Graphics Card Partners Try To Keep Faith As AMD Pulls Rug On CeBIT

Reports from Taiwan's graphics card manufacturing industry are revealing that AMD's recently announced delay of its upcoming flagship graphics processing unit (GPU), the R600, was not just a shock and disappointment to fans of the former-ATI, who have been waiting for graphics cards based on the new chip, but also to AMD's partners, who were set to introduce products based on the chip at CeBIT in March.

AMD and its partners were arranging to launch R600-based products at CeBIT, according to industry sources, and live demos were being planned by individual partners. These have now almost all been canceled after the announcement by AMD, with only a few select few partners being allowed to show demo systems – provided by AMD – in private showings, while the rest will have to make do with showcasing old products or, at best, new variations of old products at one of the industry's largest trade shows, which starts in a little than over two weeks, on March 15.

But it's not the inconvenience that's causing problems for the card makers, but rather the uncertainty that the late change of plans casts over AMD's ability to deliver in the graphics card market and its hope of being able to compete with Nvidia following the AMD-ATI merger. Nvidia launched its current high-end GPU in November 2006.

According to graphics card makers, the R600 is AMD's hope of getting back on top and the delay only serves to highlight how far behind the company has fallen. The fear that many card makers now face is that supporters of the ATI brand who have been waiting months for the new product will finally decide enough is enough, the effect of which would be reduced confidence, and therefore sales, of all ATI-branded products.

However, despite the doubts, it still appears that graphics card makers are backing AMD and hope that the company will succeed. "We have our fingers crossed," said one maker while another asked everyone to "keep the faith." With the R600 launch now scheduled for early in the second quarter amid added speculation that mainstream (R630) and low-end (R610) parts will launch at the same time, the new plans could result in AMD having a complete top-to-bottom product lineup at launch, a rare occurrence in the graphics market, but one that many industry experts believe may prove successful for the company.