Benchmark Reviews: Over the past several years of testing desktop graphics hardware, I've enjoyed a unique perspective of the internal happenings that remain hidden from the public. Much like politics, there is the truth, and then there's what you've been convinced into believing. I've watched their tactics, and witnessed their desperate attempts to sway consumer opinion. As competition for sales within the desktop graphics segment provokes fierce competition, it also raises the stakes for the companies involved. NVIDIA's Fermi GF110-powered GeForce GTX 580 sets the standard, but will AMD's VLIW4 architecture Cayman GPU save the Radeon HD 6970? In this editorial article, I'll share my opinion of what appears to be the last stand between the AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce desktop graphics platform.
Graphics Last Stand is a bit dramatic. AMD has always been behind nVidia, price and performance. That really isn't news. AMD (back then ATI) has always been first to market a new product but nVidia has always beat them to the crown. I don't think the 69xx series can outperform the 580 either and judging by reports the 6970 won't even reach 570 level performance.