Doesn't look too good for Nvidia, financial 2011 or if it is ending up actual 2011. Even if they release the cards this year the article suggests that the cards will lack supply leaving them as difficult to find as ATI 5800 series at the end of last year. "Nvidia Corp. will finally start selling its highly-anticipated GeForce GTX 400-series graphics cards as well as other products based on the code-named Fermi architecture and GF100 (NV60, G300, GT300) graphics processing unit (GPU) in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, it looks like mass availability of appropriate products is only expected in Q2 of FY 2011. “Q2 [of FY 2011] is going to be the quarter when Fermi is hitting the full stride. It will not just be one Fermi product, there will be a couple of Fermi products to span many different price ranges, but also the Fermi products will span GeForce Quadro and Tesla. So, we are going to be ramping now on Fermi architecture products through Q2 and we are building a lot of it. I am really excited about the upcoming launch of Fermi and I think it will more than offset the seasonality that we usually see in Q2,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia, during the most recent conference call with financial analysts. Earlier the head of Nvidia said that the company would ramp up production of Fermi-based chips in Q1 FY2011. Nvidia’s first quarter of fiscal year 2011 began on the 31st of January, 2010, and will likely end on the 30th of April, 2010; the Q2 of FY 2011 will last from May till late July, 2010. At present many observers suggest that Nvidia will launch the GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480 graphics cards in March or April, but it looks like the products will not be available in truly mass quantities right after the launch. Nvidia’s chief executive officer did not provide any concrete timeframes for the transition of the whole lineup to the new Fermi architecture, but said that since the owners of mainstream and entry-level graphics cards hardly demand new functionality, it is not crucial for Nvidia to update currently available “fabulous” graphics chips. In addition, the speed of the transition depends on the supply of 40nm chips by TSMC. “All of that just depends on 40 nm supply and we are trying to finesse it the best we possibly can. For the entry-level products, the truth is that the new architectures […] are probably not extremely well appreciated anyhow. People, who buy the new architectures, tend to be early adopters and they tend to be the game enthusiasts, workstation designers or creative artists or – there are very specific reasons why it really enhances their experience. Our current-generation GPUs are fabulous and all the things that mainstream consumers would use their computer for. […] I think the mainstream GPUs are really fabulous and has been enhanced recently with some really great features and so my sense is that they are going to continue to do quite nicely in the marketplace. Then we will just transition as fast as we can,” said Mr. Huang. In the fourth quarter of FY 2010 Nvidia posted revenue of $982.5 million. Sales of GPUs accounted for 58.3% of sales, or $572.9 million." - Sourced xbitlabs.
I think Krikkit is asking for a direct link to the article, not just "oh its a copy paste from such and such who is sourced from such and such" as that leaves no way to verify.
Np: Source. As mentioned in the original post it's saying financial... however with supply - demand it's arguable when it is truly available. I'd personally like to see where they got this information. But: Not my article, not my phrasing. Dont want to edit or alter something which is not mine
Alright, though the second quarter of FY 2011 for them is from may-July 2010 so it isn't as dramatic as the article makes it seem if you don't read it closely.
*goes check XS* Nope, they aren't talking arguing about it and those guys are always in the know. It's obvious Nvidia are having more than a few problems with Fermi (given their original release plans of late November/early December) and if Charlie is to be believed (as much as he is a douche about it, he DOES know people) they are fighting for yields and clocks.... Maybe they really do need a re-spin that bad, but even then Q2 2011 seems pessimistic. Considering ATI are already hyping up a Cypress refresh for the latter half of this year and their new FireGL's are set to undercut Nvidia massively it's not looking good for team green....
Ok, deep breaths now *huf* *huf* Luckily it seems the 480s and 470s will still be released in March/April, which is what I'm personally waiting for. What must be being delayed are things like the 410s, 420s etc, as well as the more serious CAD cards. If they delay for much longer though, I'm going to wait for a 2GB 5870 to come out.
current gen is fabulous.. o rly I guess we are just all idiots why don't they just say it.. can't make them right now because of a redesign
One minute Fermi being released next minute its not who f*****g knows I think I'll just wait really dont want to get a ATI card and what I've got is more than good enough.
I'll wait until ATi fills the market with HD5850s and maybe that refresh. Once that happens things will be much cheaper since there's most stock than demand.
Information I got, suggest that Fermi is now in production and packaging. I don't know which Fermi though... Quadro's, mid range Geforce or high-end Geforce... all of them no idea. I do know that this process take a long time. As hardware manufacture first tried to reduce their older GPU stocks, producing the GPU, testing, packaging, marketing, etc. a process that easily take several months. People where able to see fully functional Fermi's GPU's (CES if I recall correctly), and demo's where done to the media showing it's impressive power. So Fermi is done, this is clear.
having a few cherry-picked chips for a trade show and having hundreds of thousands for realse are 2 different things. no-one is doubting that fermi is done, but people are wondering if they can produce them in quantity. also, nvidia didnt give any benchmark results at CES (having best-case scenario comparisons doesnt count). so are they having clocking issues to do with yields? if these boards are in production and packaging (as you say), how comes we havent had any specific pricing? all I have heard is 'around $500', and i even doubt that.
