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are we expecting any price drops?

Soldato
Joined
30 Nov 2005
Posts
13,915
is there likely to be any drops in the 5850 any time soon?

whats nvidia up too at the moment looking to replace 8800gt was thinking of 5770 but don't see that it is a worth while upgrade seeing how its <4870 and I choose to ignore that generation it hardly seem right to get that kind of performance. only really interested in BFBC2 performance at the moment.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2007
Posts
22,261
Location
North West
Don't think we will see any price drops until we see the pricing, performance and availability of the Nvidia GTX470, scheduled for the end of this month, and yes the 5850 plays BC2 very well indeed.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Jun 2005
Posts
2,750
Location
Edinburgh
The pricing does seem to be getting better as availability improves. In the last week I've seen the 5850 break £200 and the 5870 break £300 for the first time since launch. This is good seeing as we are now paying 2.5% extra VAT.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,188
What might help drop prices is that it seems that maybe a lot of AIB's are holding back cores for 5970 OC editions to release days after Nvidia announce their cards, that could see a decent flood of higher end cards around the world. IF that pushes normal 5970 prices back down towards RRP, which is quite possible/probable that will make the expensive 5870's drop in price.

Likewise it would seem a bunch of cards like MSI's better cooled cards, Gigabytes overclocked versions, MSI lightning versions are all coming out also to spoil the Fermi party. Again if say a MSI lightning or better cooled one is supposed to be £320, the normal prices have to come back down and maybe even drop towards £250-270.

However, £200 is fairly cheap for a 5850 card, they cost a lot to make and aren't making a humoungous profit on them. Theres not a whole load of space for the 5850 to drop in price with a crap 40nm process. £180 way in the future might be the best we can hope for, you're better off spending the extra £20 now and having it for far longer.

The MSI twin fan cooler 5850 is probably going to be the best buy around, great cooling £10 more, better/easier overclocking, will probably beat a 480gtx overclocked(as Fermi's are going to overclock like crap), for £200.

Frankly a £200 5850 or a £420(RRP) 5970 are the best value cards, everything else isn't worth getting.
 
Associate
Joined
25 May 2009
Posts
1,696
Location
Derbyshire
I may be spouting crap iirc previous 'specials' like twin fan versions have been awful overclockers.....

I wonder sometimes if these 'specials' are a way to tempt people into buying cards made with lesser binned chips? After all the relative cost to say msi for the twin fan cooler design against the stock shroud is probably negligable.

Anyway as soon as I see 5850's below £200 I will likely buy one, 70's can be had for much less than £300 now so if the 50 doesn't drop under £200 you may as well buy the 70 instead.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
39,267
Location
Ireland
Price drops? Surely you jest. All we've been seeing is price hikes for pound against the dollar, supply and demand, the conjunction of the planet wahatootie with the moons of saturn, etc etc etc.

Its almost like petrol prices, doesnt matter what the oil price is we keep getting shafted for "insert bs reason here".
 
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Soldato
Joined
15 Jun 2005
Posts
2,750
Location
Edinburgh
You have to keep a look out for the offers as the sell out pretty quick. All 70 of the £200 ones sold out in two days. I have just picked up an Asus 5850 for £207, again sold out now so you have to be quick. I wouldn't be surprised if OcUK have a them on a deal once the stock builds up.
 
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Associate
Joined
24 Oct 2009
Posts
291
Location
Edinburgh
they said there is a shortage of ram material, so don't think there will be a price drop in few weeks, and ati will enjoy the market till the last second before nvidia fermi
 
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