R350 price tag

[Rebel7254]

There is speculation that the R350 will be $150 cheaper than the GF FX AT LAUNCH in March. I looked around and found some more sites that said the same thing, although it may just be copied from one site to another from the same one source. What do you guys think? Will the R350 debut at $249.99? That would be the greatest thing ever, but it just seems too good to be true.

 

[SpeedyGonzales]

Discussing prices for the R350 is pure speculation at the moment. ATI has not even announced, how fast memory/core will be clocked. Neither do we have an idea of ATI's strategy or their internal costs to produce this card. If R350 outperforms FX5800 Ultra, they could offer it at the same price ($399+VAT) or ask for a premium or hammer it out for $350 in order to increase the pressure on Nvidia - who knows ?

However 250$ sounds too low to me. First of all, there is no reason for ATI to do that (they still have to make money). And I do not believe, that the yields for 400Mhz+ cores and the price for 350Mhz+ DDRAM will allow such aggressive pricing. But as I said, it is pure speculation, maybe (in our wet dreams) some ATI marketing guru sponsors R350 and we all get it for free ?

Cheers
Speedy

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Rebel7254
There is speculation that the R350 will be $150 cheaper than the GF FX AT LAUNCH in March. I looked around and found some more sites that said the same thing, although it may just be copied from one site to another from the same one source. What do you guys think? Will the R350 debut at $249.99? That would be the greatest thing ever, but it just seems too good to be true.

That would be cool. Only problem is that I couldn't afford it even if it cost half that much.

 

[Budmantom]

I'll take a couple at that price.

 

[Rebel7254]

Bump

And according to an article at CNet today, the R350 will be manufactured using the .13u process, just like the Geforce FX.

 

[lifeguard1999]

And according to an article at CNet today, the R350 will be manufactured using the .13u process, just like the Geforce FX.

Yeah, but many people think that is a misprint. The RV350 has always been said to be 130nm. That is the "Value" version of the R350, sort of like the 9500 is in relation to the 9700 Pro. The R350 has, until this one article, been said to be 150nm.

I also doubt that the R350 will be at $250. The latest and greatest video cards (GF4 Ti4600, 9700 Pro, and GF FX) have all started at $399. (Yes, I know that you can get a retail version of the 9700 Pro for $300 or so right now.)

 

[bunnyfubbles]

It wouldn't be a crushing blow to release a superior product for such a lower price. The only reason ATI would have to put an MSRP of $249 on an R350 board would be if they can't sell them at $399. They would most likely then try $349 and then $299 long before they would even consider $249. You just don't give up money like that. Unless ATI has a really good idea that they'll get a huge flood of customers ready and willing to buy @ $249, then we will not see such a price for quite some time. If nVidia can sell a GF FX 5800 Ultra for $399, then ATI can sell their R350 for $399 upon debut. They would only need to lower the price if buyers are not willing to purchase the product, even if the product is superior, poeple often times buy for the name.

 

[Rebel7254]

Any more thoughts on this? If there's really no way the R350 is going to be $250 then I'm just gonna go ahead and get the R9700 Pro now, but if it's a possibility I can wait until march, as my GF4 Ti4400 is enough to hold me over if need be.

 

[Killrose]

carefull, this info might actually the price of the RV350 .

 

[Rebel7254]

Yeah, I just read about the RV350 a few minutes ago. That makes more sense.

 

[SickBeast]

i would hold off for about 1 month before buying a new graphics card...there's too much going on in the market right now.

 

[Wag]

ATI had planned to release the 8500 at a $299 price-point untill nVidia released their GF4600 info. Then they dropped the price to $199.

With competition this time around I'm hoping something similar will happen. A starting price-point of $299 or lower seems possible.

 

[lifeguard1999]

ATI had planned to release the 8500 at a $299 price-point untill nVidia released their GF4600 info. Then they dropped the price to $199.

You are wrong Wag. I bought the 8500 using the Dell special for $215. Everyone else was charging much more at that time.

Now, if you do not believe me, then look at the weekly price guide for October 2001. It has the cheapest price for the 8500 being $213. If ATI had dropped the retail price to $199, the the cheapest price would be (insert drum roll) at least $199, and most likely cheaper. In November, the cheapest price was $194. You can also do a search on the Video forum for October 2001 and see where the prices were.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

No, ATI had planned $399, and I'm sure it would have stayed there had the 8500 performed close to as it does today back when it was released. It didn't, so they bumped it down to $299 with Dell giving it up for $215, I am also one who jumped on that deal. I don't regret it either. Took a while for the 8500 to drop to a $199 MSRP, although there were several LE versions well below the $200 mark...

I do agree however, I would be extremely shocked if uncrippled R350 boards should debut below $299. $399 seems most realistic as it is supposedly to put an even tighter grip on the 5800 Ultra. If the R350 actually outperforms the 5800 Ultra in many areas then I would be surprised to see it debut below $399, not shocked but a little surprised, a little excited too $299 does sound really good...

 

[Sxotty]

If no one already said this, that is total bogus, it was leaked to people when folks thought that the FX was going to be $500.00 and then it was reasonable.

 

[Socio]

Here is some info I came across,


ATi Upcoming GPUs:

Cadence Design Systems today announced a broad reaching partnership with ATI Technologies, Inc. Under the agreement, ATI will standardize on Cadence SoC Encounter and a wide spectrum of other Cadence tools.
"This partnership with Cadence is essential to help us meet the technology challenges at 90 nanometers and below," said Greg Buchner, vice president of engineering at ATI Technologies. "As we design the world's most complex graphics chips and forge the future of the 3D graphics industry, it is imperative that we work with the best technology available. For this reason, we selected Cadence as our premier design partner for our electronic design technology flow."

R350 : 0.13 micron, ~150mm2 die size, 8 pipelines, GDDR-II?, DirectX 9, H1 2003
R400 : 0.13 micron, GDDR-III?, DirectX 9, H2 2003
R500 : 0.09 micron, DirectX 10, H2 2004


More Info on the 350:

0.13 micron
~150mm2 die size
400-425Mhz Core Clock?
800Mhz Memory Clock
128MB 2.5ns GDDR
25.6GB/s Memory Bandwidth
8 pipelines, 2 Textures Per Pipe
Full DirectX 9 Support
Radeon 9800 or 9900 brand name
ATI's R350 will beat GeForce FX in eight out of 10 benchmarks
Priced around US$430
First Week of March 2003

 

[BMW330ci]

Originally posted by: Socio
Here is some info I came across,


ATi Upcoming GPUs:

Cadence Design Systems today announced a broad reaching partnership with ATI Technologies, Inc. Under the agreement, ATI will standardize on Cadence SoC Encounter and a wide spectrum of other Cadence tools.
"This partnership with Cadence is essential to help us meet the technology challenges at 90 nanometers and below," said Greg Buchner, vice president of engineering at ATI Technologies. "As we design the world's most complex graphics chips and forge the future of the 3D graphics industry, it is imperative that we work with the best technology available. For this reason, we selected Cadence as our premier design partner for our electronic design technology flow."

R350 : 0.13 micron, ~150mm2 die size, 8 pipelines, GDDR-II?, DirectX 9, H1 2003
R400 : 0.13 micron, GDDR-III?, DirectX 9, H2 2003
R500 : 0.09 micron, DirectX 10, H2 2004


More Info on the 350:

0.13 micron
~150mm2 die size
400-425Mhz Core Clock?
800Mhz Memory Clock
128MB 2.5ns GDDR
25.6GB/s Memory Bandwidth
8 pipelines, 2 Textures Per Pipe
Full DirectX 9 Support
Radeon 9800 or 9900 brand name
ATI's R350 will beat GeForce FX in eight out of 10 benchmarks
Priced around US$430
First Week of March 2003

Hopefully the R350's onboard fan will be quiet like the Radeon 9700 Pro and unlike the GeForce FX (from what the reviewers claim)

 

[Goi]

Most flagship cards nowadays debut at US$399, its been the case at least since the GF4 Ti4600, if not the Radeon 8500/GF3 Ti 500...I would think with the slumping economy and the increasing competition, the prices would be driven down. At least that's what I hope...

 

[Rebel7254]

Yeah, it makes sense now. They were probably talking about the Rv350 (sort of like the R9000) right now. I'm gonna go ahead and get a R9700 Pro. Thanks everybody.

Oh, and it won't be $430. It'll be $399 just like always. It's like all these people were predicting that the GF FX would be like $500 or $550 and it's gonna be $399 just like I said it would. Trust me.

 

[Socio]

Rebel,

I would wait till March and get the R350 instead of the 9700, thats what I am going to do.

It looks like it's going to beat the GeForce FX to the store shelf anyway. I think there must be yet another delay on the FX, I have been to several stores, i.e Circut City, Best Buy, CompUSA to name a few, nobody has any idea when the FX's are due in and none of them are taking pre-orders, not a good sign.

 

[Rebel7254]

Here's the thing though. I'll be ordering this through my father's business, and they pay for half of it. And since it's my birthday, I'll get this R9700 Pro for free now (courtesy of my parents). In the spring I am planning a major upgrade. Along with the new CPU, mobo, and RAM I would be pushing my luck with dad to ask for the $400 R350 along with all the other stuff which will be expensive anyway. What I could do is go into debt with him and pay for it myself when I save up some money this summer when I get a job. But I mean, I'd rather take the R300 for free now than pay full price for an R350 later. You see what I'm saying? If it was just a normal situation I would agree with you and wait to see what happens with R350. But with the circumstances as they stand I am going to go ahead and get the R9700 Pro now. Thank you for your advice anyway.

 

[SykoFreak]

If they have the ability to undercut GFFX by $50 they should do so.

 

[bgeh]

yep, maybe the price of the R350 is $399 while the price of the RV350 is $250