NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 Final Clock Speeds Announced

[malware]

NVIDIA finally revealed the clock speeds of the GeForce 9800 GX2 codenamed D9E-40 today to its partners. Stock speeds for all 9800 GX2 cards are set to 600MHz for core, 1.5GHz for shaders and 1GHz for the yet to be finalized in size GDDR3 memory. Hypothetically the card's performance should be slightly higher than 2 x 8800GT in SLI. Today also marks the start of GeForce 9800 GX2 working sample shipments to all NVIDIA partners, so expect more and more pictures of the cards over the net from now on. The official launch is less than a month away on March 11th, two days after the end of CeBIT 2008.

Source: VR-Zone (http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/GeForce_9800_GX2_%28D9E-40%29_Clocked_%40_600MHz/5572.html)

[xmountainxlionx]

slightly heigher than 2 8800gt's in sli?

[substance90]

LoL! This card REALLY sucks... nothing special! I want something new and revolutionary. Come on nVidia!

[phanbuey]

I wanna wait and see... what is with this 9800 moniker? are they afraid these wont sell if they name them 8800's or 8900's? Because i can guarantee them that these wont sell either way if the drivers are not perfect and if it doesnt absolutely destroy the 3870 X2. Oh well wait and see... looks pretty gnarly tho.. 2 8800GT's in SLI is nothing to shake a stick at.

[jbizzler]

I want to know more about audio on this card. The pics I've seen include an optical audio out port. Does this mean it will have audio-processing on board? Do you hook it up to another sound chip? I'm never interested about new, super-duper perforamce. It's things that change the overall design of a PC that interest me.

[nguyenpeter76]

seems reasonable since the 3870x2 is sli 3870 and 3870 are priced aroung 8800gt's...

[paul06660]

I think that it would be smarter to wait for Quad Crossfire drivers and get dual 3870 x2's.
It sounds like Nvidia is getting worried about loosing profits to the HD3000 series ATI cards.
Sounds like they are rushing the 9800 to market without taking their time in R&D.

If the 9800 GX2 is only "slightly" faster than 2 8800 GT's in SLI then that makes it about equivalent to 2 regular 3870's with GDDR4 in Crossfire, or mabie 1 3870 x2. I would rather have 2 regular 3870's in Crossfire because the higher memory bandwidth of GDDR4 memory and the 512 bit (2x 256 bit) interface.
I bet you anything Nvidia will want somewhere in the neighborhood of $500-$700 for the 9800GX2. This is a total waste of money in the performance vs. price arena.

[fitseries3]

I want to know more about audio on this card. The pics I've seen include an optical audio out port. Does this mean it will have audio-processing on board? Do you hook it up to another sound chip? I'm never interested about new, super-duper perforamce. It's things that change the overall design of a PC that interest me.

that's half the reason i got a GT in the first place. i was disappointed to find out audio never made it on the card. WTF nvidia? it's not that hard.

i still think the GX2 is gonna be a piece of crap. the gpu's face each other and don't allow for any type of cooling upgrade other than strapping a fan to the card to keep it from melting inside your computer. they are even putting a sticker on the card to warn people not to touch the card when you machine is on because it will burn the S*** out of you. what does that say about temperatures?

in all reality... nvidia is just chasing ATI in the quad gpu war

[russianboy]

I had a 9800.

It was a good card, not nearly as good as this 9800.

ATi will always have the best 9800.

[trog100]

ati lead nvidia follow.. green will always win the power race but at the expense of heat..

the original 8800gt only came into being because of the planned 3870.. the new green x 2 is only there because of the 3870 x 2..

long live ati..

trog

[cdawall]

all of you are pissing about this card not being revolutionary would any of you complain if you got one for free cause i sure as hell wouldn't! If NV finally gets its head out of its ass maybe this card will be priced around the 3870X2 and we will see a real performance competition between green and red

[fitseries3]

im in no way a fanboy for either team. i've had almost every 8series nvidia card to date in quantity. im currently using the ATI X2's and i will say they are my first 2 ati cards ever.

does anyone other than TROG see the heat problem with the GX2? nvidia is pretty much telling people "hey, the gx2 will overheat on you. get one now."

i will be getting a 9800gtx later this year... it should be a WAY better card.

[cdawall]

im in no way a fanboy for either team. i've had almost every 8series nvidia card to date in quantity. im currently using the ATI X2's and i will say they are my first 2 ati cards ever.

does anyone other than TROG see the heat problem with the GX2? nvidia is pretty much telling people "hey, the gx2 will overheat on you. get one now."

i will be getting a 9800gtx later this year... it should be a WAY better card.

want to give me you 3870X2s when you get a 9800GTX :roll:


and as with the old 7900GX2 it will be one hot running card im sure!


personally i want to see them throw 2+ 9600GT cores on one PCB (like the 3870X2) and sell that for 6-way sli

[fitseries3]

no way. not gonna get rid of the x2's

[MikeJeng]

I had a 9800.

It was a good card, not nearly as good as this 9800.

ATi will always have the best 9800.



What the heck are you talking about :wtf:


ATi's 9800 sucks so much lollipops. It can't play pong without blowing up. I have it.

[Scrizz]

What the heck are you talking about :wtf:


ATi's 9800 sucks so much lollipops. It can't play pong without blowing up. I have it.

wth you talking about, I have a 9800Xt and can play BF2 no problem, not bad for and old card :toast:

[ShadowFold]

LoL! This card REALLY sucks... nothing special! I want something new and revolutionary. Come on nVidia!

+9000

SLIGHTLY more powerfull than TWO of last gens cards? Wtf is this? I thought it was suppost to be some killer next gen card..

[Xaser04]

This is nvidias answer to the hd3870. The true next gem card will follow after. Tbh if this turns out faster than 2 8800gt in sli then that would make it quite alot faster than the ati card.

Btw this is my first post on my iPod touch so sorry about the grammar/spelling

[Tatty_One]

The strange thing here is that the GX2 is actually two 8800GTS's in one card so I find it very strange that it should only perform around the same level as two GT's in SLi? we will have to wait and see, I am seeing 3870x2's hit over 21,500 points in 3D Mark 2006 with the right rig to back it up, NVidia at CeBit claimed I beleive that the GX2 was at least 20% faster...........either they are lying based on this or my maths has gone bad :eek:

[Tatty_One]

ati lead nvidia follow.. green will always win the power race but at the expense of heat..

the original 8800gt only came into being because of the planned 3870.. the new green x 2 is only there because of the 3870 x 2..

long live ati..

trog

Lol, damn my memory must be bad, and there was me thinking that NVidia had DX10 cards on the market a full 6 months before ATi......I must have got it wrong and it's clearly the other way round......fook I am gettin old :eek:

[yogurt_21]

atctually, though the 2900 came out 6 months after the 8800 series, it had been in development much longer than the 8800 had. you've got to remember that the 2900 was severly crippled in it's final stages of development by the aquisition of ati by amd. had that not taken place, the card would have launched much closer to date.

between the two there no real saying somebody follows the other, it seems more of a release date thing to me.
first to shader 1.0 between the two of them ati
shader 2.0 also ati
3.0 nvidia
4.0 nvidia

looks even so far right?

first to 4 pixel pipelines ati
8 ati
16 nvidia
24 nvidia

hmm even again
now lets talk shaders
first to impliment shader architecture ati
16 shaders ati
48 shaders ati
128 nvidia
this is where the trend was priro to the 2900's release, it's kinda funny as ati started the shader architecture, got game devs on board and then abadoned it in favor of a stream processor setup. (which while better on paper doesn't seem to perform to potential in real gaming)

so then there's
the whole stream processor thing, yeah ati

so since the stream processor is a flop, it cancels out with one of the shader accomplishments and makes it a level field. (though truly the nvidia fx sereis should also be a demotion)

seems to me nobody's leading anyone else. each company tries new things with the technology they have, since many game devs were heading toward a shader architeture nvidia decided it was the way to go, ati decided 64 was enough and put 5 stream processors per shader instead. to each his own.

the only thing that's clear is that ati experimented and lost on this opne, we'll se if nvidia's experiement with the 9800 gx2 will be the same.

[Hawk1]

Lol, damn my memory must be bad, and there was me thinking that NVidia had DX10 cards on the market a full 6 months before ATi......I must have got it wrong and it's clearly the other way round......fook I am gettin old :eek:

LOL It was a figment of your imagination, ATI's been competitive this whole time. The 2900's came out in xmas 06 and were on par with the 8800's.:p

Anyway, not sure how the GX2 is going to pan out. Will probably beat the 3870x2 maybe 5-10%, but at the cost of heat and, of course, at a price premium. My .02, but we'll see.

[Tatty_One]

LOL It was a figment of your imagination, ATI's been competitive this whole time. The 2900's came out in xmas 06 and were on par with the 8800's.:p

Anyway, not sure how the GX2 is going to pan out. Will probably beat the 3870x2 maybe 5-10%, but at the cost of heat and, of course, at a price premium. My .02, but we'll see.

Cannot understand everyones issue with heat/power draw, if everyone was really that concerned (before the card has actually arrived with whatever cooler partners put on them)....then noone would have bought the 2900XT :D

[Hawk1]

Cannot understand everyones issue with heat/power draw, if everyone was really that concerned (before the card has actually arrived with whatever cooler partners put on them)....then noone would have bought the 2900XT :D

Nah, it's usually just the fanboys (myself inc.) trying to draw out the shortcomings.:D

People who buy these types of cards usually have no issues with power consumption, as they probably already have a 1200w PSU and are itching to get them for Quad/Six SLI, as long as they are the "top dog" card at the moment. I'm sure some companies/AIB partners will figure out a way (if necessary) to reduce heat/watercool these things.

And the speculation mounts:)

[Tatty_One]

Nah, it's usually just the fanboys (myself inc.) trying to draw out the shortcomings.:D

People who buy these types of cards usually have no issues with power consumption, as they probably already have a 1200w PSU and are itching to get them for Quad/Six SLI, as long as they are the "top dog" card at the moment. I'm sure some companies/AIB partners will figure out a way (if necessary) to reduce heat/watercool these things.

And the speculation mounts:)

Very true :D

[ReTiCuLe]

lol, what really makes me el o l is Nvidia and ATi always do this.

I believe most of the time we make more speculation than anything to be left in disappointment
with a new card hitting the market that's equal in performance or slightly higher or the price is just slightly lower.

What it all boils down to in the end, is we either are going on the Nvidia or ATi bandwagon, since neither companies ever release something significantly faster that doesn't take the next company more than 2-3months to release something equal or slightly faster...

I hope I made sense..

[Hawk1]

lol, what really makes me el o l is Nvidia and ATi always do this.

I believe most of the time we make more speculation than anything to be left in disappointment
with a new card hitting the market that's equal in performance or slightly higher or the price is just slightly lower.

What it all boils down to in the end, is we either are going on the Nvidia or ATi bandwagon, since neither companies ever release something significantly faster that doesn't take the next company more than 2-3months to release something equal or slightly faster...

I hope I made sense..

Agreed, although I would never say they NEVER release anything significantly faster that the other company can catch in 2-3 mo. Nvidia has its G80 that blew away all last generation cards and is, arguably, still on top after almost 1.5 years, and ATI had the 9700 that NV took a while to catch. It's been rare, but it definitely happens.

[ReTiCuLe]

True but not often enough =(.

I can't justify buying this card, nothing out or coming out takes advantage of it other than Crysis.

[zOaib]

True but not often enough =(.

I can't justify buying this card, nothing out or coming out takes advantage of it other than Crysis.

crysis is only left as a benchmark , the game for me is not replayable after i beat it three times in 3 different difficulty settings , gets boring , the graphics are amazing but u need fun an enjoyment too ...................... although i jumped for the hd 3870 x2 , ill be keeping this till they come out with some new tech video cards , and i am very sure it will keep me in good hands for a while too =)

i sold my 8800 gts (g92) to get the x2 , i wud have gone for this 9800 gx2 but its gonna be the same slap job like the 7950 gx2 , which was a piece of crap ( horrible drivers ) and never got refined to make use of it properly , i bought it kept it for 3 days and sold it on ebay , they should have not been too lazy and just put 2 cores on one pcb ......... o well.

[imperialreign]

Agreed, although I would never say they NEVER release anything significantly faster that the other company can catch in 2-3 mo. Nvidia has its G80 that blew away all last generation cards and is, arguably, still on top after almost 1.5 years, and ATI had the 9700 that NV took a while to catch. It's been rare, but it definitely happens.

actually, the market was quite competitive between the two up through the X1900 series - it was the acquisition of ATI by AMD and the resulting 2900XT fiasco that put them far behind schedule, and ATI have been busting balls to catch back up.

[TooFast]

as far as im concerned the 9800 gx2 is not a single card solution like the 3870 x2. Its just 2 cards glued together. Nvidia got scared and rushed this product.

[imperialreign]

I'm sure, also, that nVidia will go their "flood-the-market" strategy with this release also. When nVidia feels threatened, they're quite known for having all their licensed brands release their individual new products all on the same day.

ATI does also, but they tend to stagger their licensed brands out a bit more. You might have a couple launch one day, then a few days later another couple will launch. nVidia goes all or nothing!

[ReTiCuLe]

as far as im concerned the 9800 gx2 is not a single card solution like the 3870 x2. Its just 2 cards glued together. Nvidia got scared and rushed this product.

That's all fine an dandy but.. imo the 3870x2 seeing as it doesn't perform that much faster than an 8800 GTX. Here are some quotes from another forum, which I do agree with.


8800GTXs over an 3870x2, for several reasons.

1: it's drivers are mature, whereas the 3870x2 has no mature drivers, and therefore, eats dirt on a lotta games, literally, compared to even an 8800GT.

2: the 3870 is not made to directly compete with the 8800GTX in terms of performance, it's made to make a good price vs. performance match, verses higher end NVidia cards.

3: ATI focuses more on image quality than frame rate. What does this mean? You're a lot more likely to be able to turn some serious pretty-crap on with a 3870 than an 8800GT, and still get good frame rates.

4: the 3870x2 has 512MB of RAM, per GPU, from what I know. The 8800GTX has 768MBs of RAM, that means it handles higher resolutions better, usually, in most games, as higher resolution = more textures loaded in to the card, and games like CoD4, Crysis etc. have so many textures that 512MB of RAM isn't really enough at resolutions like 1920x1200 and 2560x1600... heck, 768MB of RAM ain't enough for a video card at those resolutions, in my opinion.

Here's a review of the card, facing it against the 8800GT: http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/490/11/ I put it on the page that's Crysis since that's an important game, to me at least. As you can see, it only gets 6FPS over a 8800GT, single card setup. 8800GTXs in SLI get a lot better FPS than that. But they're also a lot more expensive.

[eidairaman1]

as far as im concerned the 9800 gx2 is not a single card solution like the 3870 x2. Its just 2 cards glued together. Nvidia got scared and rushed this product.

They were thinking 2 PCBs are better than 1 like the 7950 GX2, Besides TBH if people try to Compare the 9800 GX2 to the 3870X2 they are honestly Mistaken cause the 3870X2 was a experiment to see what they could do and they succeeded on beating out the 8800 Ultra also it would be old tech vs new which always doesnt go well. Im sure ATi Has something to Combat the 9800 GX2 up their Sleeve and i don think its the X2 card.

[ReTiCuLe]

I hope so. I just find it rather sad the direction AMD has gone with things especially the phenom. It seemed when they were separate companies things were a little more prompt and efficient.

[imperialreign]

They were thinking 2 PCBs are better than 1 like the 7950 GX2, Besides TBH if people try to Compare the 9800 GX2 to the 3870X2 they are honestly Mistaken cause the 3870X2 was a experiment to see what they could do and they succeeded on beating out the 8800 Ultra also it would be old tech vs new which always doesnt go well. Im sure ATi Has something to Combat the 9800 GX2 up their Sleeve and i don think its the X2 card.

not the 3870x2, anyways . . . if what little bit we've seen leaked about the upcoming HD4000 series, I wouldn't be surprised to see ATI offer a second x2 based off of that platform; and if that goes over well with the RV770, and whenever they decide to launch the dual-core R700, you can bet two R700s will find their way on to a single PCB.

Just basing this off of how ATI has coordinated staying on nVidia's toes in the past . . . ATI will find one small thing that they excell over, and flaunt nVidia with it while the green camp tries to haphazardly stay a 1/2 step ahead. Remember the shader wars back during the heyday of the ATI 1000 series? Remember the GDRAM wars during the same timeframe? IMO, we're going to see ATI stay nippin' heel of nVidia for a while, until nVidia stops their panic offerings and goes back to the drawing board.

[Bluefox1115]

Just remember. This isn't final, set in stone. We still don't know how much memory it's going to boast, or shaders and what not.. I have a feelings it's going to be more like better than 2x8800GTX's in SLI, at around the same price as a single GTX. Makes sense wouldn't it? I mean, they have Tesla technology.. if they can build computers to run from a GPU, they can make a better video card. :D

[strick94u]

I cant wait for matrox to release its next card and prove once and for all they have the best video cards ever (2d) all this fanboyezim is stoopid Ati and Nvidia are both so freaking close it don't matter now does it:shadedshu Matrox Rules :nutkick:

[eidairaman1]

I cant wait for matrox to release its next card and prove once and for all they have the best video cards ever (2d) all this fanboyezim is stoopid Ati and Nvidia are both so freaking close it don't matter now does it:shadedshu Matrox Rules :nutkick:

So if they are so great why arent you running one :nutkick::slap:

[zOaib]

That's all fine an dandy but.. imo the 3870x2 seeing as it doesn't perform that much faster than an 8800 GTX. Here are some quotes from another forum, which I do agree with.


8800GTXs over an 3870x2, for several reasons.

1: it's drivers are mature, whereas the 3870x2 has no mature drivers, and therefore, eats dirt on a lotta games, literally, compared to even an 8800GT.

2: the 3870 is not made to directly compete with the 8800GTX in terms of performance, it's made to make a good price vs. performance match, verses higher end NVidia cards.

3: ATI focuses more on image quality than frame rate. What does this mean? You're a lot more likely to be able to turn some serious pretty-crap on with a 3870 than an 8800GT, and still get good frame rates.

4: the 3870x2 has 512MB of RAM, per GPU, from what I know. The 8800GTX has 768MBs of RAM, that means it handles higher resolutions better, usually, in most games, as higher resolution = more textures loaded in to the card, and games like CoD4, Crysis etc. have so many textures that 512MB of RAM isn't really enough at resolutions like 1920x1200 and 2560x1600... heck, 768MB of RAM ain't enough for a video card at those resolutions, in my opinion.

Here's a review of the card, facing it against the 8800GT: http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/490/11/ I put it on the page that's Crysis since that's an important game, to me at least. As you can see, it only gets 6FPS over a 8800GT, single card setup. 8800GTXs in SLI get a lot better FPS than that. But they're also a lot more expensive.

Crysis was specifically optimized for Nvidia and i owned a 8800 gts g92 before i got my hd 3870 x2 and i know the difference ...... here is another review giving u a different story where the radeon is neck and neck or faster than an ultra here .............. so reviews to me are guidelines not set in stone , i score 17k + on 3d06 which is way more than what that guy got on his system , and thats on stock settings ................. everything is relative , but an 8800 gtx is not better than hd 3870 x2 , and i run a 28 inch monitor , and i ran a 8800 gtx from a friend of mine to play crysis to compare with 8800 gts g92 , and both cards crapped out at my max resolution , on the other hand i get a nice framrate at 1680 x 1050 from this card ........................... plus its the same price as a 8800 gtx and 200 dollars cheaper than an ultra.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5356&Itemid=40&limit=1&limitstart=1

the only good thing about the nvidia cards is i got my money back from selling them , so no complaints there.


PS. it still doesnt stop me from tryign out the 9800 gx2 when it comes out ................ i am just spoiled that way =P

[indybird]

I think this will be a very good card for several reasons:
1) 8800GTS > HD3870 therefore 2x 8800GTS > 2x HD3870
2) Nvidia couldn't possibly make the same driver mistake they did w/ the 7950GX2, and if they do then they need to work on their quality
3) This card is most likely designed to compete w/ the HD3870X2, nvidia won't release this card unless it competes both price-wise and performance wise

The only thing I worry about is the heat issue. I could see them releasing it with a heat issue, but we'll see how that turns out.

Believe it or not though, the only thing stopping me from getting an HD3870X2 is the fact that none of the ATI chipset companies offer a "Step-Up" Program which I feel is a necessity with all of these new cards coming out in spring.

-Indybird

[imperialreign]

I still get the feeling that the GX2 might not be as up to snuff as everyone is hoping that it will be - we'll have to see. Usually, when nVidia is going to be offering a sure-fire thing, they're quick to jump the gun and get the benches out for everyone to see . . . although, they could be playing off of everyone's anticipation.

Still, though, if this offering does flop - that'll be a major boost for ATI, as they've been needing for nVidia to have a little slip-up.

If it doesn't flop, and actually does what they claim it too; ATI will be hot on their tails with the 4000 series, and they'll try another dual-GPU PCB design again, which would more than likely put them back on par with where they are right now. ATI is betting on their superiority in a dual GPU setup, and hoping that nVidia burns themself trying to compete on ATI's terms. I truly, seriously, 100% forsee this going to ATI slapping 2 dual-core GPUs on one board, hoping nVidia will try to put two single-core GPUs on one PCB (which I have the feeling would just fall extremelly short), and if they don't go that route, who wants to bet that nVidia will have the balls-crazy idea to epoxy 3 or 4 PCB's together instead of just 2?

Just trying to look at the market from a 3rd perspective - it's looking more and more like ATI has lead nVidia into competing in a section of the market that ATI does extremelly well in; we've already seen early specs for the HD4000 series, the 3870x2 is going over a lot better than many thought it would, and we all know the dual-core R700 is right around the corner . . . and the only multi-GPU setup we've seen from nVidia is the GX2. I sure hope they have an ace up their sleeve if they want to keep as much of a performance lead as they have.

[Bluefox1115]

and so NVIDIA is trying to BUY AMD.. :wtf: I think that would be badass..

[phanbuey]

and so NVIDIA is trying to BUY AMD.. :wtf: I think that would be badass..

That would be terrible... nvidia bought 3dfx too... look what happened to them. if nVidia buys ATI we can say goodbye to market competition... which is why i dont think theyre in any danger of doing that, as there are laws against monopolistic mergers.

[imperialreign]

the only notion I gave towards humoring the thought of nVidia buying AMD - has nothing to do with Intel wanting to get into the GPU ring, but instead, nVidia not being able to design a competitive dual-core GPU as ATi is doing.

[zOaib]

I think this will be a very good card for several reasons:
1) 8800GTS > HD3870 therefore 2x 8800GTS > 2x HD3870
2) Nvidia couldn't possibly make the same driver mistake they did w/ the 7950GX2, and if they do then they need to work on their quality
3) This card is most likely designed to compete w/ the HD3870X2, nvidia won't release this card unless it competes both price-wise and performance wise

The only thing I worry about is the heat issue. I could see them releasing it with a heat issue, but we'll see how that turns out.

Believe it or not though, the only thing stopping me from getting an HD3870X2 is the fact that none of the ATI chipset companies offer a "Step-Up" Program which I feel is a necessity with all of these new cards coming out in spring.

-Indybird

good analysis, but i will still bend towards them making this card ridiculously priced and its going to have massive driver issues , if i am proven wrong i got no worries , gx2 is my next card. =)

[Bluefox1115]

lolol. all out of no where... there is like.. no nvidia chipset boards that are AM2+, solely because AMD wants people to buy their ATI cards now? Err...

[ShadowFold]

I think ATi should become a single company again and let Nvidia buy AMD.. Not like they have anything good coming out anyway lol

[strick94u]

So if they are so great why arent you running one :nutkick::slap:

Oh come on even matrox deserves ! fan boi:laugh:

[eidairaman1]

That would be terrible... nvidia bought 3dfx too... look what happened to them. if nVidia buys ATI we can say goodbye to market competition... which is why i dont think theyre in any danger of doing that, as there are laws against monopolistic mergers.

So if there was laws against Monopolistic Mergers, why hasn't Microsoft and Oil COmpanies been Blammed for it and then forced to divide into totally different companies- no parent-child companies, but equal ground companies that have no ties to each other.

[phanbuey]

So if there was laws against Monopolistic Mergers, why hasn't Microsoft and Oil COmpanies been Blammed for it and then forced to divide into totally different companies- no parent-child companies, but equal ground companies that have no ties to each other.

Monopolistic Mergers are not allowed to occur. Microsoft never MERGED to become a monopoly, they became one due to ultracompetitive business practices, therefore a merger could have never been prevented since one never took place. OIL companies HAVE been split. Mobil, Exxon, Chevron (and e few others) now have no ties to each other. But they used to be one big company called Standard Oil - the biggest monopoly in history of monopolies. OPEC, on the other hand, is not under US jurisdiction, otherwise they would be guilty of price fixing, and would be disbanded.

My comment before is slightly incorrect and does not take into account all the legal technicalities associated with mergers. But if nVidia wants to continue trading on the US market, they would not be allowed to buy out AMD.

[Tatty_One]

Monopolistic Mergers are not allowed to occur. Microsoft never MERGED to become a monopoly, they became one due to ultracompetitive business practices, therefore a merger could have never been prevented since one never took place. OIL companies HAVE been split. Mobil, Exxon, Chevron (and e few others) now have no ties to each other. But they used to be one big company called Standard Oil - the biggest monopoly in history of monopolies. OPEC, on the other hand, is not under US jurisdiction, otherwise they would be guilty of price fixing, and would be disbanded.

My comment before is slightly incorrect and does not take into account all the legal technicalities associated with mergers. But if nVidia wants to continue trading on the US market, they would not be allowed to buy out AMD.

You are quite right however, they can occur in certain circumstances, I am not suggesting this would be one of those circumstances but for example, if the merged company were losing money and possibly faced closure of business then it might be allowed......because, if it ceased to trade that in itself would result in a monopoly etc etc if you get my meaning, also another way to get round this could be not to sell a company but to sell a division or sub division of a company......you may notice there is a trend here that may fulfill requirements as I beleive ATi is no longer a company but a division of a company and it too is working at a loss........is this pure speculation or a clever move by AMD? :D

[Bluefox1115]

I dunno.. I would have liked to see NVIDIA and AMD merge. AMD has some kickass processors for the price, and when combined with NVIDIA, delivers sick performance. Althought there are nice ATI cards too.. I think AMD took a big loss, and just now starting to make some of the money back, not as profit though, but for financial loss payoffs..