Quote Originally Posted by NickF View Post
If that were true, nVidia would not be waiting for a third spin on its silicon (A3) right now, and it would have been launched in November.The obvious fact that Fermi is still not here is reason enough to believe that clock yields were NOT what nVidia was looking for- rather they completely missed the mark. So, I rather doubt that performance is as as outstanding as you claim.
I think we are going to see circumstances rivaling those of last generation.
-nVidia releases huge, bloated chip.
-Ati, this time feet wet in the market, drops prices and still maintains profit margins higher than nVidia.
-nVidia responds, cuts prices, loses money
-ATi responds, releases rv890-esque card
-nVidia responds, makes slightly weaker chip than its flagship to compete directly with the new ati card, and ends up destroying sales of its own flagship.

Just speculation, of course. Responding to a thread that got closed.

However, if these 40% perfromance domination over 5870 rumors are true, no amount of spinning will get ATi out of hot water. They'd essentially have to move the 5970 directly against the Fermi board, and if nVidia manages to overcome the thermals and design a nice dual chip board, ATi won't have an answer. I've seen the rumors on this 40% argument a few times, but yet to find credible reason to believe its true. Anyone have a source?
The A1 and A2 revisions were operational but yields were not fantastic nor did clock speeds measure up to targets. This is where A3 steps in. I doubt clocks will reach 100% of the original targets, but they will be quite a bit better than A2, which is a very good reason for another respin. Things are going well now and everything is on track for a launch in mid Q1.