ATI wants their cards to be overclocked
Several weeks ago, ATI took new stand by claiming that their ABI partners were free to overclock any GPU in the ATI X1000 series. Last year, a similar statement about the X1800 cards came up from ATI. This is the first official open authorization from ATI to overclock any current generation board. An interesting claim came forward in the documentation that ATI partners are not allowed to underclock ASICs. It’s a drawback for those who want to be creative. With passive cooling, they still have to underclock on their own. Also, ATI claims that thermal damage will not be covered by RMA. The blown internal fuses in the GPU will notify RMA teams if the GPU has been stressed too hard. NVIDIA, on the other hand has an open policy on manufacturer overclocks. They are also are allowed to push clocks as far as they want. Many other companies have been selling overclocked cards for many ages now. This news was well received by the fans of ATI. Some joked about it that like they were waiting for permission from ATI that they can test their cards beyond specifications. Referring to thermal damage not being covered by RMA, many people claimed that this was a good business plan. They state that ATI intentionally wants them to break their cards by testing the overclock. So eventually what ATI is doing is:
- Creating a product
- Claims made to test the product beyond specifications
- Product damages
- Since it is not covered with warranty, ATI wins the money
To me, it all sounds like adding a new feature to the product without actually innovating. An overall good marketing strategy.