Exclusive interview with XFX Graphics' Lionel Garcia and Ryan Dumas

Web site: http://www.xfxgraphics.com

XFX is a division of Pine USA, an international manufacturer of computer components that offers a wide selection of services for the system integrator, dealer and distributor. XFX produces video cards exclusively, providing best of breed digital video components for the gaming and business computing environments. TFH Gaming and NextGen Electronics Editor Sean Gibson had the opportunity to talk to two of XFX's key people, Channel Sales Manager Lionel Garcia and Technical Marketing Manager Ryan Dumas.

NextGen Electronics: What kind of message does XFX want to send out to gamers?

XFX: Well if you look at our retail boxes, they really sum it up. We're definitely going for a little bit of "edgy" - a little bit of attitude. We want to show all the people that are into gaming, especially for the high intensive games, that our products have a little more edginess to them, and that's definitely the kind of attitude we're trying to have.

NextGen Electronics: Most likely your end user isn't necessarily just a 3D gamer solely, he or she is someone who is also a web developer, or into graphic design, or video editing. What's your company philosophy on the end user?

XFX: Anyone that's going to be using graphics in any capacity will definitely benefit from using our cards.

NextGen Electronics: With various manufacturers flooding the market with nVidia chipset video cards, what should consumers look for when buying a new video card?

XFX: It's a balance between technical aspects and also about brand awareness, and of course about price, as we know everyone is going to look at price. Speaking for ourselves, when we go to look for a video card, we're going to balance out the features and the quality of the product with price. We feel that we offer both with a very high quality product at a very competitive price.

NextGen Electronics: What would you say then are the distinct advantages of XFX models over the competition?

XFX: Well, that's kind of a tricky question, because if you are going to base your card on an nVidia chipset, one card is going to be very similar to another. You really have to look at the components used, looking for high quality components. We base our cards on nVidia reference design, so for memory we're using Samsung high-quality memory. All the components that go into our cards, they're not just components we picked up on the grey market, we're using top quality stuff that is straight from nVidia's reference design.

NextGen Electronics: Sounds like having those brand name, high quality components makes all the difference in the world.

XFX: It definitely does.

NextGen Electronics: Speaking to the average consumer, what's the difference between a GeForce 2, 3, 4 … for example why would someone want to upgrade to a GeForce4 4600 right now?

XFX: The older cards, like a GeForce 2 or 3, will run the majority of the games out there "pretty well." But the elite games, and the games that are being released now and right after E3, will just not be able to run well using the older technology, at least at the frame rates and resolution levels you want to. Also with those new products you're going to be covered for the next generation of games as well.

NextGen Electronics: We've already talked a little bit about product distinction, let's talk about marketing. What are you doing to get the word out?

XFX: We've been sponsoring various gaming events. There's one that we did in Colorado, which is RAMCON. We're also sponsoring the Promise LAN tournament. Basically we're really hitting the gaming industry at the heart. Unfortunately we're not having a booth at E3, but we'll definitely have a presence. We're also looking at other major computer shows like COMPUTEK in Asia, and a whole bunch of other things we're participating in right now. As far as end users are concerned, they'll see more and more of us. We've been sending more and more cards out for reviews, because we want people to see the quality in our cards.

NextGen Electronics: We've seen the rise and fall of video companies. 3DFX always comes to mind when you talk about the collapse of a giant. What's your perspective on all that when it comes to nVidia?

XFX: That's definitely a tricky question! nVidia is definitely doing a lot of great things right now , as far as their products are concerned. We're seeing a lot of good innovation, and we're not seeing anyone with a similar performance level that can kick butt like the GeForce4 4600. nVidia has a much more well-rounded product line than certainly 3dFX ever had. The good thing about nVidia is their strategy. They have partners at every level, with a huge retail presence, a presence in the integration market, and a great distribution level. Also, nVidia isn't producing these cards, which is great for them. They don't have that overhead that 3dFX always had. You can see with ATI, they followed in suit, and now their chipset has been released to 3rd party vendors to push their product. You can see the market going towards what nVidia is doing because their model is so strong. But as far as "the fall of a giant" goes, I guess that remains to be seen in today's model. The market will dictate things.

NextGen Electronics: Does your engineering team work exclusively with nVidia, or do you work with any game developers to help maximize the power of the cards?

XFX: Right now our engineers pretty much work with nVidia. We do some work with game developers, to make sure our cards are optimized for their products. As far as some strategic partnerships, it's coming along. We always test with the newest games, and we will be building relationships with various gaming companies.

NextGen Electronics: Surely you must have avid gamers at your company.

XFX: Oh definitely, we put in a few hours into gaming to say the least!

NextGen Electronics: Any favorites you'd like comment on?

XFX: Quake III is a favorite of course, and a few of us picked up the new Star Wars game "Jedi Outcast" and it is very impressive. A few of us also love the real time strategy stuff, like Red Alert 2, as well as sports games like Madden 2002 and NHL 2002.

NextGen Electronics: From a philosophical standpoint, what's your definition of "product success"?

XFX: Product success for us is when our end user is happy with our product. It's not "happy" as in just happy with the product itself but the value they get out of it. Our goal isn't to rip people off, or just empty their pockets. What we want to do is for our end users to be happy knowing they paid the right price that they are comfortable with.

NextGen Electronics: Let's talk a little bit about overclocking. For example the 4600 has a GPU Frequency of 300MHz, would an end user need to overclock that chip? What's your whole take on the overclocking craze?

XFX: It's definitely a double edged sword. Sure, you can boost performance but you are risking the lifespan of your product. So, there's some good and bad there for people to consider.

NextGen Electronics: Wrapping this up, are there any words you'd like to shout out to the readers?

XFX: Yeah check out our website to get to know us even better at http://www.XFXGraphics.com , and we encourage people to leave messages on there for us, they always get read!

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Interview by: Sean Gibson