When will we see the the return of the great budget gaming cards??

[psychodil]

Actually I have fond memories of my kyro 2 as well

 

[KraniX]

the 570 was on special offers everywhere due to rebates on offer from nvidia to clear 570 stock - those offers are now not available so retailers have to try to sell them at the normal margin, but this is all EOL stock

As I said it was a range of cards, the 6950 went down to £154 and the 6970 to £200 but both have gone up fairly significantly since.

 

[KraniX]

Actually I have fond memories of my kyro 2 as well

Blast from the past

The Matrox m3D was my first add in accelerator and I loved it, Quake 2 never looked so good (still very brown, but smooth brown now, lol).

I so miss 3dfx, the Voodoo2 in SLI was amazing and I really wish I'd never sold my Voodoo3 or Voodoo5 5500 just to have around still.

 

[dave_beast]

Yea? Just wait for AMD to rush their 8970 to the shelfs to compete against GTX680 and launch at £500 claiming "GTX680 beating performance" for it...after all, they did that with 7970 vs GTX580. They seem to think it is fine to fight against a year old card, and beating it justify a price premium. And with that the overprices set, Nvidia would competing against AMD following their ridiculous pricing, just like this gen.

They're big eletronics companies, it's what they do, they'll charge what they think people will pay, and if they don't pay they reduce their prices. I don't know why some get so wound up over it

Nvidia is currently in cloud cuckoo land with their prices with only 1 out of their top 4 cards, the 670 being good value at £299. (cheapest 660 £249, cheapest 680 £359, cheapest 690 £839 )

AMD on the other hand have sub £300 7970's, sub £250 7950's and sub £200 7870's plus the best card this gen, the 7850 at £164 which when a conservative overclock is applied out performs the last gen GTX580.

 

[Marine-RX179]

They're big eletronics companies, it's what they do, they'll charge what they think people will pay, and if they don't pay they reduce their prices. I don't know why some get so wound up over it

Hope AMD got the message with their 79xx cards barely shifting at their launch price, and reflect that onto at what most people with half a brain rather than a few chumps would pay for a graphic card...

And why would not potential customers NOT complain about the overprice? Performance increase each gen is becoming less and less, yet the prices are going up and up. With this kind of thread, it would take a huge fanboy to maintain kissing' the companies boots.

 

[andybird123]

Nvidia is currently in cloud cuckoo land with their prices with only 1 out of their top 4 cards, the 670 being good value at £299. (cheapest 660 £249, cheapest 680 £359, cheapest 690 £839 )

AMD on the other hand have sub £300 7970's, sub £250 7950's and sub £200 7870's plus the best card this gen, the 7850 at £164 which when a conservative overclock is applied out performs the last gen GTX580.

I think you'll find that UK card pricing is not directly influenced by AMD or Nvidia and that OCUK pricing is not necessarily indicative of the entire UK market either

AMD and Nvidia can only indirectly influence pricing by setting the price they charge to integrators for the chips - the integrators price it to distributors and distros price them to retailers

if a rebate from AMD or nvidia becomes available it has to flow through the whole chain to make it to retail

hence why HIS products are on special on OCUK as obviously they've made that rebate available (or that is the one that OCUK are most overstocked on / got the best price on originally and are able to cut their margin to make it look good)

AMD and Nvidia can only stand up and say "look, here's what the MSRP is" and then retailers are free to set their own prices above or below that based on what price they buy from distribution at and what margin they want to try to make

 

[andybird123]

And why would not potential customers NOT complain about the overprice? Performance increase each gen is becoming less and less, yet the prices are going up and up. With this kind of thread, it would take a huge fanboy to maintain kissing' the companies boots.

because whinging about it on a forum does nothing

if you don't like the pricing, don't buy one!

 

[dave_beast]

I think you'll find that UK card pricing is not directly influenced by AMD or Nvidia and that OCUK pricing is not necessarily indicative of the entire UK market either

AMD and Nvidia can only indirectly influence pricing by setting the price they charge to integrators for the chips - the integrators price it to distributors and distros price them to retailers

if a rebate from AMD or nvidia becomes available it has to flow through the whole chain to make it to retail

hence why HIS products are on special on OCUK as obviously they've made that rebate available (or that is the one that OCUK are most overstocked on / got the best price on originally and are able to cut their margin to make it look good)

AMD and Nvidia can only stand up and say "look, here's what the MSRP is" and then retailers are free to set their own prices above or below that based on what price they buy from distribution at and what margin they want to try to make

I totally understand, they set the base prices, but after that the prices are out in the wilderness, but ultimately at the consumer end, not necessarily OcUK, the prices end up stacked in a particular order, and currently, Nvidia are in a strange place with their card line up prices. If you buy a Bosch or Smeg p) washing machine from the place that sounds like an Indian dish, you don't complain about their pricing, you complain about the companies that make the products.

because whinging about it on a forum does nothing

if you don't like the pricing, don't buy one!

He hasn't, he's not a "chump" and has more than half a brain unlike me

 

[Marine-RX179]

He hasn't, he's not a "chump" and has more than half a brain unlike me

I'm not the one insisted 7770 at £140 at launch is a good buy despite everyone else disagree...

 

[MichaelM]

Hope AMD got the message with their 79xx cards barely shifting at their launch price, and reflect that onto at what most people with half a brain rather than a few chumps would pay for a graphic card...

I hope Nvidia got the message that pricing the 580 so high in the first place let AMD price their cards so high and still shift enough before dropping it when Nvidia finally pulled their thumb out.

Nvidia shouldn't of tried to fight AMD with last generation cards at last generation prices but they know there are Nvidiot's who always go for the badge and lack any sort of consumer logic.

 

[andybird123]

If you buy a Bosch or Smeg p) washing machine from the place that sounds like an Indian dish, you don't complain about their pricing, you complain about the companies that make the products.

I don't complain about washing machine prices either - I buy the one that I can afford.

He hasn't, he's not a "chump" and has more than half a brain unlike me

Yes exactly, it's much better to whinge on a forum about something you can't control than to just enjoy the benefit of being an "idiot" with "overpriced" gaming hardware

 

[dave_beast]

I'm not the one insisted 7770 at £140 at launch is a good buy despite everyone else disagree...

If you read what I said at launch I did mention crossfire (I think) but on their own they're still a great card, remember the 5770 and how popular that was? Well, this was the progression as the 6770 was just a rebrand.

Quoted from OcUK buyers review

Reviewed by: Paul (Slough)
These might not be the fastest cards on their own, but put them in xfire and they start trumping the likes of the GTX 580 and the 7950. When released these were priced too high, now they are an absolute bargain for just shy of £220 quid you have high end beating performance. How good you ask? 6910 in 3D mark 11 P mode, 1723 in Heaven 4 x AA Normal Tesselation this is with 1680x1050 resolution. For reference my GTX 480 would score 6100 , 1250 respectively clocked @ 875 / 4200. These cards are great cool , quiet, and in xfire excellent value.

 

[Rusty0611]

6910 in 3D mark? Not exactly 7950 beating performance!

 

[dave_beast]

6910 in 3D mark? Not exactly 7950 beating performance!

That's a 7770, a low end card Mr Rusty

 

[psychodil]

That's a 7770, a low end card Mr Rusty

He's quoting the guy you quoted. The guy in your review says they start beating the 580 and 7950 when crossfired lol

He spent £220 on a 1GB 580 equivalent and hes happy with it

 

[Rusty0611]

That's a 7770, a low end card Mr Rusty

In crossfire.

77** is AMD's 660Ti. Pants.

 

[nucastle]

You could also argue that the current gen consoles and the entry price for those is putting pressure on the whole market for top of the line graphics hardware. Especially when you can play many massive franchises on a 140 quid xbox, or spend 500+ on the equivalent PC which you will have to stick in the spare room which doesn't exactly look great when your mates come round for a spot of gaming.

If demand is dwindling and there is an ever harder fight for the top spot, then the entry price for any new gen of hardware is probably going to be pushed higher and higher. Also, factor in 5%-10% inflation every year which quickly turns the 100 pound entry point for graphics hardware (like a ti44000 or a ATI 9500) closer towards 200 pound these days.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So it seems the best value cards of this generation are:
1.)HD7850 for around £160 to £170 due to overclocking(possible GTX580 level performance)
2.)HD7950 for around £240 to £250 due to overclocking(possible HD7970 or even HD7970 GE level performance)
3.)GTX670 for around £280 to £300 at stock clockspeed(and overclocked)
4.)HD7970 if around £300 at stock clockspeed(and overclocked)

I just hope the HD7870 now dropping under £200 will mean HD7850 cards dropping to around £150 and under. I just hope the GTX660 non-TI has decent performance for under £200.

 

[WhiteMagicRaven]

Hello, where i can find hexen 2 continent of blackmarsh it disk comes with matrox m3d videocard demo game.

 

[Gashman]

We won't....Inflation in graphics cards/tech lifespan is like our normal life inflation over the years....played out on speed.

With tech lifespan so different in human years, compared to tech generation lifespan, prices will keep getting stupid until people just stop trying to swing their e-peen to have "the latest" graphics card, just to put it in a sig that they think people care about reading.

Anyone thinking now on upgrading your motherboard should automatically get on that is SLI or XFIRE compliant as that'll be the bes way to go when a gpu upgrade is needed again...just whack in another one of what you have in that particular generation and sod the overpriced next gen cards.

Maybe then Nvidia and AMD will take notice when the new cards won't sell

must admit, agree 100%, back a couple years ago having dual mid-range cards which would set you back less than top end card and compete with them was the way to go, still is with the 7770 potentially, I mean two of those can keep up with a GTX 580 more or less, whilst consuming less power, how does that work?

as it happens, since my 4870X2 is feeling the strain of some newer games and lacks Direct X 11 and so forth am in the market for a new card, the GTX 660 seems like it could be a 'sweet spot' if only prices would drop to around the ~£150 mark, then its a good buy.