It would be nice if...

M

menace2society

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 2, 2006
Messages
231
It would be nice if some of the manufacturers of the ATI cards offered some of the after purchase support that the Nvidia manufacturers offer:(

Evga and others offer after purchase features such as lifetime warranties and trade in programs that make a close race between ATI and Nvidia a little less competitive for me.

I looked at the warranties on the Sapphire cards http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/support/warranty.php and for me is unacceptable. Visiontek http://www.visiontek.com/teksupport/warranty/limited_warranty.html a little better still lacking key features

I love the fact that ATI is back in the game and has bought product to market that should be at the top of anyone's short list, (now here come the but) without some of the back-end support I still find it hard to click on that add to cart icon on the screen.

All though I hope never have to use the warranty and all the other back-end features, it's far better to have and not need, then to need and not have;)

I don't know, am I being to picky or what?
 
I agree wholeheartedly. My biggest complaint is a lack of third party cooler support. I watercool my cards and EVGA will still warranty it, can't find anything of that sort from the various ATI manufacturers. While I have yet to have to RMA a video card I still really appreciate the fact that the option is there. Until there is an EVGA-esque supplier for ATI cards I don't see myself going that route...even if I really really want to.
 
Perhaps those back-end features are part of Nvidia's price premium?
In all seriousness, it sounds to me that you want eVGA (or a company with similar policies) to start making ATI cards.

I don't imagine that all Nvidia manufacturers are so liberal with their warranty policies.

But you're not being too picky, first thing I did before buying a 4850 was check all the manufacturer websites for warranty info, and was slightly disappointed. All my previous cards I've owned have been eVGA and they've covered me nicely.
:(
 
A manufacturer that believes in its product should offer a warranty of at least 3 years.
I bought a Pioneer Plasma for a few thousand dollars and the warranty is only 1 year.
 
Yup..its the #1 reason i havent purchased ATI cards.

The last ATI card i had was a powercoler x1900xtx i paid $550 for and after 3mo it began overheating on me and because i didnt register with powercolors website they refused to cover it.

Now you can say its my fault for not registering the card but when you pay the money we do for these cards you'd think a company that believed in its product would back it up when the customer has the original reciept no doubt.

Until ATI and its partners wake up ill buy a card with a lifetime warranty ty very much.
 
I thought I had heard rumblings about BFG (2nd or 3rd on the nvidia AIB list for after the sale features) was going to do ATi cards, but I have yet to see that materialize. It may be in nvidias best interest to attempt to sway these AIB companies to stay nvidia exclusive (and any company worth their weight would be thinking about this) , maybe attempt to give them incentives to do such a thing. I am not saying nvidia has taken steps to do this, but I am saying this would be probably the smartest thing nvidia could do to maintain its market position, through both there high and low points.

It would be nice if ATIs AIBs stepped up to the plate to match the offerings of nvidia's AIBs, but it really comes to cost / benefit ratio. Nvidia's cards can typically command a higher price than their ATi counterparts, which means higher profit margins to both nvidia and their AIBs, which means they can afford to offer the services that ATi's AIBs cant.
 
Simpson5774 said:
Nvidia's cards can typically command a higher price than their ATi counterparts, which means higher profit margins to both nvidia and their AIBs, which means they can afford to offer the services that ATi's AIBs cant.
Click to expand...
I think you're right.
Nvidia used to own the market.
I really wonder how the current situation (ATI taking the market by storm) is gonna affect the Nvidia's bottom line or of Nvidia's partners.
 
unleashed said:
I think you're right.
Nvidia used to own the market.
I really wonder how the current situation (ATI taking the market by storm) is gonna affect the Nvidia's bottom line or of Nvidia's partners.
Click to expand...

This is just one product cycle, nVidia is still doing ok and making money and AMD isn't going to go in the black because of a single impressive launch. Remember that AMD is INTENTIONALLY under cutting nVidia to gain market share. There's no way in hell that for such an impressive product that AMD can be happy with the margins. Even if they sell a million 4800's, assuming they are making $75 bucks on average per card, that's only $75 million to the bottom line. That barely puts a dent in their red ink.

I want AMD to do well over the long term and consistently. Let's see them pump out winner after winner. That's what's good for consumers in the long term, and while I like the fantastic prices, unless they can keep up this kind of competition, they'll do alright, then nVidia and/or Intel will wipe them out for a while, then they'll struggle for years and be behind.

AMD just doesn't have a consistent winning formula. That's what's best for themselves and consumers over time.
 
heatlesssun said:
This is just one product cycle, nVidia is still doing ok and making money and AMD isn't going to go in the black because of a single impressive launch.
Click to expand...
How do you know that nVidia is OK and still making money? As of today..
I might agree with it's "just" one product cycle...
But it seems as ATI were able to quietly build a winning long-term strategy.
They've picked the right (as it appears) formula by going multi-GPU. Then got an early start with the TSMC's 55nm process node. Then successfully bet on GDDR5.
It's unclear what response nVidia is gonna come up with.
Besides it's being squeezed by Intel. One can only wonder where nVidia will be a year from now.
 
unleashed said:
How do you know that nVidia is OK and still making money? As of today..
I might agree with it's "just" one product cycle...
But it seems as ATI were able to quietly build a winning long-term strategy.
They've picked the right (as it appears) formula by going multi-GPU. Then got an early start with the TSMC's 55nm process node. Then successfully bet on GDDR5.
It's unclear what response nVidia is gonna come up with.
Besides it's being squeezed by Intel. One can only wonder where nVidia will be a year from now.
Click to expand...

Well I don't as of today. But look at the latest financial statements from both companies. One made money and one didn't. And AMD isn't be squeezed by Intel?:p

If one product cycle sets a company, then AMD should have ruled the world with the 64 bit Athlons. Way ahead of Pentiums. Then along comes Core.

But you are right. Who knows in a year. I do know that nVidia isn't going to do nothing. They are a very aggressive company right now. If the 4800 is hurting there bottom line in any meaningful way they will respond.

I don't know why tech people cry fanboyism when you talk about the financials. AMD did a great job with the 4800. But in the end in cycle after cycle of good execution that puts you in the black in the chip business.

And BTW, nVidia did multi-GPU a LONG time before ATI.
 
Wow, I never keep my video card more than a year. Couldn't care less about the warranty.
 
One of the big reasons I continue to buy Nvidia cards is the customer support companies like Evga gives to their customers. I'm not saying I don't buy ATi (My last card was a GeCube HD 3750), it's just I prefer to have great price and service when needed.
 
Sapphire one looks fairly reasonable...

If you want to take your video card appart and change the cooler and it breaks, it's your own damned fault, you have no right to get a new card because you cannot look after your first one.
 
A Step-up type program is the biggest thing missing on the ATI side, I really don't understand why one of them still haven't set one up, it has been a boon imo to evga, so much that BFG chose to follow that route also. It's a great option to have imo.
 
Frostex said:
Sapphire one looks fairly reasonable...

If you want to take your video card appart and change the cooler and it breaks, it's your own damned fault, you have no right to get a new card because you cannot look after your first one.
Click to expand...

The idea of breaking the card while changing the heatsink is not something I would warranty (no company will cover physical damage).

The idea that if I change the heatsink and nothing is damaged but something subsequently goes wrong with the card and I can still warranty it is something that I hold dear. I have watercooled 10+ cards and only ever damaged one, which I did not attempt to warranty. I have no bias towards nvidia or ati (I used to have a bias towards ATI when their video quality was noticeably better) however I do have a bias towards the nvidia vendors.
 
If you choose to use a third party air cooler on an ATI card? voided warranty
If you choose to redo the thermal compound on the chip of an ati card? voided warranty
If you choose to watercool your ATI card? voided warranty
If you overclock the card using SOFTWARE? voided warranty

Read the terms of the ATI cards warranties. Basically if you look at the card wrong they can void your warranty. This was one of the reasons i decided to just use my stepup and go from 9800GTX to GTX260. At least with Evga, i can go watercooling and as long as i dont go retarded while changing coolers and snap the card in half, they will still cover the card.
 
guitarguy6 said:
Wow, I never keep my video card more than a year. Couldn't care less about the warranty.
Click to expand...

This use to be true for me to but with video game becoming less and less pc exclusive I think this is about to change. My current situation is a prime example I have had my 8800 gtxs for more than a year now and the only game to give me trouble is Crysis. $1800 to get close to 60fsp just doesn't make sense to me:eek:

Its because I didn't keep my cards that long that programs like step-up swayed so heavily on which card I bought. I think in the future and right now for that matter how you support a product after it has been purchased is a BIG deal, and could be the deciding factor on who get my money:)
 
heatlesssun said:
Okay, you got me, but SLI was out before CF and I don't think that the Rage Fury MAXX was on this level.
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter who had it first, right now ATI is doing it better. I'm not sure about you, but I tend to buy the best currently available, not whoever was the first to have some new feature 3 years ago.

@OP: Agreed on the ATI AIB partners. That is pretty much one of (if not the) only reason I'm even considering a 9800GTX over a 4850. I love my BFG card, and I would love to get another BFG, but ATI's got the better product....
 
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