NVIDIA Mulls Price-Cuts on GeForce GTX 460 and GTX 470 to Counter HD 6800 Threat

[btarunr]

Tomorrow, AMD will release its much talked about next-generation Radeon HD 6800 series graphics cards, to reinvigorate the company's competitiveness in a price-segment both it and NVIDIA regard as "the gamer's sweet-spot" price segment, which spans between $189 and $249, offering performance levels very close to enthusiast-grade products. To put it in perspective, you should be able to play any DirectX 11 game at 1920 x 1080 (full-HD) resolution with medium-to-high level of detail. Currently, NVIDIA holds the upper hand in this segment with its GTX 460-768 MB and GTX 460-1 GB, which is exactly what Radeon HD 6850 and Radeon HD 6870 seem to be after, with the HD 6870 also holding the potential to disturb higher-end SKUs that are currently priced around the $299 mark.

With no new SKU for this segment in sight, NVIDIA's immediate reaction is reportedly that of introducing "fairly big" price-cuts on the GeForce GTX 460 duo, the company also plans to cut prices of the high-end GeForce GTX 470. To what extant exactly these price cuts would go is not known, but they will be put into effect either today, or tomorrow. Meanwhile, sources close to AMD told us that in response to this development, the red-team will fine-tune the final pricing of the Radeon HD 6800 series, to step up pressure on the competition. We expect as much as $20 to be cut on the currently expected prices of the Radeon HD 6800 series pair.



Update (10/21; 20:50 IST): NVIDIA sent us a circular about revised pricing of certain GeForce products. Details follow.

NVIDIA has cut prices of two key SKUs, the GeForce GTX 460 1 GB and GeForce GTX 470:

• GeForce GTX 460 1GB: US $199; €169 including VAT
• GeForce GTX 470: US $259; €219 including VAT

Hooray for respecting $ ≠ €. It looks like the GeForce GTX 460 GTX 760 MB will remain on its already cut price point of around $179. Assuming both Radeon HD 6800 series products are going to get a $20 price cut, keeping up with this trend, one could be looking at HD 6850 for around $180 and HD 6870 at $240. Our charts will be up in a few hours from now.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Akumos]

I know someone planning to get a 460 near Christmas... He'll be happy about this!

 

[983264]

What's the use of lowering the price if the 6800 duo can beat the GTX 460 and 470?

 

[btarunr]

What's the use of lowering the price if the 6800 duo can beat the GTX 460 and 470?

To make NV's price cuts futile.

 

[983264]

To make NV's price cuts futile.

Hahaha, it will make NV more furious because they haven't release the full lineup of the GTX 400 Series... Am I Right?

 

[bear jesus]

This is awesome news, the cheaper the cards from both AMD and nvidia the more power we can get for our money
If the 6970 is not as awesome as i hope then i may well be getting a very cheap 460 sli setup

 

[DaedalusHelios]

To make NV's price cuts futile.

If there is enough supply to make a difference then maybe it will work. I hope AMD will make sure we can find some at launch. I would think there might be shortages. A late launch is better than an empty one.

 

[bear jesus]

If there is enough supply to make a difference then maybe it will work. I hope AMD will make sure we can find some at launch. I would think there might be shortages. A late launch is better than an empty one.

I would hope that AMD has been getting TSMC to pump out the 68xx chips for a while now and without the yield issues that the launch 58xx cards suffered from thus giving plenty of stock on launch day.... i hope

 

[btarunr]

If there is enough supply to make a difference then maybe it will work. I hope AMD will make sure we can find some at launch. I would think there might be shortages. A late launch is better than an empty one.

AMD has never had availability issues of new GPUs built on existing manufacturing processes. They faced them only when moving to new ones.

 

[EwX]

Great news,price-cuts are always welcome

 

[afw]

This is awesome news ... ... love the competition

 

[DaC]

Well, I'm o neither side.... but................................
I currently own a 4850 and 4650 (and also had many 4xxxx cards ), my plan is to get the 6870, but looking at the price competition, AMD hasn't done any good with 5xxx series in term of price competition, an used 4xxx and a new 5xxx cards are almost at the same price a year later.
So if NV really gets performance/price or even close to it with GTX460 I'll sure get one instead.
I think we must drop AMD a little (on VGA), to force them to drop prices or else NV will be exterminated and we will have to pay $500.00 for a mid range card soon.

 

[assaulter_99]

Well NV, you might be late, but I'm loving you! Forcing price cuts on AMD is great for consumers. I'm no fanboy, but I run to whoever gives me bang/buck. Amd/Ati had no competition really for a year. So to those who think that Amd only caters for you, if it has no competition, prices will stall like the 5850/70 prices did for almost a year. At the end of the day, its just business. Here's hoping prices go down the toilet, that would be a great excuse to upgrade, thats for sure!

 

[Hayder_Master]

LOL, i just odder 2 x GTX460's 2G before two days

 

[wahdangun]

the price wars II : nvdia revenge lol

 

[caleb]

Considering performance,drivers and price I'm still on Nvidia wagon.

 

[a_ump]

Well, I'm o neither side.... but................................
I currently own a 4850 and 4650 (and also had many 4xxxx cards ), my plan is to get the 6870, but looking at the price competition, AMD hasn't done any good with 5xxx series in term of price competition, an used 4xxx and a new 5xxx cards are almost at the same price a year later.
So if NV really gets performance/price or even close to it with GTX460 I'll sure get one instead.
I think we must drop AMD a little (on VGA), to force them to drop prices or else NV will be exterminated and we will have to pay $500.00 for a mid range card soon.

surely ur joking lol. Nvidia may not being better than AMD, and yes AMD has the upper hand but AMD was in a worse position than nvidia when G80 was released and RV600 was a flop, and they recovered. Nvidia will recover, in the end ATI had the best dx9 chips, Nvidia had the fastest Dx10 chips, now it appears AMD will have the best dx11 performance. It goes back and forth...nothing new

 

[gumpty]

Given that I'll be getting either a HD6870 or GTX460 tomorrow, this is fantastic news.

I just hope the price cuts filter through to retailers tomorrow. Would rather not have to wait until next week to get one - I've planned my weekend around building my new PC.

 

[Fourstaff]

Note the keyword "mull". If the 6800 series turns out to be more competitively priced than the GTX4xx, then they will of course lower the prices of the GTX4xx. BUT, if its not as competitively priced, I think nothing will happen. Right now Nvidia is just trying to spoil AMD's launch.

 

[H82LUZ73]

I would hope that AMD has been getting TSMC to pump out the 68xx chips for a while now and without the yield issues that the launch 58xx cards suffered from thus giving plenty of stock on launch day.... i hope

I could hAVE SOWRN I READ THAT ,tHEY HAD GREAT YEILDS OF THE CHIP AND IS ONE OF THE REASONS WE HAVE THEM IN OCT-nOV (NO NOT MAD JUST HITTING THE CAP LOCK KEY INSTEAD OF THE SHIFT KEY)

 

[jamsbong]

If the leak image of the Bart chip is somewhat correct then the chip is around 230mm^2. It is easy to produce good yields on small chip and significantly more economical. So based on that assumption, I am guessing there will be wide availability at launch.

With DX11, microsoft opened a brand new page for both ATI and Nvidia. This meant that both company's talent to make GPU is exploited to the fullest. So far, the ATI philosophy is still the same i.e. make the best performance per mm^2 GPU. On the other side, Nvidia philosophy also remained the same, i.e. do whatever it takes to win top performance.

In regards to price war, I think that is great news. I have been rather disappointed to see no price war in the 5xxx/gtx4xx era.

 

[HalfAHertz]

I think amd will flunk up with the supply of new cards again, but we;ll have to wait and see.

And we didn't have enough competition and price wars this time around because nvidia released their lineup almost half a year after amd, and could tweak their cards accordingly, so that they fit in around amd's lineup and fill up the "empty" performance/price points. That was great from a marketing stand point but not great for the end consumer.

 

[CDdude55]

I loves me some price cuts!!!

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Kick ass. 1GB 460 SLI here I come.

 

[btarunr]

Added major update.