MIG-31

Source: Digitimes
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With the launch of Nvidia's first next-generation GPU, the GeForce 9600 GT, less than a day away (February 21), AMD has sent out a pre-emptive strike against the new competition, pointing out that AMD has, in its opinion, had cards offering similar, if not better, features on the market for the past three months.

With 9600 cards expected to hit the market at suggested retail prices in the range of US$169-189, this puts them up against AMD's current mid-range offering, the Radeon HD 3850, at between US$169-229. However, early benchmark results show the 9600 GT delivering performance just slightly below that of AMD's higher-end product, the 3870, which carries current pricing of around US$189-250 and above.

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brutusmaximus

and the email which leaked

As you know, the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3850 in November saw the introduction of new gaming and multimedia features with incredible price/performance that our competition is having a hard time matching even now. Since the launch, our AIB partners have delivered to market a wide selection of HD 3850 products in a variety of configurations, ranging in price from $169 to $229, but generally found around $189. As Nvidia introduces the 9600 GT to market, they’re claiming that they’ll hit a price of $169 to $189, but we encourage you to check come launch day (8800 GT at $199?!). In some cases, the 9600 GT may well be priced in the territory of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 – a product that handily outperforms the 9600 GT.

Price isn’t the only consideration. Even with three months under their belt, Nvidia still lacks in competitive features. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the outstanding capabilities found in the ATI Radeon HD 3000 series that are still untouched:

Support for today’s and tomorrow’s games with DirectX® 10.1 – Gamers want to get the most for their money. They don’t want to find that a graphics card they bought just a few months ago doesn’t play the latest games. AMD is committed to extending gamers’ investments with support for the latest gaming APIs such as Microsoft DirectX® 10 and beyond.

Cooler, quieter cards using 55nm process technologies – By focusing on the latest process technologies, AMD is driving power requirements and heat production of new GPUs down without sacrificing performance. Lower power supply and cooling requirements mean that more gamers have access to AMD’s leading GPU technology. It also results in GPUs that are less expensive to produce and therefore lower priced graphics cards.

Maximizing energy efficiency with ATI PowerPlay™ technology – Delivering increased control over power consumption, ATI PowerPlay™ technology results in dynamic adjustment of clocks and voltages depending on their usage scenario.

High-definition decode acceleration for both H.264 and VC-1 formats – Through Unified Video Decoder (UVD) technology, multimedia enthusiasts get exceptional platform efficiency and image quality for HD-DVD and Blu-ray™ decoding for both H.264 and VC-1 specifications.

Integrated dual-link HDCP – With the variety of graphics offerings on the market, consumers don’t want to have to guess as to whether the product they want has the ability to play back protected content at high resolutions. All HD 3000 series products have integrated dual-link HDCP, ensuring that all cards are capable of playing back protected HD content at resolutions up to 2560x1600. With the 9600 GT, HDCP is still an option, and one that some partners may choose to leave out.

Simple, seamless HDMI functionality – The HD 3000 series includes integrated audio over HDMI without cables so users don’t have to worry about connecting an S/PDIF (if they have one), making it a cinch to get a big screen multimedia setup up and running.

As you test the 9600 GT, you may want to pit it against competing HD 3850 cards. One of these cards comes from HIS which is a TurboX edition. The HIS HD3850TurboX currently sells for $189 at etail.

The HIS board is just one example of the many HD 3850 options available today, including features like 512MB of memory, custom cooling solutions, and increased clock speeds, and all at compelling prices. Of note, GeCube is also selling an overclocked HD 3850 SKU at $179, while VisionTek sells one for $199.

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BlueMak

And yet AMD is still unable to make a driver that allowes correct aspect scaling for their cards...

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