The Fight for the PC Ecosystem - AMD vs nVidia - via Watch Dogs

[wraith808]

Why 'Watch Dogs' Is Bad News For AMD Users -- And Potentially The Entire PC Gaming Ecosystem

Caveat Before the quote:

Update 1: I’ve posted benchmarks for Watch Dogs across a wide range of AMD and Nvidia hardware.

Update 2: I’ve just finished an illuminating call with Nvidia’s Cem Cebenoyan, Director of Engineering, Developer Technology. Suffice to say, Nvidia disputes just about every claim made by AMD in this article. In the interest of fairness, I’ll be posting a follow-up piece as soon as possible.

Basically, each company tries to get a competitive edge.  But- how much of that can be at the consumer's detriment?  nVidia holds 60% of the market, AMD the other 40% (not exact numbers, and there are smaller players- but for all intents and purposes, that's how the pie is sliced).

AMD is calling out nVidia on the point that their optimization licenses are restrictive to the game industry working with both card manufacturers to deliver the best game possible, no matter the video card.  nVidia's framework in this regard is closed source, while AMD's is open.

There was another investigative piece on ExtremeTech on this very issue.

There are tests in that article which are ... concerning to say the least.  I suppose I'll have to wait for the updates to see what nVidia had to say on the issues.  But more monopolies are definitely not better for the consumer, as much as they benefit the developers (one target) and of course the company with the market dominance.

[Innuendo]

Nvidia has demonstrated time and time again that they are a very unscrupulous company. I'm not saying AMD is any better, but Nvidia has an unmistakable track record. From inflated benchmarks, knowingly selling defective products and doing nothing about it, and a laundry list of other shenanigans, they have a reputation for not playing nicely.

[40hz]

Nvidia has demonstrated time and time again that they are a very unscrupulous company. I'm not saying AMD is any better, but Nvidia has an unmistakable track record. From inflated benchmarks, knowingly selling defective products and doing nothing about it, and a laundry list of other shenanigans, they have a reputation for not playing nicely.

-Innuendo (June 01, 2014, 10:05 AM)

Agree 100% with all of the above. AMD can be a pain at times. But Nvidia has gone completely over the top these last several years.

[wraith808]

And the response.

What really concerns me as a gamer is that there is this war going on right in front of our eyes to decide our future in regards to gaming, and most of us ignore it.