Why don't we tell ATI/nVidia what we want?

[drpeterbright]

I think that we have not been vocal enough about what we want in a video card. Perhaps a combined voice would have some effect in their future plans.

What does everyone else think, and how do we get our collective voices heard?

[RDR]

I don't think the "enthusiest" segment accounts for enough revenue to actually make companies like ATi or Nvidia change their plans.....thenmainstream type units make up the bulk of the sales & I'm sure most of those buyers have no idea whether their card is DX8 compliant or what the memory clock is

[JealousMidget]

I could add to that, but... On second thought, I really can't. That says it all! :snip:

[drpeterbright]

Their efforts to court our business indicates that we have some value to them. Does anyone have the actual figures on sales in the various segments of the video card market?

[Wiggo]

< 5% of the market go to highend workstation graphics cards

7% are highend gaming cards

and around 20% are low - medium gaming cards

of the almost 70% left around 45% of these have imbedded motherboard graphics

these figures are about 18 months old but I don't think that things would have changed that much in that time ;)
<center>:cheers:</center>

[drpeterbright]

Thanks for the info Wiggo. Do you think the developers can be significantly influenced by us or any group?

[Beefy]

What can we ask for though? seriously? Apart from bigger and better, what else is there?

[drpeterbright]

Good question! What is it that we really want. Variable resistors in the appropriate places for extreme tweaking (with no warranty of course)? More on board memory? Options at a lower cost for no factory installed cooling so we could add what we want later? People would have use their imaginations.

[Beefy]

Seems like trivial stuff to me... :)

Tweaking onboard things usually voids warranty
More RAM doesn't mean better performance
Most people like the stock cooler, as they do the job they need to

[drpeterbright]

Then it seems like a waste of time to pursue it.

[Beefy]

Unless there was something very specific that you wanted, that would be worthwhile implementing.

[drpeterbright]

Perhaps a survey or poll, but we want people to be inventive. I may want something that I've never thought of, but someone else would.

[RDR]

I think you might have better luck if you approached one of the smaller 3rd party card producers, someone like eVGA.
They would be the ones who would make the desicion to do things like leave off the heat sink.

[drpeterbright]

Good suggestion. Might be a way for them to increase their market share.