DailyTech - AMD Silently Cuts Prices on Radeon 3800 Again

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Hardware AMD Silently Cuts Prices on Radeon 3800 Again
Purav Sanghani - March 20, 2008 3:01 PM

34 comment(s) - last by victory.. on Mar 22 at 12:52 AM

AMD to cut prices on HD 3000-series in light of NVIDIA GeForce 9 price trend

Late last month NVIDIA launched its first card in the next generation GeForce 9 series of graphics cards and the manufacturers suggested retail price was set modestly between $170 - $190 range. In response to NVIDIA's 9600GT launch AMD cut prices on its latest offerings. The price of the HD 3870 model was cut down to $189 from the original $249 mark while the pricing on the HD 3850 was lowered $30 to $169.

Since the launch, NVIDIA's GeForce 9600GT produced some attractive benchmarks numbers as it comes in just behind the 8800GT in many PC game tests and even claims a few steps past AMD's HD 3870 in a handful of PC game tests.

Since then retailers such as Newegg cut pricing below the original MSRP of $169-189, down to $150 on NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT models.

In response to this, AMD is set to cut prices yet again on its Radeon HD 3800 line. Independent retailers tell DailyTech they are receiving partner pressure to drop the price on these cards below the corporate pricing set just a few weeks ago.

These retailers state the pressure is a direct retaliation to the GeForce pricing, which is also uniformly below the MSRP.

Radeon HD 3850 are said to hit prices as low as $140 with the HD 3870 trailing behind at $160 to compete with the GeForce 9600GT.

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Let the games begin.

By RjBass on 3/20/2008 3:35:11 PM , Rating: 3

AMD/ATI finally got a taste of what it was like to have the performance crown again with the 3870 X2. Just when they were starting to get their good name back, NVidia comes back swinging with the 9000 series.

I have a feeling this is just the beginning, and if it keeps going it will be nothing but good for us consumers.

RE: Let the games begin.

By FITCamaro on 3/20/2008 3:52:50 PM , Rating: 5

True but for a dual GPU, single slot card, the X2 is still a far better deal than the 9800GX2. $400 vs. $650-700. And with these latest price cuts on the 3870, they might cut the cost of the X2 as well.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By Mitch101 on 3/20/2008 5:43:47 PM , Rating: 5

If the prices keep coming down like this I might commit to actually doing something I said I would never do.

Dual Video cards in my machine.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By DASQ on 3/20/2008 8:00:29 PM , Rating: 5

For every frame rendered, it carries away with it a piece of your soul.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By RjBass on 3/20/2008 10:40:00 PM , Rating: 2

niiiiiiiiiice lol

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RE: Let the games begin.

By Mitch101 on 3/21/2008 11:52:36 AM , Rating: 2

Thats ok I sold it long ago.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By Noya on 3/21/08, Rating: 0

RE: Let the games begin.

By ImSpartacus on 3/21/2008 9:00:57 AM , Rating: 2

I disagree. Maybe dual 8800GT's would be up there, but dual 9600GT's? Nah. And the X2 is just so damn nice looking.

I understand your logic, 3870's price = 9600gt's price so their dual performance scores would be comparable, right?

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RE: Let the games begin.

By FITCamaro on 3/21/2008 9:55:45 AM , Rating: 3

And you still need 2 PCI-E 2.0 slots for it vs. the X2s one. That is the value in those cards. Dual card performance in only one slot which allows you to buy a cheaper motherboard.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By leidegre on 3/21/2008 4:59:42 AM , Rating: 2

I'm actually more considerate over other things than money and performance. Things like NVIDIA CUDA and Gelato would at this point persuade me to buy a compatible NVIDIA product.

I've been sitting on an old Radeon X1800 GTO card, and at that time it was a good trade between money and speed, yet, I don't run my games at the resolution I want to.
Anyhow, at this point the software is more interesting than the hardware. Things like better OpenGL drivers, and those mentioned above would make me go NVIDIA today.

Oh and yeah, I'm a game developer, I render Cg and I like GPGPU stuff. So you could see where I'm coming from with this.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By FITCamaro on 3/21/2008 9:58:30 AM , Rating: 2

Don't get me wrong. Nvidia has cards at an insanely good value as well. The 9600GT is amazing for the price. As is the 8800GT. I was just remarking on the dual GPU, single slot cards.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By DeepBlue1975 on 3/20/2008 4:51:59 PM , Rating: 2

I get the feeling that situations like these will be common for AMD for quite a long time.
They are not pushing the envelope hard enough and fast enough to be sure that Nvidia / Intel can't have something better prepped by the veeery long time AMD takes to come out with every new generation / refresh of products.

If Phenom were to be out 1.5 years earlier (when they say they would have it in the first place), it could have given Intel a run for its money as Intel quad cores where very expensive by then.
Now we have Intel comfortably sitting on its coach with its wardrobe fully stuffed of Penryn SKUs and a firm roadmap in the oven, just in case AMD comes with something respectable so it can one up its counterpart almost instantaneously.
Same goes for the GPU division.

AMD should rather be focusing on the mid range mobile / portable device sector right now to bring cheaper and good performing solutions because by the time, they have little chances to win the crown again in the high end market.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By vignyan on 3/20/2008 11:36:44 PM , Rating: 2

Intel was like P4 EE processor. Large number of resources working wasting a lot of resources as compared to the Athlon 64 processors which were a bit more efficient. But there was another part of intel (mobile sector) which was just as efficient.. Now since Intel is a manufacturing major, and has huge number of gates to spare per processor as compared to AMD, they combined their good part (mobile) with the Advantage... BAM! AMD's Nemesis as someone predicted. If it really were to have so many resources up its shelf, do you think they will allow AMD to grow for three long years (2003 to 2006)???

As for Nvidia, it was like AMD in the GFX market (only less cocky!) and ATI was like Intel... But there the underdog kicked some serious ass... And i would give the most credit to the marketing team of NVidia... Ya ya Engineers did do a good job... but to compete against a giant, good product is not just enough(example: 68K vs x86)...

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RE: Let the games begin.

By BruceLeet on 3/20/2008 6:18:56 PM , Rating: 2

If AMD were to try what Nvidia is doing, releasing highend products and put the price at $600-700 AMD would get slammed for it, that being said...AMD has the better Performance:Dollar ratio

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RE: Let the games begin.

By Carter642 on 3/20/2008 6:20:16 PM , Rating: 2

The only thing I really worry about is that AMD/ATI is basically practicing undercutting on every single product that they make in order to sell them against their Intel and nVidia counterparts.

That's all good for generating sales but I doubt that a 3870 really costs much less in terms or manufacturing/R&D than a 8800GT, certainly not $100 per card. In terms of manufacturing/R&D dollars the more performance you can pack into the flagship card of a family (i.e G92 or R600) the more room you have to position cards upmarket of your competition and the more money you can make over the entire family of products.

Even though the X2 is compeditive with the G80/G92 family's high end single GPU cards AMD/ATI is never going to see much profit on it unless they go and build a whole product family on the X2's base. True nVidia is in the same boat with the 9800GX2, then again they're not losing 1.7bn a year either.

AMD/ATI must get on par with nVidia and intel's next gen product lines or they'll be forced to continue chucking away their profit just to move product. If they fail then AMD/ATI might be in alot of trouble.

*wants to donate spare brain power to AMD/ATI engineers*

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RE: Let the games begin.

By Sureshot324 on 3/20/2008 7:51:51 PM , Rating: 2

Current ATI card are 55nm while Nvidia is 65nm, so ATIs cards are going to be considerably cheaper to produce. I suspect this is also why ATI is able to fit two GPUs on one card while Nvidia is force to use two PCBs.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By StevoLincolnite on 3/21/2008 8:12:48 AM , Rating: 2

Possibly, but this wasn't ATI's first attempt of placing 2 GPU's on the one PCB (Rage Fury MAXX anyone?)
nVidia also bought out 3dfx who were the masters of multi-GPU solutions, like the Voodoo 2 SLI, Voodoo 5 with it's 2 - 4 GPU's on the one PCB, But for some reason they don't seem to like taking that route.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By victory on 3/22/2008 12:52:48 AM , Rating: 2

And nVidia let the Voodoo brand disappear.
The 3dfx bankruptcy trustee is suing N for
fraud, and the 3dfx stockholders committee
is suing N for the remaining payment under
the December 15, 2000 agreement between N
and 3dfx. I sometimes think N hides from
3dfx technology because of the legal actions.
I am a 3dfx stockholder.

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RE: Let the games begin.

By goku on 3/21/2008 2:11:21 AM , Rating: 2

I disagree, while I'm all for price reductions and good competition, with AMD really losing the battle to Intel and possibly Nvidia, I can only hope that they get enough time to make some money. I'm worried that AMD is going to go broke if they continue with this fierce competition and price slashing and if they leave the market, then THAT will be bad for consumers.

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I've been thinking for a couple of weeks now

By eetnoyer on 3/20/2008 8:14:40 PM , Rating: 2

that the 3850s especially have been priced too high. Not quite so bad with the 3870. Considering the prices seen on the 9600GT lately, the 3850 should be no more than $140 - $150 for the 512MB part. Another $10 or so less for the 256MB part.

Speaking of which, didn't AT say they were going to delve into the difference between the 256MB vs 512MB performance characteristics (3850)? I wonder how long until we get to see it. I was thinking of picking up one of the cheap 9600GT cards, but none of the really good deals I've seen were for cards with HDMI output ability. Looking very hard at the 3850.

RE: I've been thinking for a couple of weeks now

By charliee on 3/20/2008 9:41:38 PM , Rating: 1

I saw a Radeon 3850 256MB with native HDMI at NCIX on sale for 129.99 Canadian.

In the future I think I will settle for onboard graphics. I mean I'm looking forward to a system on chip deal from AMD.

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RE: I've been thinking for a couple of weeks now

By paydirt on 3/21/2008 8:54:06 AM , Rating: 2

If you're a PC gamer, unless you are really cash constrained... I wouldn't go with 256MB anymore.

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RE: I've been thinking for a couple of weeks now

By ImSpartacus on 3/21/2008 9:02:48 AM , Rating: 2

I agree. I remember a year or two ago, everyone was saying that the 7800GTX 512mb (or was it the 7900GTX? idk) couldn't use all 512mb.

And here we are, making 512mb a minimum, lol. Technology flies.

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RE: I've been thinking for a couple of weeks now

By DASQ on 3/21/2008 10:44:58 AM , Rating: 2

Not 512MB minimum. 1GB is worthless, but 512MB is more like the sweet spot.

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3970?

By Vanilla Thunder on 3/20/2008 3:39:16 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
The price of the HD 3970 model was cut down to $189 from the original $249 mark

Where can I get one of these new HD 3970's? =\

V.

RE: 3970?

By KristopherKubicki

(blog) on 3/20/2008 3:43:14 PM , Rating: 2

This has been fixed. Sorry

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Mistake

By GodisanAtheist on 3/20/2008 3:41:29 PM , Rating: 2

The price of the HD 3970 model was cut down to $189 from the original $249 mark while the pricing on the HD 3850 was lowered $30 to $169.

-3870. I know its a little thing but I eyes nearly popped out of their head at this video card I'd never heard of before.

RE: Mistake

By PAPutzback on 3/20/2008 3:42:40 PM , Rating: 2

I was getting ready to look at NewEgg myself

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Ahh the fruits of competition!

By Carter642 on 3/20/2008 4:09:51 PM , Rating: 2

Looks like the price wars are alive and well in the mid-range video card segment! Hooray for cheap hardware that performs! Hooray for 9600GT SLI for $350!

Now if only the battle was this fierce at the high end...

RE: Ahh the fruits of competition!

By PrinceGaz on 3/20/2008 4:51:59 PM , Rating: 2

It's a shame AMD can't also get the speed of Phenom up a few hundred MHz so it is competitive with Core 2. Some more competition in the quad-core market could only be good for prices (good for us, not so good for Intel or AMD).

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Not yet

By bill3 on 3/20/2008 9:36:10 PM , Rating: 1

As of right this second on newegg though, this alleged cut still hasn't materialized. The cheapest 3870 is still 179.99.

And the $149 9600GT is a ECS I found out, not a Zotac, but same difference. I dont think most people trust ECS, better to spend an extra 15 and get a good brand. The decent brand 9600GT still start at 164.99.

RE: Not yet

By just4U on 3/21/2008 1:20:06 PM , Rating: 2

I am still waiting for the alleged cuts from the last go around here in Canada. Current pricing at most stores I've seen (including NCIX) works something like this ..

3850 189
3870 230

9600 180
8800GT 230
8800GTS 300

That's for most brands excluding the odd sale and factoring in rebates. I've averaged the prices out for most of the big names. Not quite sure why it's working that way here and so much better in the US.

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Really? Did the price really drop?

By biscuithead on 3/20/2008 5:57:51 PM , Rating: 2

I wasn't able to find a 3870 for the "price drop" price after the last announcement. In fact, I think I've only seen one at that price and it was after a MIR. I wonder if consumers will even see these prices. Has anyone found them in an online store yet?

Common sense cut

By bill3 on 3/20/2008 9:30:27 PM , Rating: 1

I had just been thinking when looking at video cards considering a purchase recently, that AMD cards needed a drop. As of before this, none of them were a good purchase. The 9600GT ruined there market position. Before 9600GT they held a good position, not as good as 8800 GT but also cheaper, still much better than 8600GT. But a 9600GT is right about the same speed as a 3870, but on newegg the cheaper 9600GT's run about $165, while the 3870 runs $180 and up.

If there is a $150 9600GT as stated by Dailytech, it's probably a Zotac brand, which I dont think anybody trusts, so I wouldn't count that. 9600GT is still cheaper though. However there is currently a special deal on XFX 9600GT for $129 after MIR and code.

Anyways point being, no doubt AMD saw 3870/50 sales drop precipitously in the face of the superior value of 9600GT, and this is just a much needed reaction to that. At ~159 it is once again about the same price as a 9600GT with similar performance (perhaps a bit better).

I wouldn't worry about AMD's ability to cut price either. The die size (which determines cost) on 3000 line is very small, smaller than even 9600GT I believe.