Agreed. They need to bite the bullet like AMD did vs. Intel and recede into R&D for a while, designing a completely new architecture chock full of good features. ATi got to this first, has a good lead in the video/dvd/etc features area and now they're concentrating on performance. nVidia went straight after the performance, virtually ignoring the video feature area.
Well, performance isn't everything, as 3dfx found out the hard way. ATi is finally catching up on the performance area, and there is no doubt the new Radeon is going to edge out the Geforce3 in most if not all tests. On top of that, it is more feature-rich and with better visual quality than the Geforce3.
They may not like hearing it, but IMO nVidia is not going to win this one by ramping up clock speeds, like they do with all their products when competition comes around. Ring a bell? Hello?
3dfx announces the Voodoo3 to compete with the TNT2, WHAM. TNT2 Ultra.
ATi announces the Radeon (originally named Radeon 256) to combat the Geforce 256's lead, BAM. Geforce DDR/Geforce 2.
ATi Radeon 8500 vs. Geforce3? Thank you ma'am, Geforce3 Titanium 500!