Indeed! What ever happened when gamers strongly defended price/performance? Now, it is strongly defend premiums -- go figure.
Okay, respectfully, can you clarify this: I don't like premiums either. Let me make that clear. However, these arguments don't hold much weight IMO.
1) Nvidia has been more egregious about pricing their halo parts outrageously -- undisputable fact
2) Bashing AMD on price is pretty ironic, because nvidia has clearly been worse in this regard
3) Stating that "well 7970 only beats GTX 580 by 25%!" -- That arguments holds no water because nvidia has done the same many times. GTX 580 was 10% faster than 6970, as shown here:
While costing a good 150$ additional on average. If you want a GTX 580 capable of doing 3d surround resolutions, those still cost 170$ additional over the 6970. (the 2gb 6970 can do 3d surround no sweat).
4) Then we can go back to the argument that GTX 480 was *barely* faster than the 5870, yet commanded a 120$ price premium.
So in summary, we see that nvidia has done the same thing, except MUCH MORE OFTEN. I don't defend price premiums but bashing AMD on this principle, is ridiculous. If you want to vilify prices, vilify both companies. Neither company is innocent, but nvidia has been worse in this regard by a
wide margin. My position is simple. I don't like high prices either, but I don't expect Halo parts to offer any value whatsoever. Halo parts are not meant to be values period.