AMD aggressively cuts prices on dawn of NVIDIA launch
Whilst gaming and 3D graphics enthusiasts eagerly await the arrival of NVIDIA's GeForce 9
series, rival AMD is pre-emptively striking against NVIDIA's impending
launch, by aggressively cutting the prices of its ATI Radeon HD 3800 series graphics accelerators.
Sources close to AMD tell us that the ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MiB, Radeon HD 3850 512MiB and HD 3850 256MiB are some of the products set to fall in price...
AMD's new range has
fared
well and the graphics manufacturer should be fairly confident
of its performance when it comes up against NVIDIA's GeForce 9.
Nonetheless, there's nothing like a good ol' price cut to keep yourself
one step ahead.
In the US, e-tailer New Egg is expected to publish
AMD's lowered prices later today or tomorrow. In the UK, online
retailer ebuyer is expected to do the same and other retailers will no
doubt follow.
A quick visit to ebuyer.com shows that the 1GB GeCube HD
3870X2 has already fallen by £35 to £234.98 and our
sources indicate that other Radeon HD 3800-series cards will soon
follow suit.
As an example, an ATI Radeon HD 3850 256MiB based card is now available for just
£90.99
and
for only 75p more SCAN offer its own Radeon HD 3870 256MiB for £91.74 which, coupled with the world leading
SCAN2HEXUS free shipping initiative that UK based HEXUS.community members exclusively benefit from, make it a no-brainer for UK based HEXUS readers in the market for a sub-£100 graphics accelerator.
We expect Radeon HD 3870 pricing to drop to £120, down from
the present £135.
AMD's marketing team reckons it's not daunted by the competition's
upcoming mid-range part, but price-cutting across the range could seem
to indicate otherwise, right?
Whatever the case, the winner is you, the HEXUS reader, as there has never
been a better time to invest in a mid-range graphics card than right
now.
UPDATE - 20th February 2008 18:57 - the
price slashing seems to be shaping up as follows: -
ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MiB
PowerColor HD3870 ZeroTherm
now €179 at Alternate in
Germany
SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB
now $184.99 at New Egg in the US
ATI Radeon HD 3850 512MiB
GeCube HD3850 Turbo (Retail, TV-Out, 2x
DVI) now €149 at Alternate in
Germany
SAPPHIRE 100226L Radeon HD 3850 512MB now $169.99 at New Egg in the US
ATI Radeon HD 3850 256MiB
256MB ATI HD3850 PCI-E 2.0 (x16), GDDR3, GPU 670MHz, 320 Streams, S-Video/2xDVI-I, HDCP Ready now £91.74 at SCAN in the UK (including SCAN2HEXUS FREE shipping for UK based HEXUS.community members)
HIS HD 3850 Pro 256MB 256bit GDDR3 Dual DVI TV HDCP now £92.01 at ebuyer in the UK
Sapphire HD3850 (Light-Retail, TV-Out,
2x DVI) now €139 at Alternate in
Germany
ATI Radeon HD 3850 256MiB $149 at New Egg in the US (presently no stock
available)
more as we get it...
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nVidia GeForce 9600GT 512MB Overclocked PCI-E - Aria Technology (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/nVidia+GeForce+9600GT+512MB+Overclocked+PCI-E+?productId=30566&gclid=CLXzjfr41ZECFRtgMAodjQ80aQ)
if anyone's looking for a 9600GT :D
It doesn't look bad - although I don't know if it qualifies to be called "overclocked", though. (Check the specs.) Nice pricing, though, certainly.
(I'm thinking £100-110 (inc vat) is the sweet spot for these cards, perhaps £120 for a 700/2000 (core/ram) overclock.)
LaterZQuote
and is that a sustainable strategy?Quote
are amd competing on anything other than price these days?
and is that a sustainable strategy?
Thought provoking comment - and that is a compliment, btw.
At the moment it seems their strategy doesn't seem "sustainable".
My guess is that the chips (both CPU and GPU) are "made" and ready to be shipped. So AMD's spent their money', with R&D, production, etc.
The tactic then is surely to make as much money back as possible.
So, typically, (i.e. in a competitive market,) you price differentiate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_differentiation), where possible, so as to target as many market "niches" as possible.
However, when you're product simply "won't sell", the best strategy is to just get rid of it, and get some money from it. (Tesco/Sainsbury's do this late at night, when they sell things off for 10p instead of "chucking" them.)
My guess is that's what AMD are doing, to help finance R&D for a 2012 product (perhaps).
Within the next year or two, AMD will get going - they're too big a company to take it lying down :angst: as it were.
(I'm sure an economist will read this and destroy what I've just written - I look forward to it...)
I've got Intel and nVidia in my system atm - I'm keenly interested in Intel's Nehalem and nVidia's 9600gt, but I'm not a fan boy - my "open mind" considers all options.Quote
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