Posters Name: Kagato
Posters Email: kagato@mwgl.org
Subject: Nvidia Planning To Make All GeForce FX Cards
News:
This story has been floating around a few of the news sites today. In case you've missed it, Nvidia is deciding to produce ALL the new GeForce FX cards themselves and then ship them off to the manufacturers for modifications and packaging.
Requiring a twelve-layer PCB due to the complexity of its higher frequency design, Nvidia’s top-end GeForce FX card is expected to hit the market after the Chinese New Year in late February. Instead of allowing graphics card manufacturers to design and produce their own products, Nvidia is said to have decided to place orders at certain EMS (electronics manufacturing service) companies itself and then sell the finished products to card makers to better control the quality.I can see it from their side about wanting to control quality, I mean nobody wants their name smeared because some 3rd party vendor did a horrid job, shipped a bad product, and then Nvidia takes the hell because users blame their chip instead of the vendor. At the same time, you're stuck with whatever Nvidia decides to do with the board rather than getting a choice based on what some of the other manufacturers decide to do (red PCB, video out, etc.). NOt to mention, it'll mean less competitive pricing for the end users.