I dunno whether you could apply it towards a GF4 Ti4600 since they technically aren't supposed to have them yet - although according to a writer for hardocp.com, one of his friends walked into BB in Delaware (don't ask me which one, he didn't indicate which in the clipping) and walked out with four "GF4s" for 129 each. Knowing HardOCP, I doubt they'd have put it on had they not been Ti4600s - but maybe the guy's friend is an idiot and thinks what he has are the 4600s. Frankly I think it's BS...since no 4600s are up on eBay yet besides some idiot in San Fran who's is holding a dutch auction for 99 of them that he doesn't have yet for 390.99.
But, getting back to the crux of the argument. In order to use this coupon, and I'm not sure you could, you'd have to pre-order it by paying the full amount in-store, which would be 399 + applicable sales tax - 10%, since stores like BB are smart enough to charge you sales tax BEFORE applying the coupon, which I've always thought sucked. In VA, the final cost would be 399.99 + 18.00 (4.5%) = 417.99 - 41.80 = 376.19.
Maybe I'm actually starting to get sensible in my spending (gasp), but that's a whole LOTTA cash money for a piece of silicon that only has one extra rendering pipeline, 64MB of extra DDR and a larger frame buffer that no game can fully use now or in the 6 month foreseeable future, a higher clock, a much higher memory speed, and could get me 3000 extra 3DMarks than my GF3 for games that aren't even out to USE it. Hell, Aquanox and Ballistics are just coming out NOW. And these are the first games designed specifically to take advantage of the now-year-old GF3s - which...by the way, nVidia is "phasing out to make way for the GF4s." Translation: "We know that there is absolutely no real innovation from the GF3 to the GF4 line besides just speed, so to blur the line and make more profit, we're just not going to make any of them anymore."
So, I foresee the deals on video cards not coming in the form of GF4 deals, but being able to get Ti500s for less than 200 - and even then the Ti4200 should be close to being out by then for the same price. I mean, seriously...only three game actually take full advantage of the GF3s' rendering tech...what's adding another pipeline really going to accomplish?
And another thing, I've gotten screwed before by BB when it came to using a 10% off coupon and buying a video card. In the old days - i.e., two years ago (heh), I was in the market for a BRAND NEW S.O.T.A. (state of the art) GF2 GTS (32MB!!!), and I asked the sales clerk to get it out of the case, and he straight out looked at me, then the coupon, and said "you planning on using that coupon to buy this?" When I said, "yeah," he said, "oh, well, the coupon doesn't cover video cards. That's why we still have them in the case. 'Computer Accessories' mean things like Zip Disks and such." So just a warning.
So - caveat emptor. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if BB doesn't allow this coupon on "pre-sale" items. It's probably a clause on page 50604 in their sales policy tome. Seeing that it looks like Elsa (the manufacturer who made my GF3 is on shaky ground financially, I might take a week to decide whether I really could use a new vidcard). But seriously, I'm either gonna keep my GF3 until it craps out (which hopefully won't be soon since I don't overclock) or until I get a new setup - which won't be until the ClawHammer DPs are out - which God willing will be Spring next year. Then I'll have AGP8X with whatever is the state-of-the-art then.
Wow - that was a long post.
