Kings of the Overclockers - a ViperJohn Interview
ViperJohn's view on the PC IndustryYouGamers: The GPU / video card industry is in a constant state of development. What's your take on the current state of the industry? Is is a good time to be in the market for a new video card? VJ: NVIDIA and Intel are just soaring with the eagles right now and ATI/AMD is just gushing red ink from its collective jugular. I have real concern that DAAMIT (popular acronym for the new AMD/ATI collective - downwiththekids Ed) can remain viable over the next 18 to 24 months. I do not think there is ever a good or bad time [to be in the market for a new card], except maybe right after a new card is launched. You just have to understand that what is top end today will be mid-range a year later.
 ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT YouGamers: What do you think of the recent graphics cards launches, such as ATI's R600 release? VJ: "Total disaster" comes to mind - LOL. The [ATI Radeon HD] 2900-series were supposed to be competitive with NVIDIA's best from the get-go. When the 2900 FUBAR'ed with delays to no end, ATI had no choice but to drop out of the top-end market this go 'round. YouGamers: Developing a new GPU from the ground up requires a vast array of financial and intellectual resources, and the finished products are by no means cheap. Is research and development the major cost burden, or does developing and honing the chip manufacturing process consume the bulk of the resources? VJ: I honestly do not know anymore. (Good answer! - equally-as-stumped Ed)
YouGamers: As high as the clock speeds on ATI's Radeon HD 2900 and NVIDIA's 8800 series are, can they be pushed higher? How much overclocking overhead is available in contemporary video cards? Does the binning process effectively negate overclocking potential on mid-range and high-end cards?
VJ: Most  NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra
YouGamers: With GPU heat loads increasing as transistor count increases, modern graphics cards are drawing far more power and putting out more heat than before. While this is nothing new for computer hardware, how much life does the standard heatsink/fan design have left in it, even for stock video cards? VJ: The air-cooled card will not go away and will be around for years. Smaller die process sizes will keep the heat in check and "air coolable", in the same way as they have with CPU's.
YouGamers: GPUs are gradually making inroads to become more general-purpose processing tools. Of the two major aftermarket GPU manufacturers, ATI and NVIDIA, who is better positioned to take advantage of non-graphics processing tasks, with regards to hardware and software tools? VJ: I really couldn't say but I think AMD is more in tune in that area than NVIDIA. They are the ones that really want Fusion between the CPU and GPU and that was one of the factors in their decision to acquire ATI. Unfortunately, I think the inclusion of the GPU into the CPU is more driven by bottom-line profit than by performance. With Fusion, if you want to upgrade your graphics performance you have to upgrade the CPU at the same time. That is a marketing/sales dream come true!!!
YouGamers: Do you have any opinion (that you're willing to share) on AMD's purchase of ATI, particularly in regards to ATI's long-term outlook in the enthusiast video card market? VJ: I do not think AMD had too much choice there. It was either expand or die. It is very possible the R700 may be the last discrete graphics chip you see come out of AMD/ATI, and a lot will depend on how that GPU's development and release go. AMD is pretty much taking ATI apart now and the top ASIC and R&D engineers that were with ATI have fled the coop.
Related StuffTags |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
8800 Ultras
Articles: 
