In essence, NVIDIA's new strategy for the GeForce FX is a three pronged attack.  It consists of faster hardware, in this case the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, an upgraded driver optimization scheme (the 50.x driver release), and much more aggressive developer relations. 

Developer relationships are very important, on one hand to help drive sales, and on the other, there is a need for NVIDIA to do some handholding of the developers.  Their technology is different enough that developers do sometimes require that extra effort.   NVIDIA is willing to put forth the extra effort to makes games as immersive and entertaining as possible.  However, in the immortal words of Mark Rein, you can't develop software for just one brand of video card.  You can bet ATI is also making serious attempts at making developers work best with their cards as well.

Will it help them in the long run?  Developer relations, hardware revisions, and high-quality drivers are very important.  A stable, optimized (it's not a bad word) driver that can handle older games as well as tackling games that are still in development is exceptionally important.  But I still don't think it will save the GeForce FX.  The numbers don't lie and it doesn't look good for NVIDIA.  They are playing catch-up to ATI, the 'Red' company, in the numbers game which they are not accustomed to.

I have to thank NVIDIA for putting on this event, and putting themselves in on the grill.  I hope it becomes a tradition, as it was very informative for us and they in return get feedback from the online enthusiast community.  Without sites like guru3d.com, NVIDIA wouldn't have had the success they have enjoyed.

Brann Mitchell for Guru3D.com