$549?
$549.99 for a GPU that's around 300 mm2? Can you imagine Nvidia's margins on these cards? Do the math, the G92b which had about the same die size was around $300 when it came out, sure Nvidia has to make up for R&D expenses, low yields and whatnot, but we are talking about a $250 markup give or take...
Take a good look boys and girls, this is price fixing at its finest, both manufacturers are ripping costumers a new one, don't be fools, vote with your wallets.
I pride myself in being at the bleeding edge of technology, and believe me, it required a lot of effort not to jump on the 7970 bandwagon a few months ago, the only couple things that stopped me were the fact that I wouldn't be able to fully utilize my 3D surround setup, and I also felt pricing wasn't quite right for what I deemed relatively small jump in performance compared to my current setup.
So I made up my mind and decided to wait for Nvidia, keeping up with the rumor mill has meant day after day of one disappointment after another, and this is the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, if this price is indeed true, I'm not favoring Nvidia with my business either.
Price fixing is a crime, ask the LCD and RAM manufacturers how that worked out for them, even both video card manufacturers have been caught red handed conspiring to price fixing in the past if memory serves me right, and then what, a big lawsuit from the government, millions of dollars in fines, and absolutely no benefits to your costumers.
I just bought a couple of GTX480s for $440 dollars at Newegg to replace my aging 285 for my game room; $440! Yes, this setup might be hot, its doesn't have the latest GPUs, it might not beat a 680 in performance by a hair, but it sure beats it in price, and it is faster than a 7950 at a lower price, and the best thing is it runs all of my console ports PC developers are releasing just fine, thank you!
As I already said, don't be fools, vote with your wallets :shadedshu