What are the chances of a significant price drop of the GTX 480?

[inktri]

Hi

I'm going to need a GTX 480 for CUDA development before May 10th. Do you expect nVidia to price cut the GTX 480 by more than 20% or so from the release price before that date?

Are there any competitively priced ATI products that will be released soon that will probably cause a significant price dip like the one experienced by the GTX 280's a couple of years ago?

Thanks.

 

[flyinfinni]

NO. I would imagine that between release and may 10, the price will either stay the same, or increase due to low availability given the rumors concerning production yield, etc. I wouldn't imagine there will be any way they can cut prices and still make much off of the GTX480 GPU's, even if ATI were to release a 5890 or even their 6xxx series.

 

[JofaMang]

It will be a mostly paper launch from the get go, general rumour consensus has agreed, and thus at least initially, there will be a high demand (regardless of performance) and limited stock. The chance of a price cut by may would be really slim, unless say, it is a really crappy card. If it bombs, Nvidia may be forced to drop the price to be competative against ATI.

That worst case scenario seems unlikely to me. I am guessing it will be powerful enough to warrant a stable launch price for quite some time, probably far past May.

It's all conjecture, to be honest. The question might be better asked after the new cards have actually landed in independant enthusiasts hands.

 

[Kari]

so you really think you can buy one just 6 weeks after launch? dream on... P

 

[EXT64]

The answer depends on how many cards NVidia can (or wants to) release. If supply is low and the card is not a flop (which you wouldn't want it then anyway, I doubt it will do this poorly though) even if NVidia lowers prices, retailers will raise them again like they did with the 5800s soon after release.

 

[flyinfinni]

If you HAVE to get one, I would pre-order it as soon as is at all possible since it'll be near impossible to get your hands on one. I would never pay anywhere close to the prices they're gonna ask for it though

 

[englandr753]

I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Speculation is the only tool we have to go on to answer your Q.

I would focus some time on plan B as I would't expect to get either of these two new cards at a reduced price anytime soon...

 

[EXT64]

Yeah, preorder prices have been horrendous (as usual). And if supply actually is low, there is no guarantee the preorder places will actually be the first in line (or get any at all).

 

[megamanx00]

Simple answer.

A snowball's chance in hell.

Anyway, if you really want to do CUDA it may be best to go for a GTX275 or something right now. Code you program for the GTX275 will also run on Fermi based cards, just faster ^_^. Not only that, but coding for the G200b chip ensures your code will have a wider application than if you only optimized it for Fermi and it's derivatives.