We will just have to disagree on this point.


Can you provide an example of them doing this? I don't remember seeing them make any such specific request.


Hmmmm. That's a tough question. To answer that I guess we have to move away from NV marketing and actually list the applications available/useful for consumers. I went to the CUDA site and looked through every single app listed there. I ignored all the listings for doing math and topography and various esoteric calculating processes. While great for colleges and oil companies, I don't think they are really consumer oriented. That leaves the below list:

• PowerDirector 7, video editing, $119.95/$69.95
  they also support ATI Stream technology so you can go either way on this one.
• CoreAVC Professional, video encoding, $14.95
  While it's listed at NV as using CUDA, their site claims that functionality will be added at some point in the future, free on ATI
• SETI@home, finding aliens, Free
  You win this one. you can find aliens faster with an NV card
• Flame Fractals, screensaver, Free
  w00t, everyone needs another screensaver
• TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress, video encoder, $99.95
  another video encoder, CUDA must be really good at this but it's still free on ATI
• Flowball, game, free
  well, it's listed as a game at NV but going to the owner's website shows it's just a video of a game, fail
• Folding@home, cure diseases, free
  clients for ATI have been released before NV clients since day one, better stick to finding aliens
• Badaboom, video transcoding, $29.99 + $7.99 if you ever want to be able to download it from them again even though you've paid for it
  Well, I give them credit for charging for bandwidth but this is still free with ATI
• ArcSoft Media Theatre 3, DVD palying software, $89.99
  This thing is actually pretty cool if it does as well as their demo video shows. It dramatically improves video quality and does 1080 upscaling

If I've missed some apps please post them. I couldn't really find a "list" of them anywhere so I just looked at them one by one at NV's site. What I understand from the list there are 8 pieces altogether for consumers. One of them doesn't actually exist, one of them does video encoding and video editing, three of them do encoding/transcoding, one is a screen saver, one plays DVDs and one finds aliens. So at most you would want at one time is 5. If you aren't interested in finding aliens that goes down to 4. If you don't make your own video it goes down to three. Of those three one of them performs the same acceleration on ATI hardware so you are realistically looking at using 2 or 3 of them one of which is a screen saver.

Honestly I expected there to be more to this. NV spends a LOT of time talking about CUDA but after having looked into I see it really is as overated, at least in terms of the number of applications, as I've thought it was.


That is ridiculous. If you want to play with 3D glasses you're going to have to go with NV because everyone else, AFAIK, has quit making them. Unless you use the ever elusive hack you will need an NV card to run PhysX. Having said that, I'll pass on doing the list of games that support PhysX because the only multiplayer map I'm aware of is for UT3. Again, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I think CUDA is covered pretty well above.


Where did you get that? I explained an incident where I caught an NV guy lying. At no point did I say you should sink to that level or that you should trash talk.


Really? I would have thought it better form to just ignore this point and move on. http://forum.elitebastards.com/viewtopi ... =7&t=13807


Isn't that what I said? And NV would do the same thing. The difference is that one can't just go chat with an NV guy in a public forum. Sure, take what they say with a grain of salt, but at least you can.


Um, no. If you had already gone with AMD you could be upgrading your CPU. Now this is an AM3 chip that will work in AM2+ and AM3 boards making it backwards compatible. The i7 isn't backwards compatible with anything so if you had a Core2 or previous you are definitely buying a new system. At least if had an AMD system you have a chance for an upgrade path.

Moving forward we have every reason to expect either the AM3+ or AM4 chips will fit in the AM3 boards. So if you already have an AM2+ board you can add the 955 now. Later you can change the board to an AM3, AM3+ or AM4 board (depending on naming scheme) without changing the CPU at the same time. Then you could later add a newer proc and the cycle continues. You can't even use the same RAM between some i7 systems it's so restrictive.


It also tramples your wallet and that's what the hardware portion of this discussion is about. I'm not disagreeing that Intel has the performance crown if money be damned although I'm not sure what they've gotten up to under LN2. But I don't consider that terribly relevant so even if AMD won that battle I wouldn't care.



You shouldn't trust the AMD reps any more than the others. For that matter you shouldn't trust me either. I'm in the camp of trust but verify.

What I was trying to do with the article is characterize what the act of engaging with social media represents in more personal terms. I'm doing that because I can. I cannot do that with a CUDA campaign because there isn't anyone with whom one can be personal available.

I was at an NV event for system builders in which NV was getting them up to speed with CUDA, PhysX and 3D Stereovision. They spent quite a bit of time and slide real estate talking about how it was new technology. I asked them specifically what the differences were between it and the glasses/technology used by Asus with their deluxe cards back in the TNT/TNT2 days. The answer had more than one part. This is new. It is wireless. It requires a different kind of display. Some stuttering and more than a few ums. It ended with me being escorted out of the room to take my question offline.

So even when you do have the ear of someone at NV you don't just get ignored, you get removed.

It is possible to hit the AMD guys up with tough questions and do so in a non-confrontational way so that they can answer without feeling like they are getting set up. What I'm suggesting is that rather than just float around in forums singing the praises of non-AMD stuff, you should at least think about taking your issues directly to the source.

The fact that you even have the opportunity to do that in a public blog is unique to AMD. At the end of the day I think they have some pretty big balls to do this. There are lots of little Intelites running about talking about how great Intel is and Nvidiots spouting off about the wow of NV. What is to prevent you or them from taking your case to AMD and getting an answer directly from the source?

You don't have to rely only on ads, campaigns or reviews or forum opinions. Roll up your sleeves and show us your internet muscles on the AMD site. You can throw my opinions out the nearest window for all their worth given the fact that you can ask AMD yourself. Where is my path to public discussion with Intel or Nvidia personnel? And I don't mean a forum where they pass by occasionally.

Can you explain this about High Road? - what is quoted below is from May and it was after ATi said hidden viral marketing was not in their DNA in February, in the thread you quoted:

i remembered the thread for reading it back then and i was just doing a little research last week and it popped up:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview ... ight_key=y

ATI hires HRC PR Firm


i think this is High Road; of course that was ATi, i don't see AMD listed as a client

http://www.highroad.com/

Boy this new guy is making this place feel more and more like Anandtech. So much for the "new and different" approach.

How is that?


He is not a moderator like Keys or Amber is - there is not any threat implied for speaking freely or discussing.
Of course, politeness is encouraged - IF there is to be a discussion it is very helpful

He likes AMD .. i like both .. you and Rollo like Nvidia
--is there a problem ?


i don't steer the discussion .. you guys do .. i will comment as any other member might
= please explain how we are becoming like another place

(i am assuming that is no compliment)

That hardly sounds like his writing would have an unbiased view to it and would need to be taken with a grain of salt.



As to the topic and AMD blog would just be another marketing mouth piece and it would be highly doubtful that they could freely post whatever they wanted.

NO WAY!

Those AMD "rebels" are speaking their mind about AMD products, good, bad , or indifferent!

Don't get to used to the "rebels" who say anything the slightest bit negative about AMD though- they're never heard from again.

I don't think I'm going to get into an argument with iRoXoR over the 3 year old news of the hidden focus group though- that's probably been discussed once or twice or 8 million times before.

not true .. you can like a product and/or a company .. and all of us have biases; yet, you can be credible as he is. He acknowledges where the other vendor may be superior in an instance but points out what you pay for that perceived superiority as a balance.

He is speaking of where AMD *does* excel - and that is in bang for buck - average joe right through hardcore gamer. Perhaps the highest end 30" dual display on TriSLi would need intel's fastest overclocked [Super-Expensive i7] CPU which AMD doesn't have - OTHER THEN THAT, AMD provides excellent value


And yet you dismiss all his *other* arguments by fixating on what i asked him. He did answer your points.

The point is that given the adoption rate of 775 and AMD not having a compelling reason for 775 owners to switch, they're basically expecting people to make lateral moves. The market of people who hadn't purchased 775, or had AM2, is not exactly the huge market.


ATi transcoding doesn't exactly get rave reviews though does it?


I wasn't aware multiplayer maps were the definition of useful physics acceleration?


I said NFG has been transparent for years, your point linking to a 3 year old article was? Like Apoppin noted, ATi hired a viral marketing firm after they said "it wasn't in their DNA".


Ah so biased info is good if it comes from direct contact.


Therein lies AMDs main problem- very few people bought AM2 motherboards that support Phenoms.



AMD did the same when they had the top product, my FX cpus cost a bit.


I was minding my own business at E3, and a pack of AMD guys beat me up and stole my wallet! Wait...what?!....you don't believe me?!

Easy fix for that. Simply add him to your Foe list. Poof, all posts by him gone.

i am willing to bet that Wreckage will not do that. it is not his style.
- not one bit

He loves to engage .. even from the bottom of an ATi dogpile - he was not complaining about the goings on at ATF[really]
= he is bragging as a martyr would do.




However, the difference is that the mods don't care .. they are not enforcing a site PoV here. Even though Ir0x0r, is a contributing editor here and will defend and explain his articles, it is not like other forums where you really don't get to engage the author and posts are edited and deleted.

i would say it is a pretty level playing field here. Frankly, i find it refreshing