Seems like the GPU industry is trying to "encourage" PC gamers to move toward consoles in order for their profitability to really increase.
Historically the amount of $ that NV and AMD have made from consoles isn't that signifcant.
NV's revenues are about $600 million dollars from discrete GPU business a quarter. You think they care to make $100 million dollars on PS4 / Wii U to lose $ in their core business segment?
They do this by over charging for mid range products and discouraging purchases of GPU's by releasing the same card for $100.00 less like they did with the 670.
GTX670 provides HD7970 level of performance while that card came out for $550. $150 is at least some progress. I realize the price/performance in this generation is not great but that just means you can skip this generation, especially with 2x GTX570s!
In another few months they will hammer us again with the 685. They want us to grow tired of this and embrace the new console revolution coming with the new console generation.
There is no evidence for that though. GK110 isn't launching until Q4 2012 in the Tesla market. NV would rather sell those chips for $3,000+ to professionals. Thus, I don't think NV is in a rush to sell GTX685 to the consumer market, when they can easily release it in 2013 to combat HD8000 series.
They create a problem for us, and then offer us the solution in the form of a console.
I am pretty sure GTX570 SLI provides better graphics than any console today. In that case, just wait until faster/cheaper cards are out and keep your 570s. There are people who'd agree with you and say that upgrading from 570s in SLI to 680s in SLI isn't worth $1,000. Others might make $1,000 a day. This generation is expensive not only because of AMD and NV but 28nm node shrink has proven to be way more expensive than before. AMD and NV are passing on some of those higher wafer costs to us, the consumers.
Once you consider the cost of console games vs. PC games, console gaming isn't really cheaper. Sure, consoles have their advantages, but because the games for them cost so much more $, the cheaper PC games quickly help to offset the expensive hardware cost. (I am not even going to get into any other console vs. PC factors).
8800GTX, GTX280 and 6800 Ultra generation had even higher prices. I remember GTX280 launched for $650 and 12 months later I got HD4890 for $175 that offered 90% of that card's performance. The latest and greatest hardware always costs a lot of $. Over time it gets cheaper. You just have to time your upgrades or make more $ so that $1,000 is pocket change
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I think it's just a matter of income levels and priorities. Some people might save up a long time to buy $1,000 worth of GPUs. Others won't buy a GPU if its price exceeds 1 day of their income. Some of my friends won't buy a car if it costs more than 3 months of their annual income, while others buy a $17,000 car and pay it off over 5 years.