I agree, but if my memory serves me right, nvidia has been winning for the past 5 or so generations of graphics cards. They come out slow, and end up freight training past ati at mid cycle.
Keep in mind, nvidia is about to release the gtx 485, which is a cooler/faster 480.
2x Intel Xeon 5680 12 Cores (2x6 Cores)@ 5.0ghz.* EVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard.*Kingston Hyper-X 48gb(12x4gb) DDR3 1600.* 3x OCZ Colossus SSD 1.5gb (3x500gb) Raid 0.* 2x Enermax 1250W PSU. 4x EVGA GTX 480 Quad-SLI.* Samsung F3 1TB Storage Drive.* Custom Watercooled (EK 2xCPU/4xGPU Blocks, 2xMCP655 Pumps, 3xXSPC Dual Bay Reservoirs, 3x480 GTX Radiators, 24x Scythe GentleTyphoon AP15 Fans in Push/Pull).* 3x Dell 3008wfp 30" IPS Monitors.* ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 PCIe
Although i agree Nvidea push the power boat out a lot more than ATI do, its not accurate to say Nvidea have been beating ATI - Ati just, to me, seem more like a reliable, flexable brand. Its like yeah, if ive got an infinite money pool, and was building my dream gaming PC, yeah, nvidea ALL the way. However, as a guy whos doing alright, but not rich, i feel ATI are generally a useful card. E.G a couple of months back i was looking at a graphics card update, from the ATI 4350, there were plenty of cheap, but higher power upgrades available.
Also, ive had Nvidea graphics cards before, and from my own PERSONAL opinion, they always seem to have some sort of error, bug, issue or hidden fault, mainly with the drivers.
I've killed just as many nvidia cards as I have ati cards. ATI isn't cheap either, the 5870 is still $350-$400, and performs worse than the $300 gtx 470 now. The 5970 still retails at $700, and barely edges the 480 in crossfire games... vs a single gpu.
ATI isn't winning the value war either in the performance area. Now the sub $200 cards, yes ati is doing good... till the gtx 460 and 450.
2x Intel Xeon 5680 12 Cores (2x6 Cores)@ 5.0ghz.* EVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard.*Kingston Hyper-X 48gb(12x4gb) DDR3 1600.* 3x OCZ Colossus SSD 1.5gb (3x500gb) Raid 0.* 2x Enermax 1250W PSU. 4x EVGA GTX 480 Quad-SLI.* Samsung F3 1TB Storage Drive.* Custom Watercooled (EK 2xCPU/4xGPU Blocks, 2xMCP655 Pumps, 3xXSPC Dual Bay Reservoirs, 3x480 GTX Radiators, 24x Scythe GentleTyphoon AP15 Fans in Push/Pull).* 3x Dell 3008wfp 30" IPS Monitors.* ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 PCIe
I dont think you taking into account the VAST ammount of differently abled cards that ATI has to offer. Its like the ATI cards go from £10 to £20 to £30 to £40 to £50 etc etc with different power, different target market aimed cards. Nvidea are more like £25 £55 £85 etc etc. Although Nvidea are in my opinion, brilliant at the raw power their top end cards can deliver, ATI, i would imagine, make many, many more sales than the nvidea graphics cards, just on the huge variety they have. Think of it like Cola (nvidea) and diet cola (ati). Yeah, cola is awesome, but diet cola is different, but still nice, and suits more people for different reasons.
2x Intel Xeon 5680 12 Cores (2x6 Cores)@ 5.0ghz.* EVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard.*Kingston Hyper-X 48gb(12x4gb) DDR3 1600.* 3x OCZ Colossus SSD 1.5gb (3x500gb) Raid 0.* 2x Enermax 1250W PSU. 4x EVGA GTX 480 Quad-SLI.* Samsung F3 1TB Storage Drive.* Custom Watercooled (EK 2xCPU/4xGPU Blocks, 2xMCP655 Pumps, 3xXSPC Dual Bay Reservoirs, 3x480 GTX Radiators, 24x Scythe GentleTyphoon AP15 Fans in Push/Pull).* 3x Dell 3008wfp 30" IPS Monitors.* ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 PCIe
for dx11 cards sure, they have a good selection I'm not discounting them that. But you need to put your fanboyism away. Nvidia still has their dx10 cards that are still good performers for the dollar. Granted I am disapointed at their dx11 lineup not being diverse. I do give nvidia points for crushing the performance lineup.
2x Intel Xeon 5680 12 Cores (2x6 Cores)@ 5.0ghz.* EVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard.*Kingston Hyper-X 48gb(12x4gb) DDR3 1600.* 3x OCZ Colossus SSD 1.5gb (3x500gb) Raid 0.* 2x Enermax 1250W PSU. 4x EVGA GTX 480 Quad-SLI.* Samsung F3 1TB Storage Drive.* Custom Watercooled (EK 2xCPU/4xGPU Blocks, 2xMCP655 Pumps, 3xXSPC Dual Bay Reservoirs, 3x480 GTX Radiators, 24x Scythe GentleTyphoon AP15 Fans in Push/Pull).* 3x Dell 3008wfp 30" IPS Monitors.* ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 PCIe
We've gone from ATi being better to ATi having better price per performance to ATi having a better selection. Let's just sit back and admit that nVidia is winning the current war (overall, as ATi still owns the $100-200 bracket), and ATi will eventually leapfrog back to the number 1 spot like they always do.
Any other argument is insanity.
For god's sake, don't waste money on Windows
2x Intel Xeon 5680 12 Cores (2x6 Cores)@ 5.0ghz.* EVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard.*Kingston Hyper-X 48gb(12x4gb) DDR3 1600.* 3x OCZ Colossus SSD 1.5gb (3x500gb) Raid 0.* 2x Enermax 1250W PSU. 4x EVGA GTX 480 Quad-SLI.* Samsung F3 1TB Storage Drive.* Custom Watercooled (EK 2xCPU/4xGPU Blocks, 2xMCP655 Pumps, 3xXSPC Dual Bay Reservoirs, 3x480 GTX Radiators, 24x Scythe GentleTyphoon AP15 Fans in Push/Pull).* 3x Dell 3008wfp 30" IPS Monitors.* ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 PCIe