Monday, August 24th 2009
Radeon HD 5870 Aggressively Priced: Report
According to a fresh report by Donanim Haber, AMD's next performance graphics accelerator, the Radeon HD 5870, codenamed "Cypress" is expected to be aggressively priced, at US $299. At that price, it intends to be highly competitive against GeForce GTX 285 from NVIDIA. The secret-sauce behind the price could be the 40 nm fab process on which the GPU is being built, which allows upping transistor counts while maintaining significantly smaller die-sizes compared to 55 nm.
There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the specifications of the GPU, including what level of performance with existing application could it end up offering. Some sources, such as ChipHell, which are one of the first to leak pictures of components related to various Evergreen family products claim the Cypress GPU to have an almost 100% increase in stream processor counts compared to RV770, while others remain conservative expecting it to be around 50%. With this kind of a pricing, Cypress could trigger market-wide changes in GPU pricing, if it ends up with a good price/performance ratio at $299.
Cypress is expected to be launched on 22 September, close to two weeks after the company unveils the Evergreen family of DirectX 11 compliant GPUs on September 10. Market availability is expected in October. In related news from the same report, the enthusiast-grade accelerator that uses two of these GPUs, codenamed "Hemlock", is expected to be out in November.
There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the specifications of the GPU, including what level of performance with existing application could it end up offering. Some sources, such as ChipHell, which are one of the first to leak pictures of components related to various Evergreen family products claim the Cypress GPU to have an almost 100% increase in stream processor counts compared to RV770, while others remain conservative expecting it to be around 50%. With this kind of a pricing, Cypress could trigger market-wide changes in GPU pricing, if it ends up with a good price/performance ratio at $299.
Cypress is expected to be launched on 22 September, close to two weeks after the company unveils the Evergreen family of DirectX 11 compliant GPUs on September 10. Market availability is expected in October. In related news from the same report, the enthusiast-grade accelerator that uses two of these GPUs, codenamed "Hemlock", is expected to be out in November.
197 Comments on Radeon HD 5870 Aggressively Priced: Report
Maybe I am a skeptic, but the cost of manufacturing is only one factor in pricing points, both companies price their hardware based on it's performance, usually most of us moan about NVidia's over inflated prices, thats mostly because they quite often have the fastest and therefore feel they can charge the premium, when they dont or they get it wrong, their prices tumble to compensate, the G200 was a good example of this...... the GTX280 to be specific..... why would we think that ATi would be any different? They priced the 4870 512MB really well on it's release, but thats because it didnt have any significant advantage agains the top end opposition, if it had.... do you really think they would of held it at the same release price? Add to that their 2nd ranking card (4850) was not as quick as NVidia's (GTX260) which was only a little behind the 4870 512MB in some things so they has to be real careful there, it is often the other sides marketing that helps dictate this sides pricing as we know.
IMO, the botttom line "might be", that a 15% performace increase over the 4890 and therefore around a 5% performance improvement over the 285 would fall pretty much in line with some of ATi's new offerings over the past couple of years and would still give them the "fastest single GPU" and probably multi GPU at least until the G300 thingy comes out then the picture changes yet again....... mostly as usual.
Of course as the optimist, you may well be right, IDK, if when the card is released it 15% or more faster than the 285, I will gladly send you a PM to point out that I was wrong.
You tried to prove me wrong by stating the US price of a GTX295 as an example of how I'm wrong yet you assisted in proving me right.
Graphics card prices are the US price PLUS VAT. Don't forget the PLUS VAT.
Yet you say I'm being too optimistic. :confused:
As for the average speed increase between generations, 25-50%? I call a huge amount of BS on that.
Since I had a 9800, nVidia and ATi have both brought cards out that were roughly 2x the performance of the last generation.
They wouldn't bother with a 15% increase. It's laughable that you're even willing to suggest that.
Seriously, I don't know anyone that would be interested in next gen cards if they go by your numbers. Maybe you're really bad at maths or something? As for the 4870 512MB, that was faster than the original GTX260, and is neck and with the latest GTX260. The 4850 was around the same speed as the original GTX260 yet it was priced at G92 price points.
ATi is a business, it knows how to run its business. It doesn't make sense to price as high as possible. No where near the same amount of cards would get sold if they did.
Even if you want to factor greed in to the equation, then they'll still reduce the price and sell bucketloads. What OEMs are going to choose nVidia cards of ATi's when they cost far less while offering similar performance?
:confused::confused::confused:
Are you drunk or something?
i do very much agree however that a 15% increase from the HD 4890 is ridiculous. The HD 4870-HD 4890 is almost a 15% increase and that was just increased clock speeds. I think the HD 5870 is going to yield 30-50% increase, it has 32rops which will help greatly with higher resolutions and AA even though the HD 48X0 series already handles it fine, and as stated at least a 50% increase in shaders, not to mention general core refining on tweaks and probable shader performance increase from the shaders that were on the HD 4XX0 series. No way in hell it'll only be 15% faster than the HD 4890
There's something up AMD's sleeve and it's "Price/Performance" something Nvidia stinks at.:D
As for pricing.... well you seem to be forgetting a key point in your argument, so I will quote a specific comment of yours.....
"It doesn't make sense to price as high as possible. No where near the same amount of cards would get sold if they did"
You seem to be forgetting that the high/top end cards in a generation only account for 5 - 10% of the sales and thats why specifically manufacturers can sell them at a premium, but they only get away with it successfully if they are holding the No 1 spot, it's easy to say ATI dont do that because more often than not (but not exclusively) they dont often tend to have a significant long term performance advantage over it's main competitior.
It's clear that some of us differ in our opinions here, aside from the fact that you seem to think some of us have been drinking because of those opinions, lets just wait and see the pricing point on release both in the US and UK and how the card performs, then as I said, if you are right, I will be the first to let you know! All I am simply saying is, that if the new card is lets say 25% faster, then i expect it to be priced more highly than speculated, if it is released at the $299 or below, i expect lesser performance.
Personally, I think ATi will overcharge us for their high end product, but just until NVidia releases it's new offerings, I acknowledge that if you get the performance to merit that price it is more digestable, but thats kind of my point all along.
To claim either the 2xxx gen or even the 3xxx gen as a successful generation in performance, well, we all remember the 2900, and the 3xxx gen was a shrink and brang cooler temps and lower power, with slight improvements, and did very little to stop nVidia dominance with their 8xxx series.
nVidia has since been called lazy, living off their past, renaming instead of moving forwards since the release of the G80, and people were somewhat underwhelmed by the performance of the G200 series. Especially, being that it was such a long time in between a "real" new gen
Prior to that, we saw what I said, the mid range new gen = to the old gens top card. So, a 5850 could very well = a 4870x2, and just as the 4870 topped the 3870x2, it will be higher yet.
Thats the real history, or recent history of gfx cards, with a lil perspective thrown in
The 4770, with its lessor amount of shaders, can crank up to 4890 speeds, but still has inferior ram.
At those speeds (1Ghz core) its the equivilent of the 4890.
Now, add better ram, thats 50% faster, add at least 100% more shaders, and the same core clocks, with improved schedular etc etc, and that card alone would put down a 285.
Now add possibly more shaders, and maybe doubling everything, I can see it happening
The 4770 at 1Ghz is = to a 4890, thats with 640 shaders, and inferior ram, its already been done and benched
Outside of the name change, there wasn't really a 'next gen' jump between both lots.
I'm talking real generation jumps.
9800>X800>x1800>2900/3870>4800s
Each step there was roughly a doubling of performance. Same goes for nVidia's parts too.
FX 5800>6800>7800>8800/G92 8800s and 9800s>GTX200 series
We all know the jumps from 2900s and G80 8800s was nothing more than a respin.
They were basically the same jumps that happened between:
9700Pro > 9800 pro/XT
X800XT> X850XT
X1800XT>X1900XT>X1950XT
FX 5800>FX5900 >FX 5950Ultra
6800>6800 Ultra
7800>7900>7950 Ultra.
As for expecting less performance, there's nothing to suggest that's the case. The 3800s and 4800s prove that. ATi want to price their cards at the prices they want them at.
They're forcibly bringing highend parts to the more mainstream sectors. I remember when mid range cards cost the same as what ATi have priced their XX50 and XX70 at.
They're trying to advance the gaming industry as well as going for value over anything else. Don't forget ATi saying that they don't intend to bring any reference cards out at more than $550. That means their X2 cards are at most $550, their single GPU cards are going to have to be roughly half that.
My point is that people are speculating to the point of making things up that go against past card releases. We should use past releases as a datum unless we hear otherwise.
I understand that ATI is in a different situation than they were with the 4xxx series, but theyve gained huge momentum, theyll have the market to themselves for at least 2 months, and yes, they may come in a lil higher than before, but it wont be monstrous.
I remember an interview with someone at ATO when the first DX11 slides were shown I think it was PCPer, and thats when the pleasantly surprised statement came out, and also a small blurb refering to pricing in an offhand way, meaning good prices, excellent perf, but possibly a lil higher
Ill dig it up
www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,689522/AMD-beliefs-DirectX-11-Radeons-pleasantly-fast/News/
To me, this leaves the door open a bit for pricing, as long as the perf is there
IF! the new card can perform as well as some say and is equal to or even slightly better than the 295, I am saying this as there are a lot of people who say it will outperform a 4870X2 putting it into the 295 realm, then the $500-$800 295 will suddenly find itself with fewer buyers.Why pay $500 when for $200 less I can get the same/better card? Nvidia will be forced to reduce price on a card that I gather is expensive to make.
As Nvidia won't have anything to counter with for a couple of months, ATI could seriously hurt them and take a chunk of market.
This is just an idea and is based on ATI not falling flat on their faces with the launch. Cough AMD cough cough.
You must be joking :D
The friendly debate we have had was more about the validity of my reasons for coming to that conclusion as much as the conclusion itself but time will tell. of course I really do hope we get a single GPU solution from ATi that is as fast as a 4870x2 and nearly as quick as a GTX295 for $299 :D
The new cards will have double the flops vs the 4xxx series.
You do realize, to command marketshare, you have to pirce properly, come in (with product) at opportune times, and most importantly, deliver.
In the 4xxx series, we saw ATI slowly move down the entire market with highly competitive products, at great pricing, which drove nVidia products pricing down as they arrived.
I dont have the number, but the 4830 was priced well enough to make nVidia move it 9600 down in pricing to be competitive.
Later, the 4770/4850 moved down as well, while nVidia had their old gen parts relatively high.
ATI has gained 4% overall marketshare in this last qtr, they have momentum.
ATI is releasing a DX11 part, where no competition stands in its way, other than old nVidia parts, which due to process and perf to nm size, it loses badly, as the G92s will be out of the competition.
So, in order to truly move the market in their favor, they have to : Beat nVidia current best, the G200 series
They have to price accordingly to do so, so as to not lose that momentum and the timing, with the release of a new OS, and holidays around the corner.
Best method?
Make high performing parts, with no true competition, where the competitors real only competing parts are too costly, and underperforming comparatively.
Thats why the confidence. They have the perf, they have the product, and the time is now.
To screw it over by pricing, or low perf wouldnt show this confidence we see.
So, Ive listed how ell theyll do by what is already here. Ive shown why theyre so confident and why a 20% jump doesnt fit into anything theyve been trying to achieve since the R600 debacle
And that's not just a guess.
ATI is playing the upstart spoiler, with low pricing and great perf, why upset that now? It wouldnt make good business sense
If their cards were only so so, the need for the rush and big presentation aboard ship wouldnt be there. Itd be toned down, possibly later, when W7 arrives, not before, and theyll be here beforehand