Sunday, December 18, 2011

Product Review: Nvidia 7900GT


It all started pretty innocently; I was playing one of my favorite PC games “Evil Genius”, (2004), when all of sudden… these black bars started appearing on the screen, extending from the top of it, all the way down to the characters I was playing in my secret underground base, making them appear as if they were marionettes, which is strangest thing I ever saw.

Afterwards I switched to playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2005 for PC) and strange things kept appearing there too. It progressively worsened as in the images below to the point I couldn’t play the game any more:





First I thought this was the issue with GTA: SA in itself. So I reinstalled the game and started all over again, deleting previous game saves. But the same issue kept appearing again. Too bad I discarded my saved game files on the first run, where I managed to complete the part of the game that happens in Los Santos, before the story forces you to escape to San Fierro. Could have saved myself repeating the same thing all over again. Thankfully, GTA has a good replay value, so wasn’t a drag to do it again.

After looking further into the graphic’s corruption. I discovered the real culprit. Nvidia 7900GT graphics card. It just wasn’t built up to scratch for the money I spent on it in April 2007. It gave out the ghost, but it turns out there is more to it then a faulty card.

In fact the Nvidia corporate honchos were very well aware thay are placing faulty or graphics cards that weren’t up to scratch on the market, thus jeopardizing the Nvidia brand with substandard product quality.

Which is exactly what they did, and yet I can bet you they commanded enormous salaries and bonuses for their supposed talent and genius. They gave that famous Nvidia “the way it’s meant to be played” splash screen marketing pitch a whole new ridiculous meaning. 

After taking my PC box to the local PC superstore with all sorts of things and gadgets on offer, the in-house repair team sombrely declared my graphics card as “Dead On Arrival”.

“What kind of new graphics card would you like? Nvidia or ATI?"
“Is that a joke?”
“No, khm… I guess ATI.”
“Yes. Only ATI.”

When it comes to marketing, Nvidia is like a sleazeball that has the gift of the gab to pick up the chicks. Eventually he is discovered as a sleazeball, but by that stage the girl has to live with what she has done. ATI on the other hand is a good guy that can’t speak up for himself, but when a girl takes him home, the odds are she will stay with him forever.

Wish ATI or AMD as it is now known would sort it @#$% out when it comes to their marketing campaigns. They really need to start communicating better to gamers about the quality of their product. And for heavens sake – simplify it!

Cut out all the confusing and endless numbers you put out and when it comes to marketing, follow Nvidia’s example, (but not Nvidia's production practices).



No comments:

Post a Comment