AMD announces Never Settle Reloaded bundle

[Eureka]

What's interesting is some NV users defend prices for NV cards at all costs. Generally speaking, consumers should prefer more competition that drives prices down from everyone, unless those consumers are either employed by the company that sells overpriced products (say paid marketing shills), they financially benefit from having higher prices (profit margins) such as being NV shareholders, or they are brainwashed fanboys. But even if they are fanboys, having lower prices on GTX600 cards would allow them to pick up a 2nd or 3rd for SLI for cheaper. It could be they are just upset that less than 12 months after GTX680 2/4GB cards launched, you can get way faster performance and 6 free games with 2 7950s. I am guessing things would have been different if 2 GTX760s demolished a GTX680 for $560 and also came with 6 free games.

To be fair, you AMD fans are pitting the price of the cheapest 7950 against the most expensive 680. Wouldn't it be more fair to pit a 7950 against its true counterpart, the 670? $280 vs $300 on sale. Not to mention, the cheapest normal 7970 is $360, while the cheapest normal 680 is around $400. At stock clocks, the difference isn't that great, either.

Not to mention, you were able to buy the 6x0 cards with game bundles too. I got BL2 and AC3 with my 670, which sold for the same price a Never Settle Bundle was selling for.

To say the stutter didn't exist isn't true either. When I had my 7970,even with 12.8 drivers you could see stutter, albeit at very unique situations (like running my mouse across the table). I definitely have not seen that on the 670, or at least it isn't as noticeable. There are driver differences between the two companies. Now, that's not to say nV doesn't have bad drivers, either. There's been shadow flickering on my 670 that's been driving me nuts in cutscenes. AMD has white textures and stuttering, NVidia has shadow flickering.

Now, these bundles are definitely a nice touch. I did (and still do) consider AMD choices everytime I look at a card or help someone purchase. But to say AMD is the only one offering value is a bit misleading. My 670 costed me about $240 out of pocket after everything was said and done. A 7950 would've cost the same. In pure frames, the 7950 will definitely be a stronger buy, especially with overclocking. But I'd rather take lower frames (since I can't use it all at 1200p) and spend the money on PhysX capability and the lower stutter.

And well, at the end of the day, 2x 670 does demolish a 680 and a 7970, and comes with 4 games (albeit two copies of each). And the retail price would be around $600 on sale, not including selling the games. yse it's still more than 2x 7950s, but it's not a huge price jump. And it's not like you can't find a 7970 that goes for $500, either.

 

[Rvenger]

To be fair, you AMD fans are pitting the price of the cheapest 7950 against the most expensive 680. Wouldn't it be more fair to pit a 7950 against its true counterpart, the 670? $280 vs $300 on sale. Not to mention, the cheapest normal 7970 is $360, while the cheapest normal 680 is around $400. At stock clocks, the difference isn't that great, either.

Not to mention, you were able to buy the 6x0 cards with game bundles too. I got BL2 and AC3 with my 670, which sold for the same price a Never Settle Bundle was selling for.

To say the stutter didn't exist isn't true either. When I had my 7970,even with 12.8 drivers you could see stutter, albeit at very unique situations (like running my mouse across the table). I definitely have not seen that on the 670, or at least it isn't as noticeable. There are driver differences between the two companies. Now, that's not to say nV doesn't have bad drivers, either. There's been shadow flickering on my 670 that's been driving me nuts in cutscenes. AMD has white textures and stuttering, NVidia has shadow flickering.

Now, these bundles are definitely a nice touch. I did (and still do) consider AMD choices everytime I look at a card or help someone purchase. But to say AMD is the only one offering value is a bit misleading. My 670 costed me about $240 out of pocket after everything was said and done. A 7950 would've cost the same. In pure frames, the 7950 will definitely be a stronger buy, especially with overclocking. But I'd rather take lower frames (since I can't use it all at 1200p) and spend the money on PhysX capability and the lower stutter.

And well, at the end of the day, 2x 670 does demolish a 680 and a 7970, and comes with 4 games (albeit two copies of each). And the retail price would be around $600 on sale, not including selling the games. yse it's still more than 2x 7950s, but it's not a huge price jump. And it's not like you can't find a 7970 that goes for $500, either.

Average price of a GTX 670 is $369

Average price of an HD 7950 is $309


Clock for clock the 7950 is roughly equal to a GTX 680.

 

[Grooveriding]

To be fair, you AMD fans ...

Don't see how you are an AMD fan for seeing good value in something ? So if I am an nvidia fan I won't buy AMD even though it's offering great value ? ....

Most people are just partial to value, not a brand.

 

[Eureka]

Don't see how you are an AMD fan for seeing good value in something ? So if I am an nvidia fan I won't buy AMD even though it's offering great value ? ....

Most people are just partial to value, not a brand.

There are AMD fanboys on this forum, just as there are Nvidia fans. When you try to compare 2 cheap 7950s against one of the more expensive 680s, it's a bit of a biased comparison, don't you think? I mean I can compare 2x 660s against a 7970, but where's the point in that? I prefer same-tier comparisons.

My point is that there is value on both sides. Quite honestly, in the real world the difference between a 670 and a 7950 is about 2-3 frames at the most demanding games. Between my 670 and my 7970, there was about a 4 frame difference in Heaven. The real value came in PhysX (which I wanted) and the arguable stutter. While the stutter on AMD cards never bothered me, I can't lie and say I never saw it.

FPS alone isn't the best metric for value. It's one, but there are other factors as well. For me, I wanted to try out NV this time, and I got a great deal for it ($240 for a 670). Sure a 7950 would've costed me $230 under the same metrics, but $10 is a wash for these things. So to say that "AMD provides the best value" is kind of washy.

 

[ICDP]

To be fair, you AMD fans are pitting the price of the cheapest 7950 against the most expensive 680. Wouldn't it be more fair to pit a 7950 against its true counterpart, the 670? $280 vs $300 on sale. Not to mention, the cheapest normal 7970 is $360, while the cheapest normal 680 is around $400. At stock clocks, the difference isn't that great, either.

The cheapest GTX 670 (on Newegg) is around $320 after rebate and $350 without the hassle of rebates. The cheapest 7950 is $275 with rebate and $290 without rebate hassles. That is a ~20% price difference, and that is before we include the games bundle. So while you make a very valid point it is worth noting that the 7950 is still far better value.

Not to mention, you were able to buy the 6x0 cards with game bundles too. I got BL2 and AC3 with my 670, which sold for the same price a Never Settle Bundle was selling for.

Both company's do bundles, these are normal marketing tactics that have been used since the dawn of the GPU. The issue some AMD fans have is that a few hardcore Nvidia fans are claiming AMD bundles = desperate move of a dying company.

To say the stutter didn't exist isn't true either. When I had my 7970,even with 12.8 drivers you could see stutter, albeit at very unique situations (like running my mouse across the table). I definitely have not seen that on the 670, or at least it isn't as noticeable. There are driver differences between the two companies. Now, that's not to say nV doesn't have bad drivers, either. There's been shadow flickering on my 670 that's been driving me nuts in cutscenes. AMD has white textures and stuttering, NVidia has shadow flickering.

This should go without saying but unfortunately some people refuse to accept both companies have and will have driver problems.

Now, these bundles are definitely a nice touch. I did (and still do) consider AMD choices everytime I look at a card or help someone purchase. But to say AMD is the only one offering value is a bit misleading. My 670 costed me about $240 out of pocket after everything was said and done. A 7950 would've cost the same. In pure frames, the 7950 will definitely be a stronger buy, especially with overclocking. But I'd rather take lower frames (since I can't use it all at 1200p) and spend the money on PhysX capability and the lower stutter.

The GTX 670 was by far the best value for money when it was released, but that was 6-8 months ago. Value for money and price/perf can change over the course of a GPU life cycle. Right now AMD are offering better value and that is even without these bundles. A HD 7970 is a priced at a similar level as the slower GTX 670 but it comes with free games that make the deal far better overall. In fact the HD 7970 (non GE) is cheaper than and as fast as a GTX 680 but comes with an expensive games bundle.

And well, at the end of the day, 2x 670 does demolish a 680 and a 7970, and comes with 4 games (albeit two copies of each). And the retail price would be around $600 on sale, not including selling the games. yse it's still more than 2x 7950s, but it's not a huge price jump. And it's not like you can't find a 7970 that goes for $500, either.

I'm not seeing what games the GTX 670 is bundled with in the US? In the UK it is bundles with AC3. Once again your prices for the GTX 670 are around $30-50 too low. Over here in the UK the GTX 670 is trading for the same price as the HD 7970. So it's the same price, but slower and has a lower value game bundle. No matter what way you look at it the GTX 670 is currently poor value for money.

Nvidia have not offered good value for money for around 6 months or more when compared to AMD equivalents. The following cards are priced at similar levels here in the UK but at every price point AMD > Nvidia.

HD 78x0 > GTX 660
HD 7950 > GTX 660Ti
HD 7970 > GTX 670
HD 7970 GE > GTX 680

 

[RussianSensation]

To be fair, you AMD fans are pitting the price of the cheapest 7950 against the most expensive 680. Wouldn't it be more fair to pit a 7950 against its true counterpart, the 670?

I am not a fan of NV or AMD. I value price/performance & overclocking and any features that can drop the cost of ownership (like bitcoin mining).

When there is a GTX670 for $300, I make sure to note it and many others do as well. Since the NSR bundle is being discussed this week, I don't see any GTX670s for sale at $300, which is why the discussion came up that NV should lower prices.

The reason people bring up HD7950 against GTX680 is because HD7950 is the only sub-$300 card that with overclocking can beat a GTX680/HD7970GE. You cannot do so with a GTX660, GTX660Ti, HD7870 on air without exotic volt mods. In other words HD7950 is the only real card with flagship potential that consistently sells under $300 that's heavily underclocked from the factory. Now you can get almost 2 such cards for a price of some GTX680 4GB. Since not everyone here can afford $500+ GPUs or $500+ CPUs, if there is some extraordinary value to be had, members on this forum often note it (HD6950 unlocking, GTX460 OC, HD7950 OC, i5 2500K/i5 3570K OCing, etc.) because it means saving $ and sacrificing little performance in many cases. That's a smart purchase for many people.

You brought up GTX660 SLI vs. HD7970GE but GTX660Ti SLI is not much faster than HD7970GE. I am thinking GTX660 SLI might net a 10-15% advantage over the HD7970GE, but I doubt it'll actually be a smoother gaming experience that's worth the SLI scaling issues by getting 2x $200 660s. Buying an HD7950 for $280 and overclocking is getting 90-95% of the performance of a GTX680/HD7970GE for hundreds of dollars less. If you get 2 of those and CF doesn't work, even in those cases, an OCed 7950 will be within 10% of an OCed 680. This is not the same case as GTX660 SLI vs. HD7970 GE because if SLI scaling doesn't work, you end up with a much slower card, not just 10% slower. There is no such card from NV at the moment at this price that offers this much hidden potential.

$280 vs $300 on sale.

GTX670 used to go on sale to $300 last year, but right now the cheapest after-market version is $350 when for $280 you get a 925mhz HD7950 with 2 free games. That makes GTX670 overpriced.

Not to mention, the cheapest normal 7970 is $360, while the cheapest normal 680 is around $400. At stock clocks, the difference isn't that great, either.

GTX680 hasn't been $400 in a long-time. It barely dropped to $400 last year. You can't cherry-pick sales of GTX680 last year because we might as well start talking about $300-320 HD7970s at TigerDirect, NCIX, etc. At present time with the bundle deal going, the cheapest after-market GTX680 is $440 on Newegg.

Not to mention, you were able to buy the 6x0 cards with game bundles too. I got BL2 and AC3 with my 670, which sold for the same price a Never Settle Bundle was selling for.

Again, when GTX670 sold with 2 free games for $320-330, it was an excellent deal. You keep discussing the past which has nothing to do with GTX660Ti/670/680 prices today.

To say the stutter didn't exist isn't true either.

No one denied stutter in some games. I said stutter existed on Fermi cards but the people who raised up a storm regarding stutter on HD7900 never mentioned a word about frame times stutter on Fermi cards. Double standard?

But to say AMD is the only one offering value is a bit misleading. My 670 costed me about $240 out of pocket after everything was said and done. A 7950 would've cost the same.

If someone purchased a GTX670 for $400 when HD7950 was $450+ an HD7970 was $500+, it was an amazing deal. When a 1.05ghz HD7970 is beating a 1137mhz GTX680 in a many games and comes with 2 free games, GTX670 for $350-360 doesn't look so hot against a $280 HD7950 or $360-380 HD7970s.

Source

And well, at the end of the day, 2x 670 does demolish a 680 and a 7970, and comes with 4 games (albeit two copies of each). And the retail price would be around $600 on sale, not including selling the games. yse it's still more than 2x 7950s, but it's not a huge price jump. And it's not like you can't find a 7970 that goes for $500, either.

You seem to be ignoring that the $280 price of HD7950 and $380 for 1Ghz HD7970 are not sale prices. These are regular prices on Newegg nearly every day.

Where can we buy a GTX670x2 with after-market coolers for $600 and get 4 free games?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tx+670&x=0&y=0

Things change in the marketplace as prices drop/game bundles are added. Right now, imo, nearly every card (excluding the class leading GTX690) at $150 and up offers better value from AMD which means NV should lower prices or add its own game bundles.

 

[tviceman]

Oh jeezus these threads are so worthless. AMD has the better bundles lately. Who gives a sh!t why???? If you don't like AMD or are dead set on getting an nvidia card then it doesn't concern you. If you aren't planning on buying either one during the bundle offers it doesn't concern you, either.

 

[chimaxi83]

Oh jeezus these threads are so worthless. AMD has the better bundles lately. Who gives a sh!t why???? If you don't like AMD or are dead set on getting an nvidia card then it doesn't concern you. If you aren't planning on buying either one it doesn't concern you, either.

Exactly, I agree. Whiny fanboys will be whiny fanboys though.

 

[OCGuy]

Oh jeezus these threads are so worthless. AMD has the better bundles lately. Who gives a sh!t why???? If you don't like AMD or are dead set on getting an nvidia card then it doesn't concern you. If you aren't planning on buying either one during the bundle offers it doesn't concern you, either.

To be fair, we haven't had anything to unleash on in quite. The titan rumours and this bundle are just warming everyone up for the big dance...a new product release.

 

[NIGELG]

P.S. I'm not preaching doom and gloom. I just have zero faith in anything AMD does. Zip.

That's your job to preach AMD's demise .Nvidia pays you with free stuff for you to think like that.You have been preaching AMD's doom and hoping for it for a long time now.If they are to die then let them.It's not your business...or is it?

If AMD goes out of business will there be need for an ' Nvidia Focus Group'?You might actually have to buy your own cards like many of us do..

Anyhow game bundles from AMD and Nvidia are always a good thing.Customers of both Companies who are in the market for new cards should jump on Game bundles.I benefited from Never Settle myself when I bought a 7970.

 

[Will Robinson]

I love watching Sontin try to win an argument against RS.:biggrin:

Looks like a decent game offer from AMD...what's not to like?

 

[AnandThenMan]

P.S. I'm not preaching doom and gloom. I just have zero faith in anything AMD does. Zip.

Makes me all the more confident that AMD is on the upswing.

 

[raghu78]

If AMD goes out of business will there be need for an ' Nvidia Focus Group'?You might actually have to buy your own cards like many of us do..

very well said. :biggrin:

People like keys and sontin just have to criticize and ridicule any AMD move while defending Nvidia at any cost. There is no point in responding to their posts. With such good game bundles AMD has the better value proposition. At every price point they beat the competition on perf. With 13.2 beta fixing stuttering in specific games and the new memory manager due in a few weeks which will improve frame latency in general these people will not have even the stuttering argument to talk about.

And its not as if Nvidia does not have stuttering issues of its own.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1346657/battlefield-3-unplayable-on-r310-drivers

Back on topic AMD seems to have made a huge catch with EA signing up for GE. It looks like all EA games will be involved with AMD GE. The Crysis franchise was a huge TWIMTBP title. So for AMD to poach such a big franchise is significant.

AMD is serious about content being one of the cornerstones of their GPU strategy. With AMD being the CPU and GPU designer for both PS4 and Xbox Next game developers will work closely with the GCN architecture over the next 6 - 7 years. We will see even more improved developer relations under AMD GE. And since most games are straight ports to the PC its going to be helpful to AMD's future products.

 

[Tweak155]

<snip>
Again, when GTX670 sold with 2 free games for $320-330, it was an excellent deal. You keep discussing the past which has nothing to do with GTX660Ti/670/680 prices today.



No one denied stutter in some games. I said stutter existed on Fermi cards but the people who raised up a storm regarding stutter on HD7900 never mentioned a word about frame times stutter on Fermi cards. Double standard?
</snip>

Anyone else notice the irony between these 2 statements?

 

[Arzachel]

Anyone else notice the irony between these 2 statements?

If you're in the market for a GPU, "what's a good deal right now" is infinitely more useful than "what was a good deal half a year ago" but if you didn't mind inconsistent frame deltas on Fermi one or two years ago, you probably won't do so now. So no, not really?

 

[Tweak155]

If you're in the market for a GPU, "what's a good deal right now" is infinitely more useful than "what was a good deal half a year ago" but if you didn't mind inconsistent frame deltas on Fermi one or two years ago, you probably won't do so now. So no, not really?

Sigh. Try reading the first one, then the second one. I'll give you one more shot.

EDIT:

Maybe hypocrisy would be a better word.

 

[raghu78]

Sigh. Try reading the first one, then the second one. I'll give you one more shot.

EDIT:

Maybe hypocrisy would be a better word.

hyprocrisy would be acting as if such problems did not occur with Nvidia.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1339698/...is-better-hd-7870-vs-660-ti-benchmarks-inside

http://www.overclock.net/t/1346657/battlefield-3-unplayable-on-r310-drivers

http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=27699

look at BF3 1080p frametime charts by apoppin. definitely he is not pro AMD. :biggrin: GTX 680 is a jittery mess at 1080p while HD 7970 Ghz is very smooth. at 1600p both cards struggle.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Anyone else notice the irony between these 2 statements?

There is little to no irony there. Yes he's discussing past gpu prices and past GPU performance issues, but those two topics have little relevance with each other. Irony not found.

Especially when you consider the fact that Fermi generation GPUs still suffer from stutter so it is not a past problem for those users. Its more ironic that the stutter champions aren't crucifying nvidia for that reason.

You may notice that the frame latency thread is a ghost town now that amd has released a driver fix. That's ironic.

 

[Tweak155]

hyprocrisy would be acting as if such problems did not occur with Nvidia.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1339698/...is-better-hd-7870-vs-660-ti-benchmarks-inside

http://www.overclock.net/t/1346657/battlefield-3-unplayable-on-r310-drivers

http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=27699

look at BF3 1080p frametime charts by apoppin. definitely he is not pro AMD. :biggrin: GTX 680 is a jittery mess at 1080p while HD 7970 Ghz is very smooth. at 1600p both cards struggle.

There is little to no irony there. Yes he's discussing past gpu prices and past GPU performance issues, but those two topics have little relevance with each other. Irony not found.

Especially when you consider the fact that Fermi generation GPUs still suffer from stutter so it is not a past problem for those users. Its more ironic that the stutter champions aren't crucifying nvidia for that reason.

You may notice that the frame latency thread is a ghost town now that amd has released a driver fix. That's ironic.

Crazy. So it is only okay to discuss past issues when it suits your argument? Interesting.

I honestly don't care if past issues / discussions are used, but don't attack someone for doing it then do it yourself. Makes you a hypocrite.

Also I wasn't even thinking about AMD vs Nvidia, just point out hypocrisy. It really is amazing how desperate you guys are. Glad I don't join these battles (although it appears I did unintentionally).

 

[KingFatty]

Back on topic AMD seems to have made a huge catch with EA signing up for GE. It looks like all EA games will be involved with AMD GE. The Crysis franchise was a huge TWIMTBP title. So for AMD to poach such a big franchise is significant.

AMD is serious about content being one of the cornerstones of their GPU strategy. With AMD being the CPU and GPU designer for both PS4 and Xbox Next game developers will work closely with the GCN architecture over the next 6 - 7 years. We will see even more improved developer relations under AMD GE. And since most games are straight ports to the PC its going to be helpful to AMD's future products.

So has there been any thread about the impact of AMD architecture being in the consoles?

I think this might be a tectonic shift in the way games are going to perform on different architecture.

We heard lots of comments about how with current console games being ported over, they were not ideal performers on modern video cards.

But if the future console games are designed to run on AMD console hardware, I could see AMD taking advantage of that in terms of those console games being ported to PC and running on AMD video cards vs NVidia? Did I just miss this whole discussion/thread elsewhere, that is raised here in this thread?

 

[piesquared]

hyprocrisy would be acting as if such problems did not occur with Nvidia.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1339698/...is-better-hd-7870-vs-660-ti-benchmarks-inside

http://www.overclock.net/t/1346657/battlefield-3-unplayable-on-r310-drivers

http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=27699

look at BF3 1080p frametime charts by apoppin. definitely he is not pro AMD. :biggrin: GTX 680 is a jittery mess at 1080p while HD 7970 Ghz is very smooth. at 1600p both cards struggle.

It's quite pathetic. I've asked several times in techreport's discussion of his AMD hit piece articles when he is going to test games that don't fare so well on NVidia hardware. The response has been crickets and down votes. It's pretty clear that his intention is to raise public perception that this is an AMD problem and furthering the driver FUD.

 

[SirPauly]

hyprocrisy would be acting as if such problems did not occur with Nvidia.

For me, this awareness was great based on it may create smoother gaming for nVidia and AMD sku's.

AMD is improving latency, which was welcomed.

nVidia introduced a smooth V-sync for SLi:

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3283

It's great to see commitments for smooth gaming from both.

 

[MrK6]

Crazy. So it is only okay to discuss past issues when it suits your argument? Interesting.

I honestly don't care if past issues / discussions are used, but don't attack someone for doing it then do it yourself. Makes you a hypocrite.

Also I wasn't even thinking about AMD vs Nvidia, just point out hypocrisy. It really is amazing how desperate you guys are. Glad I don't join these battles (although it appears I did unintentionally).

I think the irony is that you're being hypocritical. Getting pretty meta here.

 

[Tweak155]

I think the irony is that you're being hypocritical. Getting pretty meta here.

How am I being hypocritical?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

How am I being hypocritical?

Honestly, this is about the never settle bundle, so lets get back on topic.

All I see on these forums is that any time a positive thread about AMD comes out the usual suspects come in and thread crap. There is one person in particular who thread craps Nvidia threads also, but for the most part all the people that get accused of being pro AMD post perfectly on topic and respectfully in the Nvidia threads. Why can't they just return the favor and keep things on topic.