source : inquirer
Platinum Edition tarnished
IN AN ATTEMPT to paper over past follies, ATI decided to dump its Platinum brand and come up with something new.
Its Platinum Edition, or PE, appeared in such short supply it became known as the 'Press Edition' or even 'Pathetic Edition' such was its scarcity. It was so rare that you could barely get it. We'll applaud ATI for actually learning something from past mistakes.
Competitor Nvidia had a similar branding problem with its Ultra line, which was dumped in favour of the GTX label. Nvidia inadvertently did a great job in destroying the GTX brand with its Geforce 7800 GTX 512, which are as rare as Kiwi-bird eggs, though could earn you some nice cash should you get hold of one and flog it on eBay.
The Geforce 7800 GTX 256 was and still is widely available and may have maintained the brand's integrity had its 512 older brother not managed to ruin it all.
For its part, ATI messed up with its X800 XT PE, as those cards are rare and unavailable as well - it just could not produce those cards at those extreme speeds. Plus, Dell got many of those for its systems. Dell, as we know, is always right and gets what it wants. Its muscles are just too big.
ATI's Radeon X1800 XT was not available immediately from launch but it has now been in the shops since early November. But the chip firm assures us that the XTX will be available from day one, and that it's even better, cooler and faster than the R520. It also appears that the volume of R580 production is better than R520's.
It just remains to be seen whether Nvidia plans to stick with its GTX nomenclature for its upcoming G71.
Platinum Edition tarnished
IN AN ATTEMPT to paper over past follies, ATI decided to dump its Platinum brand and come up with something new.
Its Platinum Edition, or PE, appeared in such short supply it became known as the 'Press Edition' or even 'Pathetic Edition' such was its scarcity. It was so rare that you could barely get it. We'll applaud ATI for actually learning something from past mistakes.
Competitor Nvidia had a similar branding problem with its Ultra line, which was dumped in favour of the GTX label. Nvidia inadvertently did a great job in destroying the GTX brand with its Geforce 7800 GTX 512, which are as rare as Kiwi-bird eggs, though could earn you some nice cash should you get hold of one and flog it on eBay.
The Geforce 7800 GTX 256 was and still is widely available and may have maintained the brand's integrity had its 512 older brother not managed to ruin it all.
For its part, ATI messed up with its X800 XT PE, as those cards are rare and unavailable as well - it just could not produce those cards at those extreme speeds. Plus, Dell got many of those for its systems. Dell, as we know, is always right and gets what it wants. Its muscles are just too big.
ATI's Radeon X1800 XT was not available immediately from launch but it has now been in the shops since early November. But the chip firm assures us that the XTX will be available from day one, and that it's even better, cooler and faster than the R520. It also appears that the volume of R580 production is better than R520's.
It just remains to be seen whether Nvidia plans to stick with its GTX nomenclature for its upcoming G71.