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Nvidia has praised its biggest competitor AMD, as the two prepare to lock horns over Christmas.
Both have released high-end graphics cards in the last few months – the AMD Radeon R9 290X and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti – with AMD directly pitching the 290X against Nvidia’s previous flagship card, the Titan, by calling it a ‘Titan-killer’.
“The recently announced R9 290X is a good graphics card,” Matt Wright (pictured), consumer sales manager of distribution for Nvidia, told PCR when asked about the competition.
“However, reviews have suggested that it is in fact not always faster than the Titan and the argument of a ‘Titan-killer’ now becomes irrelevant as we have the fastest GPU on the planet with the new GTX 780 Ti.
"You pay for the very best and in the world of GPUs, that is not always about it being the fastest, but also about class leading levels of acoustics, heat and efficiency.This is why Nvidia is considered the best."
YoYoTech MD CK told PCR that Nvidia’s 780 Ti could cause AMD to lower the prices of some of its cards.
“I think there will be a price war – and we need that, to be honest. The banter between AMD and Nvidia gets everybody talking and creates excitement around the cards,” he said.
However, James Gorbold of Scan Computers said that AMD might struggle to compete: “It’s going to be difficult for AMD to lower the price of the 290X before Christmas,” he said.
Nvidia’s Wright stated that the rivalry between the firms was beneficial to the market as a whole, and added that the evolution of the market also means that next-gen consoles are no threat to the PC gaming industry.
“AMD is a great competitor, which is good for the industry as it drives us both to achieve more and push graphics even further,” he said.
“The new generation of consoles will no doubt innovate and narrow the gap, but what you can’t forget is that the PC keeps advancing while consoles will stay fixed for several years. It’s clear today that the PC is leading the way in games, which from a sales perspective is only a positive thing.”
Neil Spicer, senior sales manager at AMD EMEA agreed, telling PCR: “The market has become really fun again and the ultimate winner is the end user. It is healthy for the industry to have two technology giants pushing the boundaries of gaming.”
