Cherry-picked cards, drama and intrigue within.
It is always funny when an unethical company turns on its own supporters as Nvidia did with the latest 'all new' GT250 cards. This time however, their PR stunts cross the line from unethical to purposely false, and hilarity ensues.
What are we talking about? The rebranding of the venerable G92, aka the 8800GT, 9800GT, 9800GTX, 9800GTX+, and several other variants as the GTS250. The NDA goes up on the third of March, and we have complete scores already, but there is no difference between these cards and the older G92 cards. We will save you from having to pour over spreadsheets scratching your head wondering how it is different... it isn't at all.
The new parts are 55nm, just like the old. The clocks aren't different, nothing from a user perspective is different, other than the card losing 9550, an X and a +. Oh yeah, they are jacking up the price for the stupid as well.
Nvidia, however, is desperate to make this seem like something new. Sales are in the toilet, chips cancelled, and 40nm parts are looking unhealthy. Turd polishing time. Enter the marketeers, but they have a problem, some sites are, *GASP*, honest, and will print the truth.
Nvidia has this allergic reaction to the truth, and tries to change how it is presented at every opportunity.
This time however, they crossed the line from plausible deniability to flat out deception. In the middle of last week we heard what Nvidia was up to this time around, but just couldn't believe they would be THAT sleazy. A day or so later, HardOCP published a story about Nvidia stock 'plummeting', basically an indignant backhand for being cut out of the GTS250's launch. Point one confirmed. The rest soon followed.
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Issue: 107 | December, 2009