facebook rss twitter

AMD Radeon HD 4870 X2: launch-day pricing comparison

by Parm Mann on 12 August 2008, 13:34

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaost

Add to My Vault: x

HEXUS put Sapphire's Radeon HD 4870 X2 through its paces earlier today and surmised that the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is simply the fastest consumer graphics card in the world, bar none.

However, taking into account the suggested price of £330, our HEXUS.bang4buck found it hard to justify the extra premium. Ultimately, we found that for most games you really need a high-res 30in monitor to make it worthwhile.

Regardless of value for money, when it comes to items marked as the world's fastest, there's always an audience. Therefore, we're taking a closer look at availability and pricing from some of the UK's leading online retailers. Please be aware that the following table is correct as of 13:00, Tuesday August 12th.

UK Market

etailerProductAvailabilityPrice (inc. VAT)
Scan.co.uk GIGABYTE HD 4870 X2 Pre-order £371.29
  PowerColor HD 4870 X2 Pre-order £375.99
  HiS HD 4870 X2 Pre-order £381.86
  ASUS HD 4870 X2 Pre-order £390.69
  Sapphire HD 4870 X2 Pre-order £399.49
UK-based HEXUS.community readers can benefit from free shipping with Scan.co.uk
ebuyer.com PowerColor HD 4870 X2 Pre-order £344.95
  Sapphire HD 4870 X2 Pre-order £354.98

 

That, we're afraid, is the grim outlook for prospective customers. Two of the big-name etailers, Scan and Ebuyer, have a variety of Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards available for pre-order, but neither have any cards currently in stock. The likes of Dabs, MicroDirect, Tekheads and YoYoTech don't yet have the card listed, at all.

UK availability, then, is as severely limited as it gets. AMD may have officially launched its Radeon HD 4870 X2, and it may well be the world's fastest consumer graphics card, but getting your hands on one immediately won't be easy.

A second familiar problem is that of pricing. For a high-end part in limited availability, pre-order prices are in some cases nearly £70 more than we'd anticipated. Prices should fall as availability increases, but now clearly isn't an ideal time to buy.

So, UK availability is downright miserable, but what about the Euro and US markets? Well, to our surprise, they're even worse. Popular US etailers such as NewEgg and TigerDirect don't yet have the card listed, neither do European etailers Alternate and HardwareFreak.

 



HEXUS Forums :: 2 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
It's not vapourware at all, but you will have to stray to OcUK to get one, and their prices are at Scan's equally ludicrous level (though of course many can get free delivery with Scan, it's a bit redundant without stock).

Thumbs to up Ebuyer for setting initial prices at a reasonable level, with far less price-gouging than the other supposed leading etailers.
This is the point I made in one of the 4870X2 threads in the scan scare forum.

One of the can guys took the screenie out of the ebuyer prices. Sounds like unfriendly competition to me.

On a positive note. If anyone in the Uk wants one tomorrow, OcUK has them IN STOCK!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-101-HT (His)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-094-PC (Powercolor)

(Do note, OcUK has priced them for being in stock accordingly). But nice one ebuyer for actually getting the prices right!

(At this rate I may go back to ebuyer, I vowed I never would after an RMA went sour, but I have countless problems with Scan products, something makes me think they need to have a word with their supplier, stuff that looks used, damaged, more faulty stuff than I ever had with Ebuyer…hmmm….)