bit-tech.net

Nvidia drops prices on latest cards

Published on 14th July 2008 by Richard Swinburne

Nvidia GeForce GTX 280.. or is it the 260? Either way, both are even cheaper now!

We've been on the phone to Nvidia this morning and have word on price drops for the latest Nvidia graphics cards: GeForce GTX 280, 260 and 9800 GTX+. The exact pricing for us (or you) Europeans and our neighbours in the States is:

The GeForce GTX 280 drops to $449 or 359 Euros
GeForce GTX 260 drops to $299 or 239 Euros
GeForce 9800 GTX+ will come in at $199 or 169 Euro

Exact pound sterling prices are as yet to be determined since obviously our small island matters less, but you can extrapolate for yourselves a balance between Euro:Pound exchange rate, with the inevitable "British tax that makes everything more expensive than it should", added on top.

The GeForce GTX 260 should now make the competition with the Radeon HD 4870 more fierce, as will the price drops for GeForce 9800 GTX+ with the Radeon HD 4850.

The GeForce GTX 280 price drop is in anticipated response to the Radeon HD 4870 X2's release in the next few weeks.

While a few people that have already bought cards might feel a little bitter, GeForce GTX 280 especially, we'd say that's just the price you pay for jumping on the bandwagon early. Competition is great for the consumer, and thankfully now we have it in spades.

Tempted by a next generation card? Found some UK pricing? Let us know in the forums.

35 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Timmy_the_tortoise 14th July 2008, 12:24

Price drop or no price drop, I'm still after a 4850.

A £100 9800 GTX+ sounds nice, but I've seen plenty of reviews of the 4850 now.. and it looks the business. Plus UVD 2.0 is, apparently, excellent.

BlackMage23 14th July 2008, 13:13

Agreed. ATI are starting to look good again.

deltaworld 14th July 2008, 13:13

When someone hears of UK pricing for these nvidia models please let us know on this thread.. As I want to buy one desperately. I have a nvidia 8800 GTS OC 512MB and it is good but I cant play Crysis at the resolution I want, it is too jerky.

Timmy_the_tortoise 14th July 2008, 13:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by deltaworld
When someone hears of UK pricing for these nvidia models please let us know on this thread.. As I want to buy one desperately. I have a nvidia 8800 GTS OC 512MB and it is good but I cant play Crysis at the resolution I want, it is too jerky.

turn off Anti Aliasing and turn down the settings.

You shouldn't need to spend £100 odd on a new card just to play at the resolution you want when the card you have is fine already. Unless, of course, you're trying to play at 2560x1600.

pistol_pete 14th July 2008, 13:33

Hmm.... my dad recently bought an Evga 9600GT. If I could convince him to step-up to a 98GTX+, or even a GTX260, I could give him my 8800GT and get myself a the card with his £105 rebate...

If a GTX 260 can drop to around £150 I'd be very tempted.

Bindibadgi 14th July 2008, 13:36

£200, yes, £150, no chance with that die size.

[USRF]Obiwan 14th July 2008, 13:39

The price conversion to euro (if it is including 19% tax) is spot on with the current currency exchange rates from dollar to euro.

when buying overseas at that price it would be:
449 dollar card + 20 dollar shipping= 295.73 + 19% tax = 351.91 euro

salesman 14th July 2008, 13:39

Now i wait for the 4870 X2 to come out and see what happens.

naokaji 14th July 2008, 13:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
£200, yes, £150, no chance with that die size.

which is nvidias biggest problem, the 4870 can be had for less than 200£ so the GTX260 doesnt sell too good and and the GTX280 (even after the price drop) since its still in the ultra highend (with price tag to go with) market.

johnnyboy700 14th July 2008, 13:51

Ahmen for having the patience to wait!!

I reckon if I hang off for another month or so then the prices should stabailise and by that point the phase two versions of the ATI 4000 series should be getting their reviews/lab tests.

The crossfire tests for the new ATI cards might be quite interesting.

Hamish 14th July 2008, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by naokaji
which is nvidias biggest problem, the 4870 can be had for less than 200£ so the GTX260 doesnt sell too good and and the GTX280 (even after the price drop) since its still in the ultra highend (with price tag to go with) market.

yep, a lot less than £200 in fact, ~£175
the 4870 is better than the 260 in every way and far far better than the 280 on price/performance
which is why i have one :)

only problem i've had is the VRM and mem does get incredibly hot on the 4870
but solved that with a strategically positioned fan hooked up to a rheobus so i only turn it on when gaming :p

3800 series vs 8800 series was touch and go, probably advantage to nvidia
but 4800 vs 9800 / GTX is no contest imo

Paradigm Shifter 14th July 2008, 14:13

Hm. I was planning on getting a 4870X2, but I think I'm still within my Step Up period for my eVGA 8800GT... I might step up to a GTX280, given that a 4870 will cost ~£180-£210, and the GTX280 would be only another £50 or so more than that once the 8800GT cost was figured in.

chrisb2e9 14th July 2008, 14:20

i'd still like to see everyone buying ati. the more money pumped into amd/ati the better they will do in the future.

Gunsmith 14th July 2008, 14:34

well done ATI, i was starting to get sick of the stagnation in the industry

time to start moving forward.

Timmy_the_tortoise 14th July 2008, 14:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisb2e9
i'd still like to see everyone buying ati. the more money pumped into amd/ati the better they will do in the future.

True... Gotta keep some competition in there before Nvidia/Intel begin to truly dominate their respective markets.

wuyanxu 14th July 2008, 14:44

£250 for gtx280, possible?

it's really heating up :) good new all round (except for those early adaptors who are now 1 leg and arm short)

C-Sniper 14th July 2008, 14:49

Seems to me like Nvidia **** their pants when ATI/AMD released their cards. Go ATI!

lewchenko 14th July 2008, 15:07

I would avoid the 280 model like the plague. Read this thread here :

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1323048

Countless people having to RMA their cards over and over. Sounds like the Xbox 360 LOL! Apparently they overheat really easily, and quality on the temperature management seems to have gone out the window. So as well as the 8400GS/M problems NVidia has right now... the 280 looks to be another flawed piece of silicon too.

Caveat : FOR SOME USERS (not everyone will have the problem).. but would you want to end up being one of the unlucky ones posting in that thread... ? Thought not.

Paradigm Shifter 14th July 2008, 15:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by lewchenko
I would avoid the 280 model like the plague. Read this thread here :

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1323048

Countless people having to RMA their cards over and over. Sounds like the Xbox 360 LOL! Apparently they overheat really easily, and quality on the temperature management seems to have gone out the window. So as well as the 8400GS/M problems NVidia has right now... the 280 looks to be another flawed piece of silicon too.

Caveat : FOR SOME USERS (not everyone will have the problem).. but would you want to end up being one of the unlucky ones posting in that thread... ? Thought not.

Hm. I was expecting a thousand-post thread with dozens and dozens of people complaining... ;) we can always expect a few bad apples in new kit. Unfortunately. :(

DXR_13KE 14th July 2008, 16:21

i hope this price war goes a little longer...

Xir 14th July 2008, 16:22

Weeellll, maybe this'll work wonders on AMD stocks...
..nope have gone down 30%...again.

nVidia?
...also down 30%

Intel?
Also down...

:?

Project_Nightmare 14th July 2008, 16:50

I'm glad I didn't buy a card in June when I turned 18Now I'm hesitating between buying a 9800 GTX+ (wich should be out in a day or two from now) or the GTX 260:(

Redbeaver 14th July 2008, 16:54

good stuff. had the email from evga last week about this. 260 now looks more interesting at $299 if u have a SLI board.... but my best bet is still on 4870 even if its that hot and noisy...... i just personally dont like ATI's driver and i love SLI performance... so... ugh......

kenco_uk 14th July 2008, 17:10

4850 looks exceedingly good value for £110 or so.

Denis_iii 14th July 2008, 17:37

haha die nvidia die, can't wait for ati to get the 4000 series in laptops and take that market back. Nvidia rested on there laurels and are paying for it.

LordPyrinc 14th July 2008, 21:59

Once I buy a game that runs like crap on what I would normally consider at least the baseline graphics settings, then I upgrade to a new card. Even then, I buy a good midrange. Top of the line is always too pricey. Saying "I wish" or "I'm glad I waited X number of months" really is moot. Prices are always going to come down and new and better cards are always going to come out. Most of us should just buy what we need every 12-18 months. More importantly, buy what you can afford. I've had friends run themselves into debt because they gotta have the top of the line pc.

lewchenko 15th July 2008, 00:02

well time will tell, but Im not happy reading about the many posts which talk about the heat of the 280 and 4870. Sounds like both get very hot. Too hot to be honest. Some 280's have been reported to be crapping out already (see earlier post in this thread). What about the 4870 ? In some reviews (Anand / Hardocp or here I cant remember which now) the guy said he burnt his hand swapping the cards in and out! Yikes! That kind of heat over a long period of time will surely affect the VRM's etc ?

I want to buy a new card, but am gonna hold off until an element of reliability can be confirmed.
My 8800GTX will have to soldier on a little longer.

leexgx 15th July 2008, 04:51

4870 X2 is comming an abount an month selling point be around an 280 GTX price and most games its faster then it

Silver51 15th July 2008, 09:09

nVidia may have dropped prices on high end cards, but you still need to own shares in Powergen to run one.

I know it's not a useful comment, but no card after the 88xx series has tempted me due to the power draw, no matter the cards pricing.

Shadow_101 15th July 2008, 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver51
nVidia may have dropped prices on high end cards, but you still need to own shares in Powergen to run one.

I know it's not a useful comment, but no card after the 88xx series has tempted me due to the power draw, no matter the cards pricing.

Are you a eco warrior?

Xir 15th July 2008, 10:41

it is a bit silly that these cards draws almost as much electricity as my entire system does...and it's not built for energy saving :)

The exhaust of the X1800XT can also heat my room....or make toast

lewchenko 15th July 2008, 10:55

Its not the electric cost or power draw that worries me.... hey electricity is dirt cheap, and my global warming carbon foot print isnt something I worry about.

Its the temps (and subsequent card failure) that bothers me.

wuyanxu 15th July 2008, 11:23

in these hot days, it's the number of degree it heats up my room that worries me.

last night, i actually ran both CPU and GPU folding, and this morning i woke up very hot. so i cannot imagine how hot a gtx280 or 4870 will make my room. also, 4870 may even heat up my room without doing anything!

8800GTX will also need to soldier on a little longer...... until 45nm ATI (Q1 2009 apparently) or next gen nVidia comes out (with Dx10.1 support, so im not buying out-dated hardware)

Silver51 15th July 2008, 14:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_101
Are you a eco warrior?

No, as I write this I'm hunting rubber foxes through a plastic forest, which is on fire, in a 4X4 powered by the tears of kittens. Tears extracted by forcing them to Uwe Boll films over and over.

I just don't want to have to build a new reactor pile (or buy a new PSU) every time nVidia releases a new card line-up. Heat is also an issue.

Xir 16th July 2008, 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by lewchenko
hey electricity is dirt cheap,

(Snipped)

What country are you in? ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver51
...powered by the tears of kittens...

(Snipped)

If that'd work, think about the possibilities for an evolving kitten-industry...hmmm

Of course, to prevent a kitten-shortage, we'd all have to stop masturbating :(
(You know what happends to kittens, right?)