Quote Originally Posted by tajoh111 View Post
No real bias. I might even buy a 6990 if they can keep the price around 650. I even posted pics a while back that I owned both those cards. I have been disappointed in the cards from both company this generation and have not upgraded. I am not letting this name branding slide because no one did when NV did it and alot of people are posting a stance they won't buy NV card because of the renaming antics, which is ridiculous.

The change from AMD to ATI does not justify the name series change because most people are not going to notice that. People are not going base its performance based on naming because they have been the same company for a while. The fact that some people are giving them a ticket out is ridiculous when NV got so much heat for it(which shows tremendous bias).

AMD/ATI started as a pretty nice company, but they have really took some turn for worse for their goodwill lately. Bad graphs, bad commercials and this new naming scheme is not doing favors for their credibility.

This might not get people who have 5xxx series people to upgrade(since it was so recent), but people who held back on the 5870 generation and still have 4xxx might upgrade thinking they are getting a better card than they really are. That is something substantially faster than a 5870 for a much lower price, which honestly would be something that sounds appetizing if it were the case; I think AMD is trying to do this partially as well as increase the margins for their cards. The reality if the renaming is true is that your getting something with very similar speed to a 5850 for just a tiny bit cheaper than its original MSRP. There are alot of rumors that suggest barts xt performs around this level.

What scares me this generation is pricing. The 6970 or single cayman has to be pricier than the last generation(the name suggest so and barts is obviously not going to be priced like older x7xx series) cypress which was already 400 dollars. I can easily see cayman being 500 dollars with no real competition and because AMD has the momentum right now(the stronger brand). Since cayman is bigger and the 5970 was already 700 dollars. Are we going to start seeing 800+ dollar cards. That really scares me is fermi started out so weak. Unless their is a miracle turn around(like the 4870) I can see getting raped by AMD.

I am just getting scared to see a possible monopoly like situation, which could happen, with certain people like charlie wanting to happen and this is spreading to the fanboys which don't realize the longterm consequences. I am not happy when either companies fail because it decreases competition and sometimes forces a company to sell below cost which I dislike because it really does no longterm good. FFS, what is wrong with these people. I didn't like when NV got so strong and I don't like AMD getting so strong.
A lot of what you're saying is in line with my views but some are not:

-Barts at x7xx price point is really asking a lot IMO, the chip is 270mm˛ and you want it competing price wise with a 170mm˛ chip? It's not reasonable. More reasonable would be to see Barts priced as the 4850/4870/4890.

-Nvidia is finally stepping up to the plate and we will probably see somewhat more competition from them which hopefully will lead to price cuts.

-TSMC is increasing capacity which will give AMD a chance to produce as many cards they can sell, not limited by production. This will also lead to lower prices.