Gservo
27th January 2003, 06:35 PM
In a market where it seems that every year the "top of the line" 3D cards are getting more expensive on average, it's great to see that competition between ATI and NVIDIA will finally start to move high-end part product prices down. (http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2003/01/24&pages=04&seq=20) ATI is planning on slashing prices on its Radeon 9700 product line in anticipation of the GeForce FX, which can only be good news for all of you who covet a AIW 9700 Pro. (http://tech-report.com/reviews/2003q1/ati-aiw9700pro/index.x?pg=1) Additionally, the company is going to be increasing the number of GPUs being sold to manufacturers, which means mo' flava will infuse the product line via independent offerings (a beefed-up 128MB 9500 is apparently in the works, for example). The increased flow of GPUs will also mean more competition amongst manufacturers, and that should also help move prices down rather quickly.
Meanwhile, MSI is releasing
new offerings (http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2003/01/24&pages=PR&seq=200) in the European market based on NVIDIA's NV28 part. The DirectX 8.1 cards won't hurt ATI's high-end, but it is hoped that they'll cut into the midrange-to-value sector. While details are slim, the 4800 is actually just an AGP 8X-enabled 4400 with nView support, so it won't outperform the 4600 despite it's higher number. And amid all this, the GeForce FX is expected to hit the streets at $399, which is a far cry from September's estimates of $599. Of course, back then many were expecting to see the cards in Santa's bag.
Meanwhile, MSI is releasing
new offerings (http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2003/01/24&pages=PR&seq=200) in the European market based on NVIDIA's NV28 part. The DirectX 8.1 cards won't hurt ATI's high-end, but it is hoped that they'll cut into the midrange-to-value sector. While details are slim, the 4800 is actually just an AGP 8X-enabled 4400 with nView support, so it won't outperform the 4600 despite it's higher number. And amid all this, the GeForce FX is expected to hit the streets at $399, which is a far cry from September's estimates of $599. Of course, back then many were expecting to see the cards in Santa's bag.