I am stating it as a concern because it seems clear to me that this move is very aggressive, over the top and very out of the ordinary. Does this move by AMD not seem out of the ordinary and coincidentally parallel the trouble they are having?
I don't work for AMD, I don't know if this move is expected to make them more $ or not and I just don't care as a consumer. I look at what AMD offers now and what NV offers and I seriously cannot recommend a single NV GPU at the moment unless it's related to some specific dual-link DVI monitor setups or a person has to have 3D Vision or PhysX or needs to run Tri-SLI in which case I won't recommend Tri-fire as AMD's reference 7970 isn't quiet enough for me to recommend such a setup.
I don't think it's a secret AMD and the entire PC gaming community knows AMD has to deliver MORE at the same price to sell GPUs right now. 5 years of competing on price/performance hasn't helped AMD's brand image in GPUs. More performance, more overclocking, more games, is needed to attract gamers who have been served by NV for 5-10 years. You can call it desperate, I call it the reality of where AMD is after half a decade of mismanaging the GPU division. This is why in business, it's very difficult to get consumers to switch after they are used to a certain brand. Even back in the days, ATI had a similar problem when people purchased GeForce 5 - the worst NV series ever! I mean it was like throwing $ into the toilet but hey millions of people did buy FX5900. :sneaky:
Let's say you have used Tide laundry detergent and Colgate or Crest toothpaste for 5-10 years and it worked well for you. Let's say you were happy using those products and paying the premiums over other products since they didn't give you problems and provided you with the satisfaction and peace of mind you expected out of them. Other companies are going to need to either significantly undercut Tide or Crest or they would need to offer superior products at the same price to get you to consider switching or the companies making Tide or Colgate/Crest would need to mess up their quality or raise prices beyond what you are willing to pay.
Ironically, Tide is a budget brand in Russia and Ariel is the premium Procter & Gamble brand in Procter & Gamble's European, Mexican, Japanese, Brazilian, Peruvian, Turkish, Filipino, Colombian, Chilean and Venezuelan portfolios. It's just pure marketing!! If NV marketed their brand as more premium, that shows their marketing team was more successful but with GPUs, you can clearly measure performance, overclocking and price/performance and GTX600 is losing in all of those. Does that mean NV customers will consider switching? Some may, others won't. Others might need AMD cards to be 2x faster or cost 50% less to consider switching. This is why consumer switching costs are so expensive for any company and gaining new consumers costs a LOT more $ than retaining current ones.
This same premium brand value (or lack thereof) problem faced Audi for a decade and look where they are now in global sales compared to BMW and Mercedes. Audi had to offer MORE over their competitors to increase sales. Initially Audi undercut Benz and BMW and over time as their brand value improved due to modern styling, interior design, etc., they started to raise prices in the US. It's not a coincidence that Audi created world class interiors, pushed Quattro all-wheel drive as a key competitive advantage and all of these things weren't "desperate" but it was planned. Audi's management took Audi brand more upscale in the US but it still trails to BMW and Benz in prestige in some people's eyes, despite Audi viewed as more premium in many Eastern European countries compared to BMW even. If your brand is perceived as inferior, you have to offer superior features for a long time before consumers take notice. That's just the name of the game and the same brands can be perceived differently in different countries.
AMD already tried offering more value with HD4000-6000 series and obviously that didn't work. You can call this desperate by AMD, I view it as NV having very sticky customers due to years and years of superior developer relations, marketing and superior drivers for those who started 10 years ago even during Radeon 8500 days. Having the performance crown since 8800GTX only helped to reinforce NV's premium brand image. AMD knows it won't get the loyal NV customers to switch immediately but what do you expect AMD to do? Just give up?
HD7000 series now offers better value, more performance, more overclocking and free games at every price level under $600 on the desktop. It's the best line-up AMD has had ever I would say. Even X800 series, X850Pro was not better than 6800GT but 7970 is faster than GTX670. On paper, AMD has a better card at every price now besides GTX690.
People don't like car analogies, but this situation is not much different than what Honda and Toyota enjoy over their competitors. The current Corolla, Camry, and Civics are not really better cars than their competitors and yet sell very well. Sometimes, the customers are so sticky, even if you offer the best of the best they still won't switch due to brand loyalty and negative perception associated with other brands. The stigma of unreliable American cars still carries to this day and it definitely forces US automakers to constantly improve quality so that the perception catches up to reality. It won't happen overnight.
What never ceases to amaze me is how brand loyal NV users are supporting their team but if you ask around most people who buy AMD cards why they did so, a lot of them aren't doing it for "team AMD" but because of what AMD cards are offering - enthusiast overclocking features, better price/performance, more value. No questions asked, GTX670/680 shined from March to early June but what about from June to now? If NV offered those things regularly, I'd buy or recommend their cards in a heartbeat but I won't pay $50-100 more for NV brand name and better drivers brainwashing or 1-2 games a year with PhysX! NV doesn't seem to care, and they wouldn't if they can continue pocketing more $ selling cards, why would they lower prices?
Even on this forum people still didn't buy AMD cards when bitcoin mining made them free (or very discounted). Look at Newegg reviews. When an AMD card has issues, the user swears to never buy an AMD card again. When EVGA GTX670 cards are
RROD/BSODing and black screening all over the place, NV users would rather switch to another NV AIB, than to leave NV even after a particular NV card has given them an awful experience. That just shows you the extreme level of attachment consumers develop to a brand and NV has mastered this a lot better than AMD has.