LOSTCIRCUITS

An der diesjährigen CeBIT hatte ich unter anderem auch das Vergnügen mit Gainward. Bei dem Gespräch am Stand wurde mir auch die Karte präsentiert, die wir gleich noch etwas genauer ansehen werden, die Gainward Ultra/750 XP Golden Sample. Bei dem Gespräch mit der Sales & Marketing Leiterin von Gainward Europe GmbH wurde mir sehr schnell klar, worauf sich Gainward in Zukunft konzentrieren will. Nicht einfach nur Grafikkarten, nein es muss mehr sein denn nur wer auffällt hat heute Chancen seine Produkte an den Mann oder die Frau zu bringen. Hercules versucht das zum Beispiel schon seit längerem mit Blau eingefärbten Karten. Die Karte, die wir gleich etwas näher betrachten, ist zwar Rot aber das ist nicht ihr wichtigstes Merkmal...

During my visit at this year's CeBIT, I had the pleasure of a meeting with Gainward; while chatting at the booth, I had my first encounter with their latest graphics adapter, code name Gainward Ultra/750 XP Golden Sample which we are going to run through the motions on the next few pages. Back to Gainward, during the briefing, the key message was that just simply being a graphics card manufacturer is not enough, success in today's market requires somewhat more and if it is the optics that sell a card, then be it the optics. Just as an example, Hercules is using blue PCBs as a branding. The Gainward sample we are looking at, on the other hand, is fire-red but color is color and it appears that that card has some more to offer than just a red PCB .....

At this point we'd like to express our cordial thanks to Munich-based Gainward

     

Top and Back side of the Gainward Golden Sample, as well as the part that one usually sees on any closed case, that is the connector bracket. Click to Enlarge

About Gainward

Founded 1984 in Taipei, the GraphicsCard manufacturer Gainward quickly became an important developer house for Tseng Labs, known for their ET4000 and 6000 series that were bestsellers in their time and still hold a reputation of being some of the finest 2D graphics adapters ever built. In 1991, Gainward opened a daughter company in California, named CARDExpert Technology Inc. In 1993, Gainward made it across the big pond to start the CARDExpert Warenhandels GmbH in Cologne, Germany, followed by the move towards manufacturing of MPEG-1, video capture and TV tuner cards. Gainwards role in the retail market is probably shown best by its volume, that is in 1995, the total production already exceeded 2 Million graphics cards. Last year, Gainward received the honor of becoming "nVidia Certified Select Solution Provider for Europe"

The role as nVidia Launch Partner certainly has its advantages, however, there is no doubt that, in many ways, it is also a double-edge sword since it includes restrictions as well. In other words, the Launch Partner role is tied to an exclusive agreement between nVidia and Gainward and any side steps with ATi or SIS might result in an abrupt divorce. On the bright side of things, Gainward enjoys active support from nVidia and has access to the latest GPUs earlier than most other manufacturers.

Some History

After ATI took over the performance lead in 3D with its Radeon 8500, nVidia had to counteract its defeat with the Ti500 series as well as with announcing the GeForce4 Series in February 2002.

Now, early May, even here in conservative Switzerland we see more and more Ti4600 cards on the shelves

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