R600 prices posted (maybe)

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

A $300 jump between r630 and r600? wtf? That's bad strategy by AMD

However it depends on how they perform.

This list also doesn't include the crippled R600 offspring like Pauldh mentions, XL, PROs, SEs, etc may be in the offing.

Looking at the early GF8600 performance, if the X2600 is in the same league then there's nowhere for those to go, since the X1950Pro and GF7900GS will cut into the premium you can ask for that level of perofrmance. So either they better get some DX10 apps out fast to justify a different pricing strategy, or else they are going to be strapped by the low side of last generation's the high end cards as to what they can price the mid-range. And considering the GF8800GTX still sells for over $500, then pricing the high end of the R600 @ $500 is taking into account the current reality of the market.

 

[TSIMonster]

I agree. People are just now getting pushed away from cards like the x850 since SM3 required games are just now coming out!!!!

 

[Heyyou27]

If the R600 gets 10% of a performance increase over the 8800GTX, and it only costs $500 it'll be one hell of a card.

 

[james_8970]

*Just thinking out loud *

If top of the line R600 is only $500, with the embeded sound chip and all, it would seem to me performance will not be above the 8800GTX. I mean if such a card was available today, it would be worth an easy $600 if it held the performance crown. I would expect the second best card to be $500 (say an XT) while the best card (XTX) would be $600. Also, no talks of the XL model. I'm hoping there are 3 - X2900's at launch covering the $350, $500, and $600 range.

What?! Is there actually a sound chip embeded into the R600?!
Let's hope heyyou27 that it does have around a 10% increase or more for the price.
James

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

What?! Is there actually a sound chip embeded into the R600?!

No, there's a Realtek chip on the card, not sound transistors on the R600 chip, despite early talks of VPUs decoding audio.
However that's why the aduio over HDMI is a differentiating feature since Vista requires it for the DRM infected err... protected content, so for HTPCs it's a good feature to consider.

 

[Stealth_JAG]

A $300 jump between r630 and r600? wtf? That's bad strategy by AMD

I'm wondering if this might be due to the one using GDDR4 memory and the other using GDDR3 memory. I thought I read somewhere that ATI was going to use GDDR4 memory on the more expenisve segment of their R600 videocards and GDDR3 and the value segment of the product line. Of course, I've been reading a lot of conflicting information about the configuration of the R600 cards so its hard to have confidence about anything.

Rob

 

[Wrick]

I am not to confident in this article. If it is accurate, it has to be limited information. ATI would be foolish to release only one version of the R600 at the $500 price point. There is going to have to be a lower price point for the R600. There is a large segment of the market which will not want to spend $500, but will not want to make the step down to the R630. If they only release the $500 R600 a lot of people that were waiting for the R600 XT or Pro or whatever you want to call it will say "I am sick of waiting for ATI" and get a 8800GTS.

 

[cb62fcni]

Ah yes, the mighty DRM. The G80 refresh might very well have a similar feature. And thanks to DRM, the sound can only be output via HDMI.... Woe to the fool who thinks they can watch HD content with audio coming from their nice Xfi.

And even though I know it's not what you meant Ape, I had to chuckle imagining someone buying one of these GIGANTOR cards for a regular HTPC case. You'd need a hacksaw and an imperial gallon of Vaseline to make it fit, and then the included PSU wouldn't even be nearly enough... Oh well, I was planning on just using a tower for my HTPC anyway, I'll hide it back behind the TV somewhere...

 

[pauldh]

sorry, poor wording on my part.

 

[hannibal]

The first r600 is most propably gddr3 version (I think that it was mentioned in one press release). The gddr4 version will become later. (When gddr4 is more affordable...) I think that we will see some price drop with first r600 at the same time.
The second gdd4 ediotion will be priced very close the to G80...

 

[m0rk]

R630 XT $199.00 is a great offer. Anyone know how if ATi´s drivers are improved lately (12-18 months) for linux users. I use Ubuntu on my desktop and one hell of bad week getting my X850XT card to work.

 

[pauldh]

R630 XT $199.00 is a great offer. Anyone know how if ATi´s drivers are improved lately (12-18 months) for linux users. I use Ubuntu on my desktop and one hell of bad week getting my X850XT card to work.

If R630XT is $200 and doesn't outperform a $130 X1900GT, then I wouldn't call it a good offer. It needs to offer almost the performance of a $200 X1950XT to be worthy of that praise. then again if X19xx supply dries up, then these might offer the best bang available for the buck, while having other advantages too.

 

[sailer]

R630 XT $199.00 is a great offer. Anyone know how if ATi´s drivers are improved lately (12-18 months) for linux users. I use Ubuntu on my desktop and one hell of bad week getting my X850XT card to work.

If R630XT is $200 and doesn't outperform a $130 X1900GT, then I wouldn't call it a good offer. It needs to offer almost the performance of a $200 X1950XT to be worthy of that praise. then again if X19xx supply dries up, then these might offer the best bang available for the buck, while having other advantages too.

The biggest draw for the R630 over a X1900Gt could well be the ability to use DX10. Other than that, I suspect many of the higher 1900-1950 cards would give better performance, especially the XTX models.