ATI can't afford to not have PS 3.0. If ATI wants profits and if they want to stay in the competition for having the better graphics hardware, than they will need PS 3.0, because if the X900 doesn't, than it will mean that ATI can't take the heat anymore. they will pretty much be forfiting everything because when this next generation comes out, a slew of DX 9.0c games with SM 3.0 support are going to be released.