Aren't you happy the midrange cards don't suck anymore?

[protokiller]

I hear a lot of people call these "budget cards" making them sound very bad but I perfer to call them "midrange" which is what they really are, anyway it's been awhile since the cards with a "6" in them as the second digit have been any good.

Finally Both Nivida and ATI have cards that don't totally suck in the sub $200 price range, such cards that come to mind:

9600GT, 9600GSO, some 8800GTs and some 9800GTs.

4650,4670,4850, and some old 3850s.

I'm so glad they finally realised that is where most of the money is and decided to make them finally not suck like the 2600 and 8600 series did.

 

[br3nd064]

The 8800gts g92's and 9800gtx/gtx+'s are also in the <$200 range and they're pretty decent.

 

[jerreece]

The 8800gts g92's and 9800gtx/gtx+'s are also in the <$200 range and they're pretty decent.

I totally agree. My 8800GTS (G92) never gets talked about anymore. Harder to find them for sale online anymore either. Great card too! Plays FarCry 2 @ Max settings @ 1280x1024 at 25-45FPS depending on the environment I'm in.

Wish I could afford to go SLI with mine. ;-)

 

[metrazol]

The 4670 is impossible to find at a fair price in Canada, so as far as I'm concerned it doesn't exist or change anything. Yes, you've got affordable 8800s etc, but you need to invest in a decent power supply to capitalize on that, so overall you're just treading water. The midrange is better because everything is better, but I wouldn't say that it's relatively cheaper when you include availability and other costs into the equation.

 

[cyber_jockey]

Does midrange normally eat more then 100w ? Its scary where these power consumption go but again the power performance ratio is mad compare to what we had so far on the market.

 

[shabodah]

IMHO, we've had it pretty good since the 6600GT or so. Don't get me wrong, it's gotten better and better except for that hickup at 8600, but, we've had it pretty good for a while now. Same with CPU's. You can get more than most people need in a $50 CPU these days. Heck, there are few games that a $50-100 CPU and $100-150 GPU can't handle at at least reasonable settings now.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

One thing that's really helped with midrange cards is that fact that games haven't been getting more graphically draining. After crysis came out things seemed to have leveled out and even back pedaled. It may be 2 years before we see another crysis level performance hog, the development costs and lack of appeal just won't allow it... even now highend cards are really only needed for filters and excessively high resolutions. Ati and Nvidia are just going to have to adjust to the fact that the market is all about price performance ratio now. No more of this 8600 GT for $200 dollars crap. People are going to get use to playing games like UT3 at full res/graphics settings for under $100 and that's just how it's going to be from now on.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

The 4670 is impossible to find at a fair price in Canada,...

OMG, it's so tough to find ;

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=34124&vpn=GV%2DR467D3%2D512I&manufacture=Gigabyte

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33141&vpn=H467QS512P&manufacture=HIS

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4148909&CatId=3585

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22233(ME).aspx

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=020034&cid=999.243.272

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019954&cid=999.243.272

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161252

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121274

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131122

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127383

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125244

Seems alot of them out there, no?
So under $100 isn't good enough?
Heck, new midrange cards used to be $200-250+ !

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

And prices have been awesome over the last year.

Sure it was more about deals on the high end than quality in the mid-range, but the GF9600GT and now HD4670 have changed that.

 

[teh_boxzor]

yeah the 8600's killed it....



like they got hard and then someone chopped with a knife

 

[spathotan]

The 8800GT really opened the door for REAL midrange in recent memory. I guess you could say the GTS G92 followed suit.

 

[metrazol]

OMG, it's so tough to find ;

Seems alot of them out there, no?
So under $100 isn't good enough?
Heck, new midrange cards used to be $200-250+ !

Those are garbage prices for the 4670. Might as well just get an 8800 or 9600. It makes sense at around $75.

And newegg.ca? You are joking right? You do realize they ship UPS cross boarder for $17 and you end up paying customs on top... It's a US operation with a .ca domain. Screw them.

 

[dagger]

Those are garbage prices for the 4670. Might as well just get an 8800 or 9600. It makes sense at around $75.

And newegg.ca? You are joking right? You do realize they ship UPS cross boarder for $17 and you end up paying customs on top... It's a US operation with a .ca domain. Screw them.

Lol, yep, key word is "fair price."

 

[speedbird]

This is exactly why competition between ATI and Nvidia is a great thing.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Those are garbage prices for the 4670. Might as well just get an 8800 or 9600. It makes sense at around $75.

Nah, the GF8800 and GF9600 are old products sellign for low prices and you're comparing to newer cards selling near launch prices.

Might as well get a free GF2MX, it's a better value!

And newegg.ca? You are joking right?

You said it's impossible to find them, and that's not true. I don't care even if they are re-shipped 3 other options are from Canadian distributors if you have an issue with the US.

Your idea of a fair price is also bent.

It may not be the best value, but it's definitely a fair price. Especially when you compare them to their legacy price for what is typically mid-range. The GF9600 wasn't at that price and neither were the GF8600GTS and HD2600XT which would be the equivalent of these.

Whine all you want, but they are out there at a fair price, you're statement is a stawman that you're never going to agree about a 'fair price' because if they were selling for $75 you would say they should be $50, etc.

 

[L1qu1d]

8800 GT did a good job showing as what midrange means (9600 GT came out a few later, but by the time it came out, it was like 30$ cheaper than the 8800 GT)

I think the 4850 is the new card that stepped it up offering 10-30% increase over the 8800 GTX for under 200$ on release.

We also have the GX2, 260 and 4870 512 closing the gaps now being sold for 200-250$ which is amazing.

 

[ahslan]

my last midrange card (before my HD4850 which is absolutely amazing) was an ATI Radeon 9600Pro, which was about $100 and it was able to play Doom 3 at great frame rates...at that time, Doom 3 was the current day Crysis...

 

[L1qu1d]

my friend bought the 9600 Pro socould play serious sam with me I had a 9800 XT lol

In all honesty my favorite "mid range" (actually semi- High end) was the X1950 XTX that I bought from future Shop (Canadian Best buy) for 150$ because I photoshoped a flyer and asked them to match the price LMAO!!!!

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

However, remember the R9600Pro launched at $149-200 back when the deals weren't quite so grand. In Canada that was closer to $175-$250 (I got one from the ATi online store for just over $ 225 first week). The R9500Pro that came before it was $179-$219US and a cut down high end card, similar to the GF8800GT, not the GF9600 or HD4670 or HD2600/GF8600.

Prices have done well recently, and they trended downward from the days when the mid-range GF3s, 8500LE and GF4s were closer to $300. It'd be interesting to see how they would've done if the HD48xx series had been priced a little higher, in line with it's vlaue to the GTX2xx rather than setting a low point and dragging the GTXs down to there. Buying an HD4850 for what people were paying for an R9500/9600/FX5600 is a pretty nice price drope for class of card/power, and paying the price for a GF9600 or HD4650/70 that you would've paid for an FX5200/R9000, GF6300/X300 or X1300/GF7300 is pretty nice too.

 

[dagger]

The artificial tag "new tech" or "old tech" means little. Bottom line is, if old tech outperforms new tech for cheaper, it's better value. Neither do prices in the past matter. As a consumer, why do you care for past prices? It's not like you're buying in the past.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4670/26.html

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

And whats this requiring a 100 watts? The 4670 doesnt need that much at all, and its a great low end-midrange card

 

[L1qu1d]

yup, its out performed by the 9600 GT alot, but its on avg 30-50$ cheaper.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

The artificial tag "new tech" or "old tech" means little. Bottom line is, if old tech outperforms new tech for cheaper, it's better value.

Has nothing to do with a 'fair price' though. And value is all in the eye of the beer holder. You value one thing, someone else values another.
The HD4670 is a much better 'value' because it's a better HTPC card, and that's all that matters... or do you value something else differently?

You can do your whole 'value' thread again, but try and stick to the OPs idea again that it's nice that the mid-range doesn't suck, not that you have value metrics for the nth time.

Neither do prices in the past matter. As a consumer, why do you care for past prices? It's not like you're buying in the past.

Read the point of the thread, of course the past matters and of course it's relevant to the launch of mid-range products, of which the GF8800 NEVER was. It's not just a value thread, it's a mid-range cards not sucking for either ATi or nV' thread. That's what the OP is on about if you bothered to focus.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Past prices are what this whole threads about. If ATI hadnt come in low like Ape mentioned, wed still be paying huge prices for old tech, and huge prices for new tech. Now, that being said, which would you rather have, old or new? DX10 or DX10.1? 7 channel or not? Lower power consumption or not? These are questions people want answers to, and as far as this thread, the pricing is everything, and again, thanks only to ATI.

I see your point dagger, but youre beating a dead and since renamed 3 times horse

 

[dagger]

And whats this requiring a 100 watts? The 4670 doesnt need that much at all, and its a great low end-midrange card

4670 doesn't require nearly 100 watts, even at full load. Since it's technically impossible to directly measure gpu power consumption, benchmarkers list whole system consumption instead. It's misleading if you're not careful.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4670/24.html

yup, its out performed by the 9600 GT alot, but its on avg 30-50$ cheaper.

It definitely does not outperform 9600gt. It performs under 9600gso, which is cheaper and overclocks far better.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4670/26.html