Sunday, December 7 2008
A common feature with shopping seasons, namely summer and Christmas, is that consumer graphics giants, AMD and NVIDIA announce new products that push up the pure performance and performance per dollar envelopes. With this Christmas season however, nothing notably new is going to come out of their stables, making their existing products slog it out. This resulted in both companies resorting to some serious price-cutting with their existing mid-thru-high-end products.

In the wake of massive price-cuts by NVIDIA for the GeForce GTX 260, AMD has decided to prepare its own price-cuts for the one card that goes neck and neck with the GTX 260, Radeon HD 4870. Originally seated in the $299~$399 bracket, the GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 4870 have become some of the key SKUs for both companies. These are the products we have seen going neck and neck, resulting in both companies refreshing them, and later resorting to price-cuts. NVIDIA refreshed GeForce GTX 260 with a 216 stream processor version that came with added shader compute power, while AMD responded with the 1 GB variant of the Radeon HD 4870. As on today, the company pricing for the Radeon HD 4870 has been set around US $199 for the 512 MB and $239 for the 1 GB variants. This roughly catches up with the pricing for GeForce GTX 260, with roughly $199~$219 for the 192 stream processor and $239~$249 for the 216 stream processor variant.

Source: X-bit Labs
posted by btarunr - 11:00 PM |  Related News

User comments
by eidairaman1 (December 7th - 7:44 AM) - Reply
this should really make everyone happy because now they will be able to see 2 4870s/2 GTX 260s under their Xmas Trees This year.
by btarunr (December 7th - 7:46 AM) - Reply
Buy two HD 4870 cards instead of a HD 4870 X2, which is still beyond the $500 mark.
by Wile E (December 7th - 7:50 AM) - Reply
If they lower the price of the 4870, that tells me the price of the 4850 1GB is going to have to drop.
by wiak (December 7th - 7:52 AM) - Reply
by eidairaman1 (December 7th - 7:53 AM) - Reply
by: btarunr;1094023
Buy two HD 4870 cards instead of a HD 4870 X2, which is still beyond the $500 mark.
You forget

8800GTX and 8800 Ultra costed 500-600 USD at the starting Price and Up Until G92 the Prices remained there.
by btarunr (December 7th - 7:55 AM) - Reply
by: eidairaman1;1094028
You forget

8800GTX and 8800 Ultra costed 500-600 USD at the starting Price and Up Until G92 the Prices remained there.
There's no indication of my forgetting that, from my previous post. What I said was we'd rather buy two HD 4870s instead of a HD 4870 X2 (if the motherboard/system permits).
by hayder.master (December 7th - 7:56 AM) - Reply
boooooom , best chose now is 2x 4870
by eidairaman1 (December 7th - 8:06 AM) - Reply
by: btarunr;1094029
There's no indication of my forgetting that, from my previous post. What I said was we'd rather buy two HD 4870s instead of a HD 4870 X2 (if the motherboard/system permits).
Ya i guess if you intend on running a Single card the 4870X2 would be top choice, if multiple cards without breaking bank, 4870. I think AMD wont sit around with the 260GTX+ around, but whats funny is 280 GTX still probably be more worth it than 2 260GTX+ in SLI:roll:
by mikek75 (December 7th - 9:59 AM) - Reply
Bugger, at that price I have no excuse not to go crossfire....My bank manager hates me!
by chaotic_uk (December 7th - 10:49 AM) - Reply
by: mikek75;1094069
Bugger, at that price I have no excuse not to go crossfire....My bank manager hates me!
will not make much difference in the uk me thinks
by mikek75 (December 7th - 11:04 AM) - Reply
by: chaotic_uk;1094081
will not make much difference in the uk me thinks

OOhhh, you cynic you.....lol! Don't forget the 2.5% cut in VAT....
by chaotic_uk (December 7th - 11:08 AM) - Reply
by: mikek75;1094094
OOhhh, you cynic you.....lol! Don't forget the 2.5% cut in VAT....
wow 2.5p in the pound , massive saving's not :p
by mikek75 (December 7th - 11:15 AM) - Reply
Aye. but thats a tenner on £200. If you don't want it I can give you my PayPal address.....
by PCpraiser100 (December 7th - 12:04 PM) - Reply
Its on... ATI>:nutkick:
by spearman914 (December 7th - 12:10 PM) - Reply
What!! only 4870. This sux
by rodneyhchef (December 7th - 12:11 PM) - Reply
by: mikek75;1094102
Aye. but thats a tenner on £200. If you don't want it I can give you my PayPal address.....
No it's not, it's a fiver!
by WhiteLotus (December 7th - 1:14 PM) - Reply
And don't forget that many things increased when VAT decreased, duty for one.

I hope we too see these cuts, now that i have a crossfire board on the way i wouldn't mind getting a couple of cards.
by $ReaPeR$ (December 7th - 2:20 PM) - Reply
this is indeed good news!!!
by js01 (December 7th - 2:24 PM) - Reply
Too bad the price drops are only for people in the us, newwegg.ca is still showing the same price as a few days ago.
by mikek75 (December 7th - 2:29 PM) - Reply
by: rodneyhchef;1094139
No it's not, it's a fiver!
LOL, you got me there. Its Sunday and I've been out of school for 21 years....
by rodneyhchef (December 7th - 2:44 PM) - Reply
:)
by WarEagleAU (December 7th - 3:51 PM) - Reply
Hoorah. That means I may be picking me one of these buggers up in the 1 GB flavor.
by DaMulta (December 7th - 4:41 PM) - Reply
And no one believed me when I said just wait right before Xmas on these prices LOL

That's funny
by method526 (December 7th - 5:35 PM) - Reply
darn and i recently bought a HIS ICeQ4 4850 Turbo for $179.99. :/ well atleast it's quiet at 80% fan speed and very overclockable :P
by Skillz (December 7th - 5:49 PM) - Reply
by: method526;1094480
darn and i recently bought a HIS ICeQ4 4850 Turbo for $179.99. :/ well atleast it's quiet at 80% fan speed and very overclockable :P
yOU got SUCKered.

Good think i waited, i wonder if i should wait for the 55nm
by Steevo (December 7th - 7:08 PM) - Reply
I have waited to get my second 4850 1Gb for this.
by Homeless (December 7th - 7:27 PM) - Reply
I'm still debating waiting for next gen cards
by chaotic_uk (December 7th - 7:41 PM) - Reply
by: mikek75;1094266
I've been out of school for 21 years....
lol got you beat (or is it beet as i cant remeber lol) , this price drop will not mean much with the poor £ v's $ . saving my money for the phenom II then might get another 4870 (hopefully be cheaper then)
by mikek75 (December 7th - 8:59 PM) - Reply
LOL, thanks for that, its always nice to meet someone older round here....getting rarer by the day!
by zithe (December 7th - 9:09 PM) - Reply
by: Skillz;1094508
yOU got SUCKered.

Good think i waited, i wonder if i should wait for the 55nm
4k series already is 55nm. Not sure about GTX200 series, though.
by chaotic_uk (December 7th - 9:44 PM) - Reply
when are the revised 4870's being released ?
by oli_ramsay (December 7th - 10:40 PM) - Reply
by: rodneyhchef;1094139
No it's not, it's a fiver!
It's actually less than that!

Say it costs £100 which would already have the 17.5% VAT pre-applied to it, I can't do the maths lol but from what I remember from Have I Got News For You, it's ~2.1% off the final price. So if it originally cost £200 it would now cost £195.80..........

Pretty pathetic reduction.
by eidairaman1 (December 8th - 2:23 AM) - Reply
by: method526;1094480
darn and i recently bought a HIS ICeQ4 4850 Turbo for $179.99. :/ well atleast it's quiet at 80% fan speed and very overclockable :P
Current Boards are Still Excellent.
by Scrizz (December 8th - 3:00 AM) - Reply
sweet, now it's time to buy a 4870
by rodneyhchef (December 8th - 11:47 AM) - Reply
by: oli_ramsay;1094952
It's actually less than that!

Say it costs £100 which would already have the 17.5% VAT pre-applied to it, I can't do the maths lol but from what I remember from Have I Got News For You, it's ~2.1% off the final price. So if it originally cost £200 it would now cost £195.80..........

Pretty pathetic reduction.
Yeah it's a fiver saving on £235 but I figured it was close enough!
by InfDamarvel (December 8th - 3:27 PM) - Reply
by: DaMulta;1094391
And no one believed me when I said just wait right before Xmas on these prices LOL

That's funny
On black friday you could have obtained a HD4870 from $193 after rebate lol.
But it was the PCS+ version from ASUS with the fan issues for some, but I got it and made it work just fine..for a friend :(
by [I.R.A]_FBi (December 8th - 3:29 PM) - Reply
What will be the new 4830 prices?
by Skillz (December 8th - 4:30 PM) - Reply
by: InfDamarvel;1095892
On black friday you could have obtained a HD4870 from $193 after rebate lol.
But it was the PCS+ version from ASUS with the fan issues for some, but I got it and made it work just fine..for a friend :(
I wouldn't buy a 4870 for two reasons, mainly cause the red ugly color on the PCB they have been using for a decade now... yeh i'm racist like that when it comes on to Vid cards cause it got to look good in my window case, two; not enough support.
by btarunr (December 8th - 4:35 PM) - Reply
by: Skillz;1095973
I wouldn't buy a 4870 for two reasons, mainly cause the red ugly color on the PCB they have been using for a decade now... yeh i'm racist like that when it comes on to Vid cards cause it got to look good in my window case, two; not enough support.
Buy Sapphire Toxic. You get your blue/black theme. As for "not enough support", thanks for the laughs.
by [I.R.A]_FBi (December 8th - 5:13 PM) - Reply
by: btarunr;1095982
Buy Sapphire Toxic. You get your blue/black theme. As for "not enough support", thanks for the laughs.

You can easily spot the corporate endorcers
by Skillz (December 8th - 6:19 PM) - Reply
by: [I.R.A]_FBi;1096043
You can easily spot the corporate endorcers
He he he so true, he he. :toast:

by: btarunr;1095982
Buy Sapphire Toxic. You get your blue/black theme. As for "not enough support", thanks for the laughs.
I did a quick check and your little ugly Sapphire and it got owned in almost every test by the GTX 260 core 216 in every test, http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/sapphire_toxic_4870_review/page3.asp

Dark Vader XFX GTX260 Black Edition is so black and beautiful it doesn't even come close pal:cool:.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150330
Free Farcry 2 plus 40 MIR and free shipping, that's 200 bucks final just for this beauty.
by btarunr (December 8th - 6:29 PM) - Reply
I was responding to your rather trivial reasons for not choosing Radeon (which was something other than performance/price/ratios), not how Sapphire Toxic cards perform.
by crazy pyro (December 8th - 9:21 PM) - Reply
Any idea what they're going to do about 4850 512mb prices in the UK? Or will we not be ripped off for once and the 4870's have a price much closer to the 4850?
by Ravenas (December 9th - 11:22 PM) - Reply
Good to know. I'm glad ATI is still striving for #1.
by rodneyhchef (December 10th - 6:09 PM) - Reply
by: crazy pyro;1096406
Any idea what they're going to do about 4850 512mb prices in the UK? Or will we not be ripped off for once and the 4870's have a price much closer to the 4850?
What's really knackered 4850 prices is the 4830! I bought my Palit Non-reference 4850 in October(ish) before the 4830 came out. I paid £100 for it from scan. Now, the same card is £120!
by crazy pyro (December 10th - 6:11 PM) - Reply
Bollocks, if only I had ordered all my parts in september/ october I'd have got my build £50 cheaper.
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