ATi prices to drop by the end of the month for 5xxx cards?

[thegeeesta]

If Nvidia's GF100 chip or GTX 470 and GTX 480 cards are launching by the end of this month, wouldn't it make sense for an ATi price cut? ATi no long has the splendor of being the only DirectX 11 card manufacturer, which hopefully means that they will do some price slashing. The gap between a new 4890 and a new 5850 is a mere 5 fps in Crysis, but is that really worth an extra $100 and your soul? These 5xxx cards are too expensive.

Which brings me to my next question... My HIS 4890 died a few days ago and I'm in need of a new card... Should I keep my card after the RMA process or should I send it to eBay and use the cash to buy a 5850 (with an additional $150 from my wallet)? Or should I upgrade my AMD Phenom II X3 720 to a 965? I have an older 4550 I'm going to use until my 4890 returns.

 

[gamerk316]

To the OP: Id just stick with a 4890 for now, and wait and see what NVIDIA does.

 

[capt_taco]

I don't think the new nvidia cards are going to affect ATI's prices at all. Given the current prices of nvidia's DX10 cards, and the pent-up demand, I'll bet they come out costing $600.

Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised to see the price of the 58xx series come down on their own, simply because we're fast approaching the point where all the people willing to pay $400 for a 5870 will have done so.


edit: oh, also -- just keep the 4890 for now. It's pretty close to the 5850 in performance. You don't need DX11 yet. And if you wait a while, when the time for DX11 comes, you can get a better card than the 5850, and for cheaper.

 

[bystander]

Just a recap, his 4890 died, he has a 4550 to tie himself over.

 

[paperfox]

^^ and to recap again, the OP said that he has the ability to RMA that 4890... lol history repeats itself again.

I say keep the 4890, it will max out almost all games at 1920x1080 and below. Until a good DX11 game comes out that you like you should consider upgrading then, maybe by then the 5000 series and Fermi will have dropped a little.
edit: spelling

 

[bystander]

Wow, he really worded things weird. Saying he needed a new card, but then saying he can RMA it. Ya, I see why this post got messed up.

 

[invlem]

ATi doesn't even know what the fermi is going to be priced at so why would they lower their pricing? (Don't get me wrong I'd love a price drop, I just don't see it happening)

Odds are that the fermi will be expensive and inventories are going to be scarce at best. (Which is going to drive costs even further up). I honestly can't remember when nVidia has ever launched a new generation of cards at a 'reasonable' price. With the production issues they've had with fermi I don't see this launch breaking that trend.

Until all the 4x00 inventory is cleared out from the e-tailers I'm expecting the 5x00 series pricing to hold steady, barring some miracle from the nVidia team.

 

[jaguarskx]

The gap between a new 4890 and a new 5850 is a mere 5 fps in Crysis, but is that really worth an extra $100 and your soul? These 5xxx cards are too expensive.

The performance difference in Crysis in this particular review for very high settings is 4FPS; HD 4980 = 20FPS and HD 5850 = 24 FPS. That works out to a 20% increase in performance. Too small of a percentage increase for your taste?

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5850_6.html#sect0

If so then just go out and buy the HD 5870 or HD 5970 video cards. After all it's just your money and you seem to be fixated on Crysis benchmarks.