nvidia and ati unite ( not really )

GJ02 · 15 Feb 2009 at 16:36

but suppose they did, one bought the other out.
what sort of things could you expect if you were to put the best bits that nvidia had to offer together with the best bits that ati offer.

FrenchTart · 15 Feb 2009 at 16:38

I'd expect worse cards at higher prices. Competition is a good thing for consumers.

As this is hypothetical I won't go on about how unlikely it is to happen of course.

gurusan · 15 Feb 2009 at 16:42

Aekeron said:
I'd expect worse cards at higher prices. Competition is a good thing for consumers.

x2

muppetkiller · 15 Feb 2009 at 17:32

It be very bad if they joined. Or if one had to close down.

arc@css · 15 Feb 2009 at 17:42

Cons : Lack of competition. (as above the prices)

Pros: reliability and robustability of ati? driver optimization of nvidia? Overclockability I think its debatable depending on the models as opposed to comaparing each company with the other.

wellibob · 15 Feb 2009 at 18:35

ati and nvidia together = FAIL

Andr3w · 15 Feb 2009 at 19:02

They could charge what they wanted, as there is no competition

lay-z-boy · 15 Feb 2009 at 19:09

We would never know as it won't happen.

Unless, however, there are other big players in the market and one of them magically obtained a few mill/bill to play with. (market monopoly laws and all that)

555BUK · 15 Feb 2009 at 19:13

Will never happen.

Axil · 15 Feb 2009 at 19:14

wouldn't get past the monopolies commission

bru · 15 Feb 2009 at 21:29

Axil said:
wouldn't get past the monopolies commission

why wouldnt it ...there are many chip manufacturers and nvidia and ati are only two of them.
they both produce the chips but niether of them actually make the cards themselves, its all reference designs we get to see but any manufacturer can design thier own board if they want to.

Uriel · 15 Feb 2009 at 21:35

Aekeron said:
I'd expect worse cards at higher prices. Competition is a good thing for consumers.

^^
This.

However, it might not be so bad once Intel get their act together.

VaderDSL · 15 Feb 2009 at 21:38

They should make an unofficial alliance, and agree to a 12 month cycle

1 year ATI has the best card, the next year Nvidia has the best card

spend the time inbetween the hardware cycles on drivers/support for DirectX

Helios1234 · 15 Feb 2009 at 21:47

Aekeron said:
I'd expect worse cards at higher prices. Competition is a good thing for consumers.

rjk · 15 Feb 2009 at 23:21

intel would wade in tbh

Pilky01 · 15 Feb 2009 at 23:22

They would not bother making any new cards, whack the prices up and watch the profit flow in.

TheCenturion · 15 Feb 2009 at 23:25

if it did happen, we'd have to force every pc enthusiast not to buy a single card, as no matter what the price would be, it would be 5 times more than what it should be.

elmuzzy66. · 16 Feb 2009 at 07:25

Never mind the cards they would make, think the of super fan boys it would spawn

Schnippzle · 16 Feb 2009 at 11:18

rjkoneill said:
intel would wade in tbh

mike gunnz · 16 Feb 2009 at 12:05

VaderDSL said:
They should make an unofficial alliance, and agree to a 12 month cycle 1 year ATI has the best card, the next year Nvidia has the best card spend the time inbetween the hardware cycles on drivers/support for DirectX

This would lead to artificially high prices from both camps and blatant collusion over price fixing which is of course illegal. We the consumer would would be the only losers.