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Company Success Stories - Voodoo PC, ABS Computer Technologies, Inc. and Falcon Northwest
Gaming’s “Extreme” System Builders Floored by AMD Athlon™ 64 FX Processor
Profile
Voodoo PC, ABS Computer Technologies, Inc. and Falcon Northwest
September 23, 2003
"Super Gaming Desktops Drive Industry’s Need for Performance"
Just as there are Hondas in life, there are also Ferraris. Hondas are great for getting from Point A to Point B, but the Ferrari is all about performance. Now imagine a PC that’s built like a Ferrari – just for online gamers. Salivating yet? If you’re a member of the growing community of gamers, you probably are. That’s just the response companies like Voodoo PC, ABS Computer Technologies, Inc. and Falcon Northwest love to see. These extreme system builders make blisteringly fast computers that recall the glory days of the original supercomputers. Online gamers once dreamed of putting that kind of power on their desktop, endowing them with the ability to frag the competition in a nanosecond and, in turn, rendering opponents green with envy.
Supersizing the Gaming Experience with the Need for Performance
The AMD Athlon™ 64 FX processor has made that dream a reality delivering the kind of performance these “extreme” system builders want – and gamers crave.
“We build the most desirable PCs specifically tailored to enthusiasts and gamers,” says Rahul Sood, president and CTO of Voodoo PC. “We cater to people who want the absolute best computing experience possible.”
Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest, says ultimate gaming is all about performance and reliability. In fact, it’s his company’s mantra.
“Performance is important to game players and enthusiasts specifically because it enriches the experience they're seeing with their games,” he says. “The games depend on that performance to show you the experience.”
“Gamers are always looking for the fastest machine possible,” says Howard Tong, vice president of marketing at ABS Computer Technologies, Inc. “(But) there’s a gamer in all of us. Whether you are a corporate executive, a business owner, IT professional, or a hard core gamer, we believe that there's a need for performance for any application that you use.”
With the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor, gamers are not just seeing the action, they’re right in the thick of it. AMD calls it “cinematic computing” – full-motion graphics rendered real-time in front of your very eyes – just like a movie. Sood, Tong and Reeves get goosebumps just thinking about the possibilities.
“The 32-bit standard definitely has its limits,” says Reeves. “It's been out for a long time, and we're ready to move to 64-bit. What really excites me most about the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor is the performance leap it's making. There's a promise of even more performance in that chip.”
“Our customers are very excited – they want to see the performance gains with the 64-bit processing platform,” says Tong. “The AMD Athlon 64 FX processor is really exciting because it's going to take gamers to a level they've never seen before.”
Preserving the Ultimate Game Experience
Sood says games are becoming more and more demanding, with complicated programming, detailed, true-to-life graphics and the blazing video cards needed to support them, making AMD’s technology an absolute must. “Anyone who wants the most realistic experience playing games, who craves a virtual 3-D environment, should care about true cinematic computing,” he says. “The AMD Athlon 64 FX processor has absolutely the highest performance I've ever seen.”
Reeves of Falcon Northwest agrees. “It's important to create a cinematic experience, because the medium shouldn't limit that experience. If your game is running slow, if the frame rate's choppy, you're not going to be seeing what the director of the game really intended. The AMD Athlon 64 FX processor definitely gets us a step closer to the movie experience.”
“The AMD Athlon 64 FX processor will change the way games are played,” Sood says. “I know of at least three eagerly anticipated games that are going to be based on this processor, and I think users will be blindsided because this thing is going to come out and really floor them with performance.”
Taking Risks in the Name of the Game
All three companies say AMD really understands the rabid passion of enthusiasts and gamers, and that the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor is a direct response.
“AMD tends to be a leader, rather than a follower, pushing things to the edge, and they have always been behind the enthusiasts market and the gaming market,” says Sood. “AMD understands Voodoo’s customers and they understand our company. They have always been trying to build the best products to fit our market – the enthusiasts market.”
“ABS and AMD share common philosophies,” says Tong. “We believe in innovation, in providing the best performance and the latest and greatest technologies. We believe that AMD really wins over the hearts and minds of the gamer.”
“AMD and Falcon are a lot alike,” says Reeves. “We're both taking risks constantly, and with this new chip, the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor; it's exactly what our market needs.”
Driving the Electrifying Future of Gaming
The partnership and passion of these companies is only exceeded by their thinly veiled excitement for the future of gaming. The builders of these extreme machines give gamers the systems they want, and developers give them the games, but AMD’s mega processor will let them see it all with a heavy dose of reality.
“Our expectations for the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor are that we'll have performance gains and a much better computing experience, and we'll be able to take our computing experience for gamers to a level that they've never experienced before,” says Tong. “Life-like imagery and animation – not your choppy, fake-looking animated, but we're talking about real-life immersion, being really involved in the PC and being able to take it to that level where the realism is just unbelievable.”
“The AMD Athlon 64 FX processor will impact the future of gaming by getting developers on board with developing games in 64-bit code,” says Sood. “And the AMD processor will be one of the key components in building the world's fastest PCs for gaming.”
“We’re talking about being able to see skin, hair, the eyes, expressions of anger, of sadness of surprise and shock, of happiness and joy,” marvels Tong. “(It’s) all these elements of realism that we'll be able to provide with the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor.”
The bottom line for these extremist gamers is, of course, performance. Period. And the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor does just that.
“Performance is extremely important to our customers because they're looking for the absolute best cinematic gaming experience they can get,” says Sood. “And, whether or not they're playing games or they're surfing the Internet or just watching video on the Internet, you can never be too fast.”
© 2003 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights
reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Athlon, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product and company names used in this presentation are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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