvidia en a cependant profité pour organiser des previews contrôlées de sa GeForce GTX 295 en offrant une exclusivité à une poignée de publications, en échange de quoi celles-ci acceptaient de tester la carte de la manière dont le service marketing de Nvidia l’avait décidé, c’est-à-dire en se concentrant autour de 5 jeux choisis par Nvidia, plus un jeu libre. Nvidia has however taken the opportunity to organize its previews controlled GeForce GTX 295 offering an exclusive to a handful of publications, in exchange for which they agreed to test the map of how the marketing department had decided Nvidia , ie focusing around 5 games chosen by Nvidia, plus a free game.

Pour rappel, Nvidia avait déjà essayé d’organiser des tests limités autour de ces 5 jeux entre la Radeon HD 4870 1 Go et la GeForce GTX 260+, sans grand succès. Remember, Nvidia had already tried to organize around limited testing of these 5 games between the Radeon HD 4870 1GB and GeForce GTX 260 +, with little success. Avec la promesse d’une exclusivité de nombreux confrères ont cette fois été plus compréhensifs, certains ayant ceci dit l’honnêteté de préciser les conditions du test en indiquant que l’information restait intéressante en attendant un test complet alors que d’autres, sans peur du ridicule, ont été jusqu’à expliquer avoir « choisi » ces jeux parce qu’ils sont les plus représentatifs du moment. With the promise of exclusivity many colleagues have now been more understanding, though some have the honesty to specify the conditions of the test, indicating that the information was interesting until a comprehensive test while others without fear of ridicule, were explained to have "chosen" these games because they are more representative of the moment.

End of story.
Fair play is a joke in this industry