• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

GeForce GTX 200 ''Worst Product Launch in the History of NVIDIA'' - Vendors

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,677 (7.43/day)
Location
Dublin, Ireland
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 16GB DDR4-3200
Video Card(s) Galax RTX 4070 Ti EX
Storage Samsung 990 1TB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
NVIDIA has been the 'hare taking a nap' for the past 18 months or so, just that when it woke up (or rather woken up), it realized that it's another hare that just blew by it. In other words, the Radeon HD 4800 series has not only proven to be a 'challenger' to NVIDIA but also a winner. There are (only) two winners here, ATI and you. The 55nm RV770 is very economical for ATI to make, sell and use in a variety of products. The same RV770 goes into making the HD 4850 that brought the GeForce 9800 GTX to its knees and forced NVIDIA to bring in a GTX+. And then you have the HD4870 which made spending $449 on the GeForce GTX 260 a joke. Yes it overclocks well and what not, but still didn't warrant that $150 price difference. Hence, over a period of three weeks or so, the GTX 260 is pushed down, 'way down' in NVIDIA's terms (explained later) to $329, which e-tailers such as Newegg.com can give you for as low as $299.

This means great news for you, like I said, there are only two winners, ATI and you. ATI gets its share of the $300 graphics card shoppers, while you get to choose between HD 4870 and GTX 260. What does NVIDIA get? Trouble. Sure the GTX 260 is selling, but selling at a loss. It takes around $100 to make the GPU alone. Selling the whole card for $299 inclusive of all taxes hurts NVIDIA, and hurts partners and retailers even more. TG Daily spoke with several retailers, some of which while maintaining anonymity, are quoted saying about the GeForce GTX 200 series as: "the worst product launch in the history of NVIDIA", also revealed is that NVIDIA could be selling "less than 3000 GTX 260/280 cards per month" in the North American markets.

In other words, retailers are not happy with NVIDIA and their stranglehold over pricing their products at both the retailer and board-partner level. Here's a chart tracking the fall of price for GTX 260:



And that of a certain GeForce GTX 280 model:



Speaking of the GeForce GTX 280, I admit, it's a brilliant piece of machinery. It is the one true successor to the 8800 GTX. But with products worth $300 getting close its level of performance, a 120% price margin doesn't warrant it. And also that the R700 promises significantly higher performance at a region-specific $500~$550 price-band, adds to its woes. There is a change in marketing strategy for NVIDIA and its vendors. They are cutting down on advertising GTX 200 series cards. Reason being that while sure, you have those cards selling at low prices, they can't afford to spend more in popularizing the product. Hence several e-tailers have started advertising those products NV can afford to sell at low prices. It's a great opportunity for NVIDIA to flush their current products off the market, cards such as 8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512M, 9600 series, are now selling at great prices, with discounts you can get them in the $90 ~ $150 band. It adds value since "Whatever your favorite game, an Nvidia GeForce 8800GT in SLI mode (that's 2) provides the best bang-for-the-buck performance for less than $299," says a promo.

Also with these cards facing slashes, if you happen to own a 9800 GTX, 8800 GT, GTS, etc., you can ramp up to SLI at great prices. That also applies to ATI products, with HD 3870 already below the $130 mark and MSI bringing in HD3870 X2 for $ 299 which isn't recommended for first-time buyers since HD4870 equals its performance.

Will GeForce GTX 200 series be remembered as a repeat of "Radeon 9000 > GeForce FX" episode? The answer is no, since NVIDIA does have a whole fleet of 55nm parts that increase yields ( = cheaper), making it to competitive, higher performing products. Unless that happens, and the next round of competition takes place we can't sync with what vendors are ranting about. As for now, celebrate this opportunity, gear up for summer with the latest video hardware, upgrade your rigs. God bless competition.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Last edited:
...& there are some out they who think these were 'good buy' cards at those prices. Both of them now are exactly $150 less then the launch price. A little competition only bring things back down to earth. You can't sell a niche'd product that's based solely on performance when another product at its same level performs higher & cost less. What a oxymoron.
 
for get the oxy part, its jsut plain dumb to pay almost 100% more for 10-20% increases, which can be narrowed by overclocking. Im sure all those ppl saying it was a good buy and all are all pissed.
 
for get the oxy part, its jsut plain dumb to pay almost 100% more for 10-20% increases, which can be narrowed by overclocking. Im sure all those ppl saying it was a good buy and all are all pissed.

they grind there teeth as we speak , and criticize ATi for using 2 gpus to beat one , hence being ignorant of the fact it costs less too ......... i love it when someone in thread keeps bringing the 2 gpu vs 1 gpu argument =)
 
Yeah, but it can run Crysis!

If you're a hardcore Crysis player, there's no reason to get an ATI card. It loves nVidia.

/endsarcasm
 
The same RV770 goes into making the HD 4850 that brought the GeForce 9800 GTX to its knees and forced NVIDIA to bring in a GTX+. And then you have the HD4870 which made spending $449 on the GeForce GTX 260 a joke. Yes it overclocks well and what not, but still didn't warrant that $150 price difference.

This is where I stop reading such useless information from people like TG.

1. The 4850 comes nowhere close to dominating a 9800GTX, whether in performance, and certainly not in heat/power consumption.

2. The $150 price difference (or whatever it is) between the 4870 and 280 exists for two reasons:

A) Nvidia brought their card out first, they are milking it. Any business who would do otherwise is foolish.
B) The 280 does something that no other card can do, whether single solution or Crossfire/SLI - it provides a virtually stutterless and seamless experience, while keeping impressive consistent framerates at very high resolutions, even under extreme conditions. The 4870 might do that, if it had a 512 bus width, yet it doesn't. The 280 presents a GPU that acts as the final and proper missing piece to the rest of a consumer's high end computer.

The 280 has shown us that we CAN accomplish the stability that we want in our 3d applications. Nvidia will continue to do so, and ATi will also follow suit in time, paving the way for a nice market until 3d applications start to demand more.


These absurd arguements need to end. Buy what you can afford and keep quiet!
 
it has begun ....
 
Yeah, but it can run Crysis!

If you're a hardcore Crysis player, there's no reason to get an ATI card. It loves nVidia.

/endsarcasm

wat do u do after u finish crysis ? play it again just coz u spent $650 (now $500) on a card which gives better fps in it and loses in all other games to the "Spartan". A card cannot be bought for just one game .
 
it has begun ....

None of us would be complaining if the thing was $500 at launch. How can something that's such a 'FTW' like that drop $150 in a week. They knew the thing was only worth that much at first - they just tried to milk the hell out of it. That is what pisses me off the most, sell shit for what its worth & you'll sell more of it - & have more happy comsumers. What's so wrong with that. I should have definitely left off the oxy part :shadedshu
 
None of us would be complaining if the thing was $500 at launch. How can something that's such a 'FTW' like that drop $150 in a week. They knew the thing was only worth that much at first - they just tried to milk the hell out of it. That is what pisses me off the most, sell shit for what its worth & you'll sell more of it - & have more happy comsumers. What's so wrong with that. I should have definitely left off the oxy part :shadedshu


Not even the great 8800GTX has ever dropped that much in one or two or three goes, granted there was no "reason" to. I dont think that has ever happened in video card history. Classic tortoise and hare. Someone needs to teach nvidia a business lesson, at the same time i dont want them to go out of business. Push volumes and ur business will do better, come up with new ways to get ur customers dollar, and a new name for the same ish doesnt qualify. no business is in it for the customer, anyone who thinks that is an idiot, but at the same time blatantly sitting on ur hands and jsut taking the customers money will only get you so far.
 
NV deserved to get their ass kicked by ATI because of their arrogant pricing and pathetic driver release schedule, i feel the love from ATI, NV are just so cold and treat the consumer like crap. My 4870 is such a sweet card and the vista 64 driver is flawless, not something that can be said of my 8800GT.:nutkick:
 
Well...I remember the FX series (for those of you who are that old) was *way* worse than the G200's. The 5800 Ultra "dustbuster" couldn't compete AT ALL against the 9700 Pro (128-bit vs 256-bit), and neither could the 5600 Ultra go against the 5700 Pro (4 pipelines vs 8), it was a total slaughter.

These releases are like a cycle, company X wins today, loses tomorrow, wins the next day and so on. That's how it goes. I'm sure NVIDIA will pick up steam again and deliver a real kick-ass GPU in the near future. I love competition! :cool:
 
Well...I remember the FX series (for those of you who are that old) was *way* worse than the G200's. The 5800 Ultra "dustbuster" couldn't compete AT ALL against the 9700 Pro (128-bit vs 256-bit), and neither could the 5600 Ultra go against the 5700 Pro (4 pipelines vs 8), it was a total slaughter.

These releases are like a cycle, company X wins today, loses tomorrow, wins the next day and so on. That's how it goes. I'm sure NVIDIA will pick up steam again and deliver a real kick-ass GPU in the near future. I love competition! :cool:

The only thing about this war is price. Both of the companies' offerings are godsent supercards that can eat any game. The whole FX series was junk, all of it :rolleyes: The FX 5950 Ultra was by far the most overpriced card in NV history. Right now if a card is priced right, it wins - if not then its the GTX280 :p
 
Epic fail for NVIDIA overcharging.
 
Epic fail for NVIDIA overcharging.

+1.

NVIDIA has mismanaged a lot of its recent product launches including the release of the 9800 GTX earlier this year. However, it doesn't mean that AMD is doing any better. Both the stocks for NVIDIA and AMD are in the crapper right now. And don't seem to be looking up anytime soon. Both companies are struggling, but more so AMD because their stock price is around $6 now. The 4800 series launch has been excellent compared to NVIDIA GTX 200 launch, but both companies are in deep trouble unless they revamp their marketing strategies and regain market confidence as well as the confidence of their investors.
 
It seems both Ati and Nvidia are having problems. Yes Nvidia lowered there price. But your missing he fact that AMD stock has drop to $6.00 a share. Last year it was at $12.00. If something doesn't happen soon Ati will fall fast. Maybe AMD will have to sell Ati. Just think Nvidia buying up Ati....
 
It seems both Ati and Nvidia are having problems. Yes Nvidia lowered there price. But your missing he fact that AMD stock has drop to $6.00 a share. Last year it was at $12.00. If something doesn't happen soon Ati will fall fast. Maybe AMD will have to sell Ati. Just think Nvidia buying up Ati....


That would be the worst possible scenario for us users!
 
Last week AMD was under 5$. Could have made some money. o.o
 
(for those of you who are that old)

Im 23 - I was here when England was at war with the Argentines. I was here when Freddie Mercury died, I was here when people dropped audio cassettes for CD's & also when mobile/Cell phones came & evolved from bricks to things that would easily get lost in a girls handbag.

yet why do i feel slightly insulted by your comment. *shakes my zimmerframe@u*
 
wat do u do after u finish crysis ? play it again just coz u spent $650 (now $500) on a card which gives better fps in it and loses in all other games to the "Spartan". A card cannot be bought for just one game .

true but you cannot deny the fact that half the people opn this forum upgraded their system spacifically for crysis. Theirs simply no denying it, the forum was littered with "will my PC run crysis", "what should i upgrade to?" and "my new crysis build" threads.
 
The card came down $100 in under a fortnight? wow. if i was one of those people that got those cards i'd be very VERY pissed off.
 
This only happened because Nvidia thought they could play the ULTRA game all over again and it crashed and burned for them, now we all win =D

If ATI drops the prices of there cards again like they did for the 38XX series then Nvidia is truly doomed this go round though,

and we(consumers) will win even more =D

I really wanna see the Super R770 though
 
This only happened because Nvidia thought they could play the ULTRA game all over again and it crashed and burned for them, now we all win =D

If ATI drops the prices of there cards again like they did for the 38XX series then Nvidia is truly doomed this go round though,

and we(consumers) will win even more =D

I really wanna see the Super R770 though



I doubt ATI can drop prices further! they must be close to selling them off as a lose as it is.

But yea me wants R770 too!
 
At least they understood what they had to do and did it. They could have waited for the new 55 fab or for the rumored 300 series whichever they have planned.
Everyone says competition means the consumer wins. This is proof, people should be happy.
 
Will GeForce GTX 200 series be remembered as a repeat of “Radeon 9000 > GeForce FX” episode? The answer is no, since NVIDIA does have a whole fleet of 55nm parts that increase yields ( = cheaper), making it to competitive, higher performing products. Unless that happens, and the next round of competition takes place we can’t sync with what vendors are ranting about. As for now, celebrate this opportunity, gear up for summer with the latest video hardware, upgrade your rigs. God bless competition.

i so said that this was another FX series in another thread lol :nutkick:
 
Back
Top