ATI Vouchers Unlock CS: Source BETA

[SALAMIjedi]

HL2 is optimized for ATi and Doom3 is optimized for Nvidia. (YES THOSE EXACT WORDS, and its legal too) the only thing is... when Nvidia contracts companies to optimize for their own cards, recently they also tell the company to make sure it runs fairly worse on other cards (this is especially the case for Doom3 where Nvidia would make a grand profit if they rigged Doom3 in their favor, not to mention they have STALKER anh Halo2 as well), they also pay them not to patch as much.



if you take a look at farcry, the patches only seem to address Nvidia issues. Well thats because Nvidia tells them to do that. IT ALL BUSINESS, and we are the ones getting screwed, the competition is screwing us over.



about the CS:S more ppl invited, just be happy with what you get.

[xlokix]

GameHopper wrote..

SEEMS LIKE SOMEONE IS PISSED CUZ SOME CHIP MANUFACTURER JUST GO REAMMMMEEED



fucking ATI/VALVE.



doom 3 live on :)

You do know doom3 is optimized for NVIDIA right? That's why it will have the gay NVIDIA screen there when you load the game. If anything, I'm glad VALVe has a sort of deal with ATi.

[HankPym]

SALAMIjedi wrote..

HL2 is optimized for ATi and Doom3 is optimized for Nvidia. (YES THOSE EXACT WORDS, and its legal too) the only thing is... when Nvidia contracts companies to optimize for their own cards, recently they also tell the company to make sure it runs fairly worse on other cards (this is especially the case for Doom3 where Nvidia would make a grand profit if they rigged Doom3 in their favor, not to mention they have STALKER anh Halo2 as well), they also pay them not to patch as much.



if you take a look at farcry, the patches only seem to address Nvidia issues. Well thats because Nvidia tells them to do that. IT ALL BUSINESS, and we are the ones getting screwed, the competition is screwing us over.



about the CS:S more ppl invited, just be happy with what you get.

You make some interesting claims, but can you back them up?



Unless you can provide some kind of evidence, I can't believe your story.

[HobblinHarry]

If I use my voucher for CS:S Beta does that make the voucher invalid from that point forward? Cause I still want to use it to get Half-Life 2!

[Zips]

HankPym wrote..

You make some interesting claims, but can you back them up?



Unless you can provide some kind of evidence, I can't believe your story.

Are you questioning the fact that Doom 3 is optimized more towards nVidia cards and HL2 is optimized more towards ATI cards?



It just boils down to the fact that nVidia cards run OpenGL a lot better then D3D. ATI cards run D3D a lot better then openGL. It's how it's basically always been. I really hope however that HL2 runs very smooth for me as I just bought a 6800GT (up from my old ATI 9200) based on price, benchmarks, and reviews (not what games the companies are gearing towards).

[rizzuh]

GameHopper wrote..

of course they arent going out to say that. But with a 40% speed advantage using a standard graphics API sounds a bit supsicious. Noted, ATI does reign on DX performance but going out of your way to state such a speed increase with out any more information sounds like some sort of promotion rather than fact.

But of course, NVIDIA running faster on DOOM 3 (which uses a "standard graphics API") is completely logical and makes total sense. Only Valve and ATI are evil. id Software and NVIDIA are greatness!



The new ATI and NVIDIA cards haven't even been benchmarked on HL2. Why don't you hold your horses instead of accusing Valve of fixing anything in ATI's favor?

[xlokix]

Edited by [user="41447"] @ [time="1090535912"]

HankPym wrote..

You make some interesting claims, but can you back them up?



Unless you can provide some kind of evidence, I can't believe your story.

Haven't you ever bought a game and it say's "blah blah, runs best on NVIDIA" now why would they say that? And why would it run best on NVIDIA cards?



http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/03/01/news_6090372.html

there's some evidence



I'm not saying this is just NVIDIA by the way, ATI is probably doing it as well.

[Some_God]

Either way im not playing d3 until next year... when im going to build a new computer.

[HankPym]

Zips wrote..

Are you questioning the fact that Doom 3 is optimized more towards nVidia cards and HL2 is optimized more towards ATI cards?

Not at all; I was questioning the statements about deals and contracts between the game developers and video card manufacturers.

xlokix wrote..

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/03/01/news_6090372.html

there's some evidence

Thanks for the link. Of course deals are occasionally struck for companies to plaster "Optimized for NVidia cards" or whatever, I'm just not sure how far I believe this goes. I think the part that really got to me was:

SALAMIjedi wrote..

when Nvidia contracts companies to optimize for their own cards, recently they also tell the company to make sure it runs fairly worse on other cards

Can anyone back this up? Keep in mind, I wasn't calling the guy a liar, just asking for some proof.

HobblinHarry wrote..

If I use my voucher for CS:S Beta does that make the voucher invalid from that point forward? Cause I still want to use it to get Half-Life 2!

No, you can still use the voucher for HL2. Wasn't there already some deal where the voucher owners get access to all Half-Life mods, with the possible exception of Condition Zero?

[GameHopper]

Edited by [user="3346"] @ [time="1090540987"]

rizzuh wrote..

But of course, NVIDIA running faster on DOOM 3 (which uses a "standard graphics API") is completely logical and makes total sense. Only Valve and ATI are evil. id Software and NVIDIA are greatness!



The new ATI and NVIDIA cards haven't even been benchmarked on HL2. Why don't you hold your horses instead of accusing Valve of fixing anything in ATI's favor?

valve and ATI are evil :P



you have a good point though, but seeing some benchmarks rather than having Gabe spit out some stuff would be nice and some more information on the settings and the actual cards.



40% is a large margin and i would like to see why this is happening.



Just another note, I think the increase in 6800 performance also has to do with the fact that nVidia has had the latest build of Doom 3 to optimize from their end for much longer than ATI (my friend works there). Could be because ATI leaked the previous build and ID doesnt trust them anymore.

[Snakebyte]

Does anyone know if any of the newer ATI cards, like the X800s, come with the HL2 voucher? Or did they end that deal with the 9600/9800s?

[GameHopper]

peagle wrote..

But did he make it clear whether the ATI coupon gets you the HL2 that comes prepakaged with CS-S or the single player HL2 version...?

anyone have an answer for this?

Snakebyte wrote..

Does anyone know if any of the newer ATI cards, like the X800s, come with the HL2 voucher? Or did they end that deal with the 9600/9800s?

nothing yet: http://www.ati.com/gitg/promotions/halflife2/index.html

[Smurfzilla]

Snakebyte wrote..

Does anyone know if any of the newer ATI cards, like the X800s, come with the HL2 voucher? Or did they end that deal with the 9600/9800s?

yep, deal ends with the newer ones, the newer ones give u a webcam and CZ, not hl2

[GameHopper]

Smurfzilla wrote..

yep, deal ends with the newer ones, the newer ones give u a webcam and CZ, not hl2

i bet valve paid valve to put this web cam thing in so it can catch cheaters more effectively.



im joking guys. don't. flame. me.~

[Equalizer!]

Edited by [user="158393"] @ [time="1090542829"]

I think it's best to wait for HL2 to actually come out, then start buying your hardware. That's the best thing you can do :)



I might wait for it to come out and then buy a top of the spec Dell. Then I know HL2 will run fine on the system. Or I could either upgrade my computer manually of course.



And you're going to have to do this if you want to run HL2 or CS Source anywhere near 90 fps. I wouldn't trust relying on existing hardware, only if you want to run HL2 and CS Source with average fps (40, 50...)