[rumor] GTX660ti in August, basically a gimped GTX670

[Redkinn]

Same here. Maybe not at that price, but I really need at least a 670 to make an upgrade over my 5850 worth it. I'd prefer not to spend more than $300 on a graphics card, so I imagine I'll be waiting a while.

"Overall, the GTX 660Ti would be faster than GTX 580 and competitors from AMD’s GCN based 7800 series. Pricing for this part would be set at an MSRP of $299, custom models would cost more."

If that's true then a 660ti would be the card for me.

Except 670GTX's are available for $315. (Techbargains had a newegg deal a few days back, but I'm sure it'll repeat soon enough)

At $15 more I'd take the increase performance.

 

[tviceman]

Imho,

It enhances the experience -- how much? Depends on the individual and display. If you need to stare at a single frame to determine AA quality -- talking to the wrong person -- it is with-in moving environments where quality AA shines.

My view has always been offer quality AA patterns and flexibility based on how different subjective tastes and tolerances are -------- then combine this with the sheer amount of different displays and platforms. There is no view that fits for all.

Agreed.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Except 670GTX's are available for $315. (Techbargains had a newegg deal a few days back, but I'm sure it'll repeat soon enough)

At $15 more I'd take the increase performance.

That was for an *open box* Asus 670. That's somewhat of a minor detail to leave out... So to say 670's can be had for $315, in the context of this discussion, is not really accurate. Can you find a new 670 for less than $399?

Personally, if I'm going to spend $300+ on a video card, I'd prefer to buy new.

This is the expired deal, fyi.
http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/307674

And the newegg link.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-TechBargains&cm_mmc=AFC-TechBargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16814121638R

 

[tviceman]

Right now AMD has the much better prices, but as the ghz 7900 cards trickle in, their prices will creep back up and we'll be back to price-parity stagnation.

Nvidia really needs to offload their existing Fermi stocks and get Kepler to all the meaningful price points. Being 10 weeks behind on the GK104 wasn't a big deal. But being what looks like will be 6 months behind on GK106 (vs. pitcairn) is a big deal.

 

[Homeles]

Right now AMD has the much better prices, but as the ghz 7900 cards trickle in, their prices will creep back up and we'll be back to price-parity stagnation.

I highly doubt that.

Nvidia really needs to offload their existing Fermi stocks and get Kepler to all the meaningful price points. Being 10 weeks behind on the GK104 wasn't a big deal. But being what looks like will be 6 months behind on GK106 (vs. pitcairn) is a big deal.

This I agree with though.

 

[RussianSensation]

But being what looks like will be 6 months behind on GK106 (vs. pitcairn) is a big deal.

You would think that but that's not what happened.

Graphics segment revenue was down sequentially and remained flat year-over-year. GPU revenue was down 5 percent in a seasonally down quarter, due to lower unit shipments in the channel. Operating income was $31 million, compared with $34 million in Q1, 2012. ~ Marketwatch

Looks like AMD's graphics division continues to struggle. $31 million in operating income is pretty underwhelming given the huge head start they had over NV and basically had the entire HD7750/7770/7850/7870 line-up with no response from NV.

This is becoming a trend actually. AMD has a huge head start with HD5000 / 7000 series and then when all is said and done, NV makes most of the $. I expect NV to do really well this quarter then.

 

[Homeles]

Nvidia makes the big dollars from the HPC market, plus there's inherently higher demand for their GPUs. Slap a green claw sticker on it and it's magically worth more money.

 

[RussianSensation]

Nvidia makes the big dollars from the HPC market, plus there's inherently higher demand for their GPUs. Slap a green claw sticker on it and it's magically worth more money.

Looking at the desktop market, HD7750 has dropped to ~$100. HD7770 GE is going for $110-120. Then you got HD6850 for $120-140 and HD6870 for $140-160. The only thing NV has worth buying in that range is the GTX560.

HD7850 2GB obsoletes GTX560Ti / 560 Ti 448 / 570
HD7870 is better than GTX580
HD7950 has no competitor at $300-330

How in the world is NV selling anything at all under < $330 to the masses? NV marketing is strong that's for sure.

 

[Homeles]

The "bad drivers" sentiment really kills AMD's sales. It's not just something you hear on hardware sites like this -- it's everywhere. I can't even get away from it at work, lol.

 

[RussianSensation]

The "bad drivers" sentiment really kills AMD's sales. It's not just something you hear on hardware sites like this -- it's everywhere. I can't even get away from it at work, lol.

Some of my friends won't ever buy a car that's not made by Honda or Toyota (or Acura / Lexus if they could afford it). According to them, all other brands have worse reliability, no matter what I tell them. I've given up. Most of them don't know anything about cars but it's "What I hear" they tell me. I could throw the latest reliability ratings or try to tell them that these problems are per 100 vehicles which means the actual difference isn't as material as they think between the brands. The same people wouldn't buy an AMD card because they "heard" since 1998 that NV makes better videocards and ATI drivers suck. D:

It's also like toothpaste or laundry detergent. If you've used one for 10 years+ and it works well, why would you switch? In the early days, NV drivers killed ATI's. The people who started with GeForce 2 or 3 and are still using NV probably have no interest to switch sides for no reason since NV has treated them well. I can understand that point of view, if it wasn't for the fact that AMD killed NV in price/performance during HD4000 and 5000 series. So it's odd that they didn't find a single time where it was worth trying AMD. Also, you'd have to be hardcore NV to own anything from FX5000 series! That entire series was complete disaster. FX5900 series was a joke and couldn't handle AA in shader intensive games or DX9 games if its life depended on it.

 

[SirPauly]

Nvidia makes the big dollars from the HPC market, plus there's inherently higher demand for their GPUs. Slap a green claw sticker on it and it's magically worth more money.

I think it is much more than magic and pixie dust.

 

[tviceman]

I highly doubt that.

Why do you say that? The 7970GE edition is re-establishing the $500 price point for AMD, and as soon as the hd7950 is all but out of stock, they'll replace it with the 7950GE edition for $399, once again raising the price. Unless no one is buying video cards this summer and fall, prices aren't going to drop much. Expect to see Nvidia start bundling games with their gtx600 lineup before they drop prices.

 

[tviceman]

Nvidia makes the big dollars from the HPC market, plus there's inherently higher demand for their GPUs. Slap a green claw sticker on it and it's magically worth more money.

Profits are very high, percentage wise, but revenue is not very high (yet) in comparison to the rest of their products (consumer GPU's and mobile SoC). Overall, their profit and revenue from HPC isn't as big of an impact (yet) as forum goers claim it to be. Nvidia has said their preorders for big Kepler have already exceeded total sales from HPC Fermi, so I definitely think that going forward your statement will be more and more true.

 

[SirPauly]

Why do you say that? The 7970GE edition is re-establishing the $500 price point for AMD, and as soon as the hd7950 is all but out of stock, they'll replace it with the 7950GE edition for $399, once again raising the price. Unless no one is buying video cards this summer and fall, prices aren't going to drop much. Expect to see Nvidia start bundling games with their gtx600 lineup before they drop prices.

Indeed!

http://www.guru3d.com/news/radeon-hd-7950-ghz-edition-coming-as-well/

 

[RussianSensation]

Why do you say that? The 7970GE edition is re-establishing the $500 price point for AMD, and as soon as the hd7950 is all but out of stock, they'll replace it with the 7950GE edition for $399, once again raising the price. Unless no one is buying video cards this summer and fall, prices aren't going to drop much. Expect to see Nvidia start bundling games with their gtx600 lineup before they drop prices.

I am not sure that's how it will work. I think AMD sells AIBs 2 separate binned chips. They can either buy the pre-binned HD7950/7970 GE editions or stick with the original ones. So I don't necessarily think HD7950/7970 cards will be discontinued any time soon. The original 7950/7970 chips will just occupy lower price points ($300-320 / $400-420) while the GE cards will have a $50 premium on top of that respectively.

Neither Newegg nor Amazon has a single official 7950 or 7970 GE card for sale yet despite 7970 GE's official launch almost 1 month ago! Perhaps AIBs don't want to pay a premium for the XT2 chips.

Maybe AMD should have launched HD7950 GE as 7960 and HD7970 GE as 7980. From a marketing standpoint it would have made a lot more sense imo.

HD4870 = 750mhz GPU / 3600mhz Memory
HD4890 = 850mhz GPU (+ 13.3%) / 3900mhz (+8.3%) Memory

HD7970 = 925mhz GPU / 5500mhz Memory
HD7970 GE = 1050mhz GPU (+13.5%) / 6000mhz (+9%) Memory

IMO, AMD marketing dropped the ball again...They could have claimed the fastest single-GPU in the world title with the HD7980. Instead the average gamer probably clings to launch GTX680 reviews where it clobbered a stock 7970.

 

[tviceman]

I am not sure that's how it will work. I think AMD sells AIBs 2 separate binned chips. They can either buy the pre-binned HD7950/7970 GE editions or stick with the original ones. So I don't necessarily think HD7950/7970 cards will be discontinued any time soon. The original 7950/7970 chips will just occupy lower price points ($300-320 / $400-420) while the GE cards will have a $50 premium on top of that respectively.

Neither Newegg nor Amazon has a single official 7950 or 7970 GE card for sale yet despite 7970 GE's official launch almost 1 month ago! Perhaps AIBs don't want to pay a premium for the XT2 chips.

Maybe AMD should have launched HD7950 GE as 7960 and HD7970 GE as 7980. From a marketing standpoint it would have made a lot more sense imo.

HD4870 = 750mhz GPU / 3600mhz Memory
HD4890 = 850mhz GPU (+ 13.3%) / 3900mhz (+8.3%) Memory

HD7970 = 925mhz GPU / 5500mhz Memory
HD7970 GE = 1050mhz GPU (+13.5%) / 6000mhz (+9%) Memory

IMO, AMD marketing dropped the ball again...They could have claimed the fastest single-GPU in the world title with the HD7980. Instead the average gamer probably clings to launch GTX680 reviews where it clobbered a stock 7970.

The 4890 was a physically different chip than the 4870 though, so in that regards it was a bit of an odd ball. AMD isn't going to bin 4 chips, divided into two different functional parts with each part having different speeds. No, they are going to go the 3 tier method that both Nvidia and they have used since forever. (HD6970, 6950, 6930, 5870, 5850, 5830, 4870, 4850, 4830...)

What makes the best idea's for us consumers does not make the best ideas for the companies or their marketing. But yeah, AMD screwed the pooch from the start clocking the hd7970 too low to begin with, and then dropping the price and re-releasing the same chip at higher speeds.

 

[RussianSensation]

The 4890 was a physically different chip than the 4870 though, so in that regards it was a bit of an odd ball.

GeForce 4 4200/4400/4600 were the exact same chip. The only differences were the GPU and memory clock speeds. The # that designates a card to me is more about what performance level it has. The performance increase in the 7970 GE is around 8-10%, which is probably good enough for a 10 points name bump.

 

[tviceman]

The performance increase in the 7970 GE is around 8-10%, which is probably good enough for a 10 points name bump.

Given how generous and proud the naming departments are for their cards (both companies) a 10 point bump is actually good enough to push it to 7990 status. The dual card would just have to be called something else.

 

[RussianSensation]

Given how generous and proud the naming departments are for their cards (both companies) a 10 point bump is actually good enough to push it to 7990 status. The dual card would just have to be called something else.

The 6990M name was misleading that's for sure.