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Thread ID: 45504 2004-05-24 06:12:00 Confusion about Ati video card manufacturers kiki (762) Press F1
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238927 2004-05-24 06:12:00 Hi,

I'm having some confusion about some Ati video cards. For example (I'll quote Metla's site here (computermedic.co.nz))

1) Do Ati manufacture their own video cards??? If they contract out the design and slap an 'Ati made' sticker on it, who actually made the card? Some no-name company?

I know they definitely sell their design off to other OEM manufacturers like Gigabyte, Asus etc.

2) Are the supposedly Ati manufactured boards as good quality or as fast as some of the OEM ones? Like do they use high quality RAM etc?

3) Why do the video cards supposedly manufactured by Ati have a higher price tag on them?

4) Are there programs that you can use on your computer to tell who manufactured the video card you've currently got installed?

Thanks in advance :)
kiki (762)
238928 2004-05-24 08:06:00 . kiki (762)
238929 2004-05-24 08:51:00 Ati don't make video cards (as far as I'm aware - well they might as well, but that's not their main business). They make the GPU that goes on the video cards, just like NVidia do (they don't make video cards either).

Its much the same as Intel/AMD making CPUs. They don't typically make the whole computer, but the CPU that is in it. So HP might make a computer and call it a Pentium 4. Asustek might make a graphics card and called it an ATI Radeon or whatever.

ATI make the chip, the other companies make the board to put it on.

Mike.
Mike (15)
238930 2004-05-24 09:14:00 Well thats the confusion right there. I think they actually do make them but can't find any supporting evidence except for on random forums. Who made the video card in the link above?? That doesn't show off any manufacturers at all?

Apparently Ati used to make their own cards all along for quality control. But your guess is as good as mine.
kiki (762)
238931 2004-05-24 09:18:00 Meh....caught with my pants down,the video card section of my site is grossly out of date....

Anyhow,ATI design the chipset and sell the rights to manufacter it to other companies,the deal being that the unit has to be of a certain quality....which in reality is not always the case,certain cards are better then others.Plus some companies negotiate a deal where they can make lower spec models and sell them in pre-configured machines.

ATI have always however manufactured there own cards as well,The Original ATI cards are harder to get and go for a higher price.Recently ATI announced they were scaling back the amount of ATI manufactured cards produced because being the prefered model many companies felt they were hurting the market ,Meaning the companies who paid for the rights to manufacture there own branded cards felt they shouldn't have to compete with ATI.
metla (154)
238932 2004-05-24 09:20:00 >Who made the video card in the link above?? That doesn't show off any manufacturers at all?

The card on my site is manufactured by ATI,however like i said the site is out of date......Im afraid your link is about to not work.
metla (154)
238933 2004-05-24 09:33:00 Allrighty,I have removed the item from the site,but to in order to keep some base for the topic i took a screenshot and uploaded it so people can see what the thread starter was refering to.

sal.neoburn.net


Guess i had better get around to putting the available cards on the site.
metla (154)
238934 2004-05-24 09:35:00 Thanks metla that makes a sense. But are the Original Ati's better than other manufacturers versions? Faster???

I've recently purchased an Ati Radeon 9800pro on TradeMe and the person said they aren't sure who the manufacturer is!! I tried to get her to put it into a machine to find out but she doesn't have one available! Then I showed her pictures of an Original Ati box and she says it doesn't look anything like that, and that the box is now at the office awaiting courier so she can't look at it. She did however say the video card looked like the pictures in this auction (www.trademe.co.nz), but does that mean its an original Ati if it just looks like that???

I don't want to get the card and then find out it's made by some el-cheapo manufacturer because I clearly paid $420 for an original Ati. How can she claim she doesn't know who made the thing, shouldn't the box or card say who made it?

Luckily I'm using safetrader, if its not what I expected I can get a refund. But it will mean I've wasted time and like $30 on fees and postage. :|

Ideas?
kiki (762)
238935 2004-05-24 09:40:00 i'm not to sure of the current sitution however ATI did make there own cards and they where the only ones to have the fastest vers. ie to buy the top end model/fastest ati card you had to buy an ATI made one. all other manafactures where slower than ATI's own card.

i'm sure a quick google or ATI site search should tell you if this is still true.
tweak'e (174)
238936 2004-05-24 09:54:00 >>But are the Original Ati's better than other manufacturers versions? Faster???

They are garenteed to be of a certain quality,this i believe is what made them "the card to get" in some circles,Other manufacters certainly made cards of as good and probally better specs somewhere along the line,i even think Hercules stoped prodution of there line of cards because ATI refused them permission to implement there improvments.

As to your purchase...can't really shed any light on it,Guess you will find out once it arrives,personally i would have asked what the default clock speeds were,being oem it could be anything.
metla (154)
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