Friday, August 15th 2008
AMD Aims Higher, 50% Market-share in Discrete-graphics in Sight
Following the release of the R700 Spartan, the most powerful graphics card till date, AMD has noted that the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series products has boosted the company's market share in the discrete graphics industry from 30% to 40%. This has triggered optimism with the company, it expects to achieve the 50% mark against rival NVIDIA corporation, and that's as soon as late 2008, continuing the introduction of its products, surpass NVIDIA in 2009.
AMD also noted that it expects its discrete graphics card to IGP ratio in notebook shipments will be 35:65 in 2009. Meaning there will be growth in the sales of notebooks with discrete graphics in general against integrated graphics. NVIDIA rubbished AMD's comments saying it has the performance lead with its GeForce 200-series graphics products, while AMD claimed its Radeon HD 4800-series were clearly the more advanced lot.
Source:
DigiTimes
AMD also noted that it expects its discrete graphics card to IGP ratio in notebook shipments will be 35:65 in 2009. Meaning there will be growth in the sales of notebooks with discrete graphics in general against integrated graphics. NVIDIA rubbished AMD's comments saying it has the performance lead with its GeForce 200-series graphics products, while AMD claimed its Radeon HD 4800-series were clearly the more advanced lot.
77 Comments on AMD Aims Higher, 50% Market-share in Discrete-graphics in Sight
A GX2 on 65nm still just doesn't make sense.
As far as SLI vs Crossfire goes it looks like Nvidia wins this battle more often than not.
Below is a comparison based on running a game at the highest resolution and settings over 60fps (except Crysis and STALKER) with the highest AA/AF possible from this website www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/2008/test_...eon_hd_4870_cf_geforce_gtx_260_sli/20/#abschnitt...[erbase.de]
Crysis 1680x1050 4xAA/16xAF the GTX260 (29fps) SLI is 9% faster
Company of Heroes 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF and the GTX260 (70.4fps) SLI is 27% faster
Lost Planet 2560x1600 1xAA/1xAF the GTX260 SLI (61.9fps) is 32% faster and this goes up to 118% at 8xAA/16xAF but the game is not playable at this frame rate.
World in Conflict 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF the GTX260 SLI (62.4fps) is 50% faster
Assassins Creed 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF and finally a win for the 4870 CF (62.5fps) which is 7% faster.
Unreal Tournament 3 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF another win for the 4870 CF(86fps) which is 9% faster.
STALKER 2560x1600 1xAA/1xAF the GTX260 SLI (52.6fps) is 28% faster.
Rainbow 6 2560x1600 1xAA/16xAF another win for the 4870 CF(80.8fps) which is 34% faster. However when you go to 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF the difference is 1% but the FPS is only 40.6.
Gothic 3 2560x1600 1xAA/16xAF the GTX260 SLI (60.3fps) is 164% faster. Clearly CF is not working in this title.
FEAR 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF the 4870 CF (79fps) is 16% faster. Oddly when AA is off the GTX260 SLI is 29% faster.
Clive Barker's Jericho 2560x1600 1xAA/1xAF the GTX260 SLI (68.9fps) is 39% faster.
Call of Duty 4 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF the 4870 CF (79fps) is 6% faster
Call of Juarez 2560x1600 1xAA/1xAF the GTX260 SLI (68.9fps) is 3% faster.
If the GTX260 performs better at higher resolutions in most games and is still above 60fps in the games it "loses" then you would get better all-round performance from a GTX260 SLI configuration at lower resolutions as well.
The GTX260 therefore is better value in the long term as games become more demanding since you can add a second card for more performance and SLI appears to have better support in more games at present.