HumanSmoke not arguing with you on any of this...
Newegg has had a nice dual fan Sapphire 100351SR 7970 3GB OC with Boost for $310 - $30 off with coupon code VME10BTS [Exp 8/19] (when you check out with V.me by Visa) - $20 rebate [Exp 8/31] = $260 with free shipping.
That sounds like the exception that proves the rule if ever I saw one. The fact that the coupon code is only valid for a couple of days kind of points to a time sensitive offer.
No doubt there will be other special offers, and most certainly further broader based price cuts- but as of today...
Perhaps another factor as to Titan/780 having chance to stand against Volcanic Islands is: How much can Nvidia reduce GK110 based cards before they're feeling pain?
Well, firstly how large is the GeForce GK 110 market in relation to Nvidia's overall revenue? How many GeForce GK 110's are salvage parts that haven't made the Quadro/Tesla grade (hint: 100%)?
It's only natural that AMD and Nvidia trade blows. When one is on the offensive the other is on the ropes. I've heard ATI fanatics forecasting a red tide sweeping all before it since the days of the Rage. R200, R300, the R400 based PE's, RV770, Evergreen, Northern Islands, Southern Islands were all supposed (to some) to write Nvidia's epitaph. But you know what? VI will likely raise the bar, AMD will enjoy the spotlight previously reserved for the GK 110, the consumer will still pay through the nose unless they pick through the bargains of a defeated line of top dogs, Nvidia will counter with Maxwell, and AMD will talk up Pirate Islands....and so on....and on....and on...
Well a least Titan, because isn't Titan the same spec chip used in a Tesla/Quadro offerings.
Tesla K20X.....2688 cores...15 SMX....384-bit...6144MB GDDR5....1:3 DP
GTX Titan......2688 cores...15 SMX....384-bit...6144MB GDDR5....1:3 DP
I wouldn't think they’d want to fire-sale GK100 as along as it can be sold in their Pro-graphics lineup. I don't know if Nvidia will be willing to take a 30% drop as long as it can be sold as a Professional Workstation Graphic solution at a much higher margin. I suppose that all depends on how sales of that spec pro graphics configurations is selling?
The GeForce branded GK 110 are salvage parts that don't meet the thermal/power/runtime requirements for Quadro/Tesla validation. The situation isn't any different from CPUs ( Intel Xeon versus Core i7 Extreme for instance. Stability/reliability over straight line speed). Likely Nvidia would have released (drip fed) a consumer GeForce in any case since the PR gained would outweigh the loss of revenue from the dies being sold under Quadro or Tesla nameplates. Care to guess how many forum threads and posts, how many news/speculation articles, how many reviews the GK 110 has generated ?
AFAIK it has been common knowledge that Volcanic Islands will be a series of GPUs, only thing left to confirm is what the parts will be sub-named to (Hawaii XT or whatever).
And that's only thing to confirm? Care to show me any performance data?
The thing is, had Nvidia released the Titan & GTX 780 a year ago, not only would they have made a crapton of money, but they would have had their place in the market as the "premium" brand.
Judging by forum members benchmarks/systems, I'd say that the price premium hasn't deterred a significant number of people from buying the cards.
The Titan especially sold quite well at introduction. The only "Titan killer" was one of Nvidia's own making- The GTX 780.
Instead they release them 1 year late & ridiculously overpriced.
No and Yes. Overpriced I'd agree on, but since they've sold well you can't blame Nvidia for picking the wallets of the enthusiast crowd....there's always the option to say no thanks.
The late assertion. Not really. GK110 was always intended primarily as a pro part, and those lucrative (
and high profile) contracts were always destined to be filled first with the pick of the litter.
And when I said these are their "most profitable" cards, I meant in the consumer market.
Pro graphics and math co-processor profitability >>>>>>>>>>> GK 110 GeForce profitability.
How many $650/1000 GeForces would Nvidia need to sell to get anywhere close to the pro sales made from ORNL
(~19,000) and a whole raft of lower profile Cray
XC30/XK7, Fujitsu, HP projects (
Piz Daint,
USC,
Big Red II etc.) not to mention the aforementioned
"green" alternatives and the workstation market- remember that Nvidia owns ~80% of the pro graphics market)
