R700 Launch in for Wet-Weather, GTX 280 Slash Coming Up

[btarunr]

In what could be a serious blow to AMD's R700 dreams as the company struggles to survive, NVIDIA could be working out another price-slash for the GeForce GTX 200 series, signs of which are already surfacing. You can get a GeForce GTX 280 for US $440. American e-tailer Newegg has already put several brands' GeForce GTX 280 on shelves for $440 (listed here), lower than the launch-price of the GeForce GTX 260.

Implications are:

• This paves the way for a 'GeForce GTX 280 Extreme', a new model which has been put on pre-order on British website OCUK (covered here).
• While board partners seemed displeased at the current market trend with the GTX 200 series (covered here), all of a sudden, they are all offering price-cuts. Could NVIDIA be subsidizing these products, given that some reports suggest poor reception of these products in the North American markets?
• Assuming the R700 comes in at around $499 and $549, it loses badly to the GTX 280 at its newest price on both fronts of price/performance and performance per Watt.
• No price-cuts for GTX 260 have been noted, showing this cut is very much specific to the GTX 280, serves two purposes: 1. Phasing out the 65nm parts, 2. striking R700 when it hurts the most, during launch.
• While NVIDIA has the resources to maintain the leadership of GeForce GTX 200 (by affording to slash prices), AMD doesn't.

Although the new $440 price tag looks tempting, you could wait for the R700 to launch, following which a more informed decision on your part could be made.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

linky?

 

[btarunr]

I am the link.

 

[Darkrealms]

I am the link.

@_0 local enquirer?!? LoL

Interesting perspective. I guess we'll have to see how ATI's new cards do. Good for me though. I'm all for cheap Nvidia cards : )

 

[btarunr]

@_0 local enquirer?!? LoL

Interesting perspective. I guess we'll have to see how ATI's new cards do. Good for me though. I'm all for cheap Nvidia cards : )

Why, is it dogma that TPU's news should always be borrowed? Our news is based on facts, not sources. If facts come from a source, we acknowledge them as the source of the fact. Even if Fudzilla comes up with something and has pictures to back it, we cover it. Go to Newegg and see for yourself. If more than two brands are using the same low $440 price (no POS rebate whatsoever), then it has to be a standard price. As for GTX 280 Extreme, we already covered it days ago, dig through the news archive, see for yourself. Even that was based on facts and even other sites covered that.

Edit: added links.

 

[TooFast]

well from what I have seen the r700 is way faster.

 

[alexp999]

Okay, now I defintely think nvidia are selling these at a loss. maybe it will cause AMD to drop their prices, based on a $499 launch price they probably have the headroom to drop and still make a profit.

If the price gap is too big though I will be going with the 280.

 

[wolf2009]

Why, is it dogma that TPU's news should always be begged/borrowed?

I am pleased that TPU came with something original . THanks !

I dont think begged is the right word , while borrow is .

 

[chron]

If that whole thing is true with AMD and NVIDIA meeting together to come up with pricing for their products, then how do we know these prices are still any good?

I guess what I'm saying is, how do we know all this isn't just a load of bullshit, and the card's prices after being "slashed" are still higher than they should be, and AMD and NVIDIA have done this to get people thinking they are getting a good deal on the cards?


Also - i can't find any gtx280's for $440. 450, but not 440. Typo?

 

[phanbuey]

well from what I have seen the r700 is way faster.

yes but theyre having problems with the engineering sample r700's pulling too much wattage and de-stabilizing some PCI-e 1.1 motherboards...

The power pins alone do not supply nearly enough juice for that monster - and there is 95W of power that is pulled from the pcie slot, which has a maximum capacity of 75W... Hexus had to switch out their motherboard for the testing because the first one would crash.

"the manifestation of such power is a frankly ludicrous power-draw of around 320W when placed under sustained load. Some commentators may argue that's required for two HD 4870 boards, which is true, but the very fact that the X2 variant plugs into a single PCIe (2.0) x16 slot can become problematic. Why? Because the 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power arrangement provides in the order of 225W to a card; the rest needs to be pulled from the PCIe slot."

- source http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=14178&page=3

 

[Megasty]

If that whole thing is true with AMD and NVIDIA meeting together to come up with pricing for their products, then how do we know these prices are still any good?

I guess what I'm saying is, how do we know all this isn't just a load of bullshit, and the card's prices after being "slashed" are still higher than they should be, and AMD and NVIDIA have done this to get people thinking they are getting a good deal on the cards?

All that BS happened b4 AMD took over. The mess that happened with the GTX280/260 is a prime example of how we know it has ended. BTW, the GTX280 is a Be@sT

 

[btarunr]

I am pleased that TPU came with something original . THanks !

I dont think begged is the right word , while borrow is .

I was just pissed at someone equating us to the Inq. We're not the Inq? Every news publication includes analyzing details and facts, some of the analysis turns out true, some doesn't, it's the same with TPU as a tech-publication, or even CNN as a news giant. That's how news works. Besides, I've based everything on facts alone.

 

[Frederik S]

I have more faith in btarunrs conclusions than in the Fuds or The Inqs.
Nice observation, looking forward to being able to afford a GTX260.

Cheers,
Frederik

 

[Tatty_Two]

Hmmmmm..... GTX Extreme.......a 280 that clocks at 738 Mhz with shaders running 25+% faster..........now thats a fast card, by my reckoning that would make it around 25% faster overall than the current 280GTX vanilla, that would mean it would be a match for R700..........pure speculation as always of course before either has hit the shelves, but if you add to that NVidia's reputation at least for overclocking GPU's it is quite possible that this beast could be faster than R700.

 

[mdm-adph]

Desperately cutting prices and selling products at a loss just to impede on a competitor's progress? Sounds like Intel (or Microsoft).

 

[candle_86]

kinda makes you wonder how expensive it really is for Nvidia doesnt it?

65nm G200 cores must be having a higher yield than originally thought, id say 90% of the usable dies are also fully functional, which would make sense as 65nm is mature by this point

 

[PCpraiser100]

NVIDIA can't defeat ATI's 4870 X2, its going for $500, if the green team thinks they can pull it off, think again. I've been getting rumors that Infinity Ward (COD4 Developer) is thinking about developing their next title with AMD tools instead of NVIDIA's tools, especially when AMD has succeeded in conquering performance records, at a price NVIDIA bows down for. With this and the upcoming 40nm 800 cores coming, green games are getting burned with red flames.

 

[trt740]

Hmmmmm..... GTX Extreme.......a 280 that clocks at 738 Mhz with shaders running 25+% faster..........now thats a fast card, by my reckoning that would make it around 25% faster overall than the current 280GTX vanilla, that would mean it would be a match for R700..........pure speculation as always of course before either has hit the shelves, but if you add to that NVidia's reputation at least for overclocking GPU's it is quite possible that this beast could be faster than R700.

they will go a bunch higher than the my vanilla 280 does 717/1500/1280 up from 602/1296/1107.With a smaller die the new 280 should do 800 core. Even then I think the 4870x2 will beat a overclocked 280b by about 10 percent when the 4870x2 is overclocked. Judging by my card. Thats a total estimate on my part.

 

[phanbuey]

they will go a bunch higher than the my vanilla 280 does 717/1500/1280 up from 602/1296/1107.With a smaller die the new 280 should do 800 core.

800 on a GTX 280??? monsterous.

 

[pentastar111]

Meh, I'm still goin AMD next build...Doesn't matter what nVidia comes out with...I'm already soured...They have way too many band-aids going on.

 

[trt740]

800 on a GTX 280??? monsterous.

Well you figure the 280b will start out at stock faster than my max overclock on my 65nm 280 and since 280b is a 55nm chip, that might be a bit conservative on my part. Lets compare my max stable overclock 717/1500/2560 vanilla 280 65nm, new 280b extreme 738 /1666 / 2520 MHz

 

[PCpraiser100]

For some reason, this problem is linked to what I said about DX11. If NVIDIA fails to exceeded in bang-for-buck, they will not have enough development money to get ready for DX11. AMD is basically taking away a very important supply line to NVIDIA's success in the past, their customers. And if they don't pull it off, stocks will lower in value, CEO voting madness, more gambling, and more partnership with other companies to survive. ATI was in the same trouble and was sold to AMD as a result.

 

[yogurt_21]

lol "vanilla" being applied to a gtx280.

this will defiently make things interesting. especially being that while nvidia is in a better position to sell the gtx280 for a loss than amd is. they're not exactly faring too well themselves. both companies better watch themselves in the pricewar as intel has been biding it's time waiting to retake the gpu market.

 

[phanbuey]

For some reason, this problem is linked to what I said about DX11. If NVIDIA fails to exceeded in bang-for-buck, they will not have enough development money to get ready for DX11. AMD is basically taking away a very important supply line to NVIDIA's success in the past, their customers. And if they don't pull it off, stocks will lower in value, CEO voting madness, more gambling, and more partnership with other companies to survive. ATI was in the same trouble and was sold to AMD as a result.

not to mention the monster that is Intel is about to pop into their little duopoly - and its gonna have to take market share from one of them... If ATI is more competitive and has better product that means that Intel is gonna eat Nvidia's lunch.

EDIT: Yogurt beat me to it... its gonna be a great time for gamers with those three at it. Ray tracing FTW!

 

[GPUCafe]

Implications are:

• This paves the way for a 'GeForce GTX 280 Extreme', a new model which has been put on pre-order on British website OCUK (covered here).
• While board partners seemed displeased at the current market trend with the GTX 200 series (covered here), all of a sudden, they are all offering price-cuts. Could NVIDIA be subsidizing these products, given that some reports suggest poor reception of these products in the North American markets?
• Assuming the R700 comes in at around $499 and $549, it loses badly to the GTX 280 at its newest price on both fronts of price/performance and performance per Watt.
• No price-cuts for GTX 260 have been noted, showing this cut is very much specific to the GTX 280, serves two purposes: 1. Phasing out the 65nm parts, 2. striking R700 when it hurts the most, during launch.
• While NVIDIA has the resources to maintain the leadership of GeForce GTX 200 (by affording to slash prices), AMD doesn't.

They are and by a good margin. We already covered that here: http://gpucafe.com/?p=18

I'm told that the drop from $499 to $449 is due to slow sales of the 280, not due to R700. 260 is selling "well" at $299-329.