AMD Cuts Prices of R9 290 Series and R9 280 Series Even Further

[The Von Matrices]

Actually it is the same argument. There wasn't a "no matter what" to my argument. Perhaps in your head there was, but not in the post nor in my intent. There are a variety of factors at play here. One of which is the fact that there are currently only 2 variants of 970's in stock on the egg atm. Both are above the 330$ price range. The cheapest 290 is the same as mine, huge but a nice quiet cooler that works wonderfully it's 60$ cheaper (before MIR for an additional 20$) includes the gold amd bundle of 3 free games as well as 2 more free games Alien Isolation and Star Citizen. Alien Isolation is an additional 50$ value all by itself. The max the extra's plus price discount are worth is 200$ (assuming the games in the gold package are 20$ a piece and you send in the MIR, 60 + 20 + 50 + 20 + 20 + 20 + star citizen)

The 970 also comes with a nice cooler, but other than that it's bundle is a 5$ promotional gift card. So extras + price = 5$ on newegg.

The 970 is 11% faster at 1080p according to TPU reviews, and 7% faster at higher resolutions. It is also a bit more energy efficient, but not exactly a fermi to Kepler jump.

If you see that as worthwhile over the 290, then by all means go for it. I hate to tell you though than any reasonable person will likely decide the other way considering all it includes. This is especially true for fanboys.

I see where the issue lies. You are arguing that the 290 is a good value when it is $60-$80 cheaper than the 970, an argument for which I completely agree. The 290 is not a good value at or above $300, the price listed in the original post and the one I thought you were talking about. In addition, while you are correct in that the reference GTX 970s are out of stock, you also should consider that the higher priced GTX 970 you mentioned is the EVGA SC, which is 6% more expensive for 5% more performance, pretty much a wash in price/performance.

AMD loves to throw in bundled accessories like games, but just adding their retail value and saying you save that much in the bundle is not representative of the way the market works. The number of people who actually were going to buy all five games at retail and saved money by buying the bundle is likely zero. The majority of people who are swayed by the bundle pricing will do so for only one of the games; at that point the rest are a bonus worth a few dollars at best. I personally loved when AMD came out with the 290X BF4 bundle. You had a choice to get a $60 game bundled or to skip the game and save $30. This is the way cards should be sold; it's too bad that offer was a one-time affair.

 

[JBVertexx]

Bunch of nonsense in this thread. I thought there might be some useful insights here. But this, unfortunately, reads like a a bunch of mindless fan-boys arguing back and forth and offering absolutely zero intellectual value to the conversation.

 

[ManofGod]

Well people did the same when the R9-290/290X edged out Nvidias already aging Keplers. AMD is behind, Nvidia will just counter the 390X with something much more powerful down the track, if need be. Don't get me wrong, I want AMD to compete, I want them to still be around in the future, but at least use your commonsense.

You can thank AMD for these competitive prices because otherwise, your precious 970 would be closer to $550. I would think also the 980 would have been $699. Oh well, guess NVidia is the do no wrong good guy now.

 

[ensabrenoir]

wow.... the resell market prob just went from the toilet at Taco Bell to the the sewers of New York city...... Not that many would take the chance on a previous miner card. Might just pick one up for giggles.

 

[eidairaman1]

Bunch of nonsense in this thread. I thought there might be some useful insights here. But this, unfortunately, reads like a a bunch of mindless fan-boys arguing back and forth and offering absolutely zero intellectual value to the conversation.

You certainly didnt either so theres the door

 

[Naito]

You can thank AMD for these competitive prices because otherwise, your precious 970 would be closer to $550. I would think also the 980 would have been $699. Oh well, guess NVidia is the do no wrong good guy now.

The prices are already like that in AU anyway. This isn't real competition, it is an illusion. Nvidia only seems to be releasing their mid-range GPUs (GK104, GM204) when a change of architecture occurs. Nvidia knows that AMD can't compete head to head with top-tier cards, so they'll cash in on marked-up mid-tier GPUs. Months later AMD will bring out something that competes with Nvidias latest offering, then Nvidia will release something that will flatten it. It happened with the HD7970s; they could compete with the mid-tier Keplers (GK104) and even beat them with them in most cases with the Tahiti XT2, but Nvidia just released the GK110s that thrashed them. Months later, AMD could only just compete with the 290/290X series with a GPU that was essentially 11 months old (first seen in May 2012 as Telsa K20, released November that same year) . The cycle has now repeated again; Nvidia released mid-tier Maxwell that perform better than AMDs latest top-tier GPUs. So if anything, you can thank Nvidia by not releasing their top-tier GPUs and absolutely destroying AMDs offerings (there could be some sort of 'Gentleman's Agreement' going on here... we may never know). Fabrication ramp-up delays may have prevented them from doing it with the Keplers (or more likely after seeing the initial Tahiti performance, saw it wasn't cost effective scale up production so early), but a matured 28nm node wouldn't stop them now. The fact is AMD is behind with their architecture, but who can blame them? They obviously don't have the budget Nvidia has.

 

[THE_EGG]

You can thank AMD for these competitive prices because otherwise, your precious 970 would be closer to $550. I would think also the 980 would have been $699. Oh well, guess NVidia is the do no wrong good guy now.

GTX 970s already are $500-$570 here in Australia, GTX 980 being $750-$900. Australia is renowned for having overpriced products though. I'm just hoping that the AMD price cuts will filter into Australia because when AMD ordered prices to be decreased (after the mining boom, I think the order was placed back in May?), Australian prices did not decrease. In fact most 280 and 290 series cards have remained at the same price level since around March/April this year. The discounts that were given to the GTX 760s and the 770, 780 and 780 Ti being discontinued have not changed prices in any of my local stores. Only one store in Australia I know of has actually decreased the price of a 780 Ti. I'm just super hopeful that these cuts will filter down or flow into Australian retail outlets because the prices are just too god damn high, even buying from Newegg and paying for international express shipping is WAY cheaper than buying locally which is also hurting Australian businesses and thus the economy.

 

[Lopez0101]

Well, if your retail businesses are anything like your ISPs they need to stop being so damn greedy.

 

[Big_Vulture]

When something that is on par to outperform a R9 290X, consume less than an R9 280X and cost 330$ - you know you are screwed.

Don't try to sugarcoat it - even if the R9 290X would magically cost 300$, most smart users will add the 30$ needed to get a dramatically more efficient product.

That is well sad, in my opinion 290X should go around $250 to just consider instead the much more efficient 970 Geforce.

 

[techy1]

That is well sad, in my opinion 290X should go around $250 to just consider instead the much more efficient 970 Geforce.

I do not think that efficiency is something that can run games smooth... esspecially on 4k... wee need more horsepower, cuz monitors are there and games are waiting... but I am still doomed to play on 1080p - on witch I can run everythin maxed out with my HD 5870!!! why would I care to upgrade GPU on 1080p?? For the Efficiency ???? few tenths of watts saving... if I care of my planet ( more watts of electricity = more CO2) - I leave my car at home for just one day - and save more on CO2 than years of in-efficient old-ass GPU gaming. I hope AMD will ignore this hippie trend of false efficiency and give us raw power with 390x, but then again - AMD wands cash and will suply what market demands and if the "Efficiency" is in - then that is what sells

 

[Sony Xperia S]

wee need more horsepower

Your whole post sounds like a desperate AMD fanboy...

I'm sure that when nvidia launches the 300 W Maxwell card that trashes R9 290X, you'll sing another song.

 

[Prima.Vera]

The R9 390s are not showing up until Q1 2015 according to an AMD Rep that I know.
Nothing to back me up on this statement, cause revealing it would mean her loosing her job, but pretty sure AMD is not launching this year.

And then, 1 week later, nVidia will counteract with the GTX 980 Ti ending the competition once again.

 

[techy1]

Your whole post sounds like a desperate AMD fanboy...

I'm sure that when nvidia launches the 300 W Maxwell card that trashes R9 290X, you'll sing another song.

not true (me being amd fanboy)... but I am fanboy of 4K... sadly, like any kind of fanboys - I can just circlejerk around my favorite subject and never attain it... or do you think that the newest cards can run anything on 4K smoothly and there is no "need more horsepower"???? I hope NVidia will put out that 300w Maxwell - that will be my next card (finally - a single GPU that can run anything on 4K @60), tough I fear AMD will have nothing to compete with that and so NVidia will ask for it 1k$+
And 100% I am fanboy of competition - look how nVidia made happy many of AMD fanboys - 290x costs now 330$ would not be there a competition - it still would hold 550$ starting price tag

 

[eidairaman1]

Your whole post sounds like a desperate AMD fanboy...

I'm sure that when nvidia launches the 300 W Maxwell card that trashes R9 290X, you'll sing another song.

Speaking of being a fanboy...

 

[N3M3515]

Yes, these price drops are not enough. If AMD wants to sell their not so much appreciated by the majority products, they need to make even more appealing offers and deals.

970 is still a best buy at $330.

R9 290X needs to be $250-290 in order to sell, with R9 290 ~ the 200 dollar mark and 280X/280 ~ 170/140.

330?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709&IsNodeId=1&Description=gtx 970&name=Desktop Graphics Cards&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=20&isdeptsrh=1

Not even one...........the only 970 found in newegg costs 380

 

[HumanSmoke]

330?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709&IsNodeId=1&Description=gtx 970&name=Desktop Graphics Cards&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=20&isdeptsrh=1

Not even one...........the only 970 found in newegg costs 380

Well that's about as disingenuous as it gets, considering the vast number of 970's retail below that price (but are out of stock), and is likely the SOLE reason the $380 remains in stock....and BTW, it is just a matter of signing up for an email alert at EVGA or any number of etail outlets to obtain a card at MSRP (or below) provided you're quick enough while the cards demand outstrips supply.
You add little or nothing to a discussion by presenting such a skewed analysis.

 

[N3M3515]

Well that's about as disingenuous as it gets, considering the vast number of 970's retail below that price (but are out of stock), and is likely the SOLE reason the $380 remains in stock....and BTW, it is just a matter of signing up for an email alert at EVGA or any number of etail outlets to obtain a card at MSRP (or below) provided you're quick enough while the cards demand outstrips supply.
You add little or nothing to a discussion by presenting such a skewed analysis.

It's not skewed, and it's not an analisys, it's just a fact, one can not blah blah blah about a card being so cheap when you can't even get one.
When they are in stock in all stores, then you can say they are cheap AND available.

 

[HumanSmoke]

It's not skewed, and it's not an analisys, it's just a fact, one can not blah blah blah about a card being so cheap when you can't even get one.
When they are in stock in all stores, then you can say they are cheap AND available.

Well, it took me all of 10 seconds to find the EVGA card in stock at TigerDirect. I'll screencap and timestamp it since you'll no doubt wait until it goes out of stock to reply.

 

[Athlonite]

330?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709&IsNodeId=1&Description=gtx 970&name=Desktop Graphics Cards&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=20&isdeptsrh=1

Not even one...........the only 970 found in newegg costs 380

As of right now you can't even buy one at newegg as they're all out of stock so who gives a shit what price they are you can't get anyways

 

[HumanSmoke]

As of right now you can't even buy one at newegg as they're all out of stock so who gives a shit what price they are you can't get anyways

Don't have that problem locally. Plenty of GTX 970's available (bear in mind that the prices are NZD and includes a 15% goods and services tax). R9 290X prices included as a price point comparison.

 

[Sony Xperia S]

This stupid discussion is getting ridiculous. And not only this but they also delete opinions.

As of right now you can't even buy one at newegg as they're all out of stock so who gives a shit what price they are you can't get anyways

I honestly feel about all those who give a damn shit about a technologically inferior product which is at the same time even more expensive.

You can wait a little bit and get the better deal.

It is indeed time for AMD to go somewhere and do something meaningful because they haven't done for years.

 

[Lopez0101]

Not sure how long "years" is, but they have indeed done something meaningful and not all that long ago. Like, for instance, keeping pricing somewhat in check.

 

[RealNeil]

When something that is on par to outperform a R9 290X, consume less than an R9 280X and cost 330$ - you know you are screwed.

Don't try to sugarcoat it - even if the R9 290X would magically cost 300$, most smart users will add the 30$ needed to get a dramatically more efficient product.

There's pretty much nothing AMD can do right now to beat the viability of a GTX 970 purchase. That's a simple fact.

Soon, a small brother to the GTX 970 will arrive and do the same thing for the whole mid-range segment.

People who insist on getting a radeon card might have to wait for another round of new cards.

^^^THIS^^^

AMD has to pull a Rabbit out of their hat soon, or drop prices down into Jack-Sh*t territory.

 

[eidairaman1]

do something meaningful because they haven't done for years.

Like you other than being a cavedweller

 

[64K]

This stupid discussion is getting ridiculous. And not only this but they also delete opinions.



I honestly feel about all those who give a damn shit about a technologically inferior product which is at the same time even more expensive.

You can wait a little bit and get the better deal.

It is indeed time for AMD to go somewhere and do something meaningful because they haven't done for years.

Only a short while ago the R9 290 was the best bang for the buck card. Now it's the GTX 970. I'm not sure why you dislike AMD so much that you spam every thread that you can with anti-AMD posts but imo it's good that there is competition between Nvidia and AMD.