4870X2 vs GTX280 Poll

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: chizowThat's possible, ATI probably could've priced this generation of parts at a higher price point based on performance alone, but perhaps they realized consumers had absolutely no confidence in their products and wouldn't spend beyond a certain point for them. If you look at both of their past two launches before RV770, prices were quickly slashed because the parts could not compete in the segment they were priced. By pricing low this time around and coming out with a part that exceeded expectations they've reversed that role and put NV on the defensive.

Oh, come on! No confidence? THAT'S what you're basing your argument on? If anything, it was Nvidia's OVERCONFIDENCE that their new 1.4 billion transistor flagship card would crush anything that ATI could come out with that led them to price them at $650.

Each new generation of card from both companies has an equal chance to shine or flop. One design error or miscalculation could doom either side to failure. I'm sure ATI knew exactly what performance level their cards had versus their Nvidia counterparts and could have easily priced them to match. But instead they chose to price them low enough so that the average gamer could afford them.

People look at benchmarks when purchasing video cards, not "confidence levels". Your argument is nothing but a smoke screen to deflect attention away from the fact that Nvidia tried to get overly greedy and it completely backfired on them.

That in itself is just another marketing tactic, price it so much lower than the competition which would cause doubt as to why nVidia's products were so much more expensive. I like how ATI always launches a few weeks after nVidia at a price much lower, then they start slashing prices too, just to steal all the attention away in the average consumer video card areas.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Creig
Oh, come on! No confidence? THAT'S what you're basing your argument on? If anything, it was Nvidia's OVERCONFIDENCE that their new 1.4 billion transistor flagship card would crush anything that ATI could come out with that led them to price them at $650.

Each new generation of card from both companies has an equal chance to shine or flop. One design error or miscalculation could doom either side to failure. I'm sure ATI knew exactly what performance level their cards had versus their Nvidia counterparts and could have easily priced them to match. But instead they chose to price them low enough so that the average gamer could afford them.

People look at benchmarks when purchasing video cards, not "confidence levels". Your argument is nothing but a smoke screen to deflect attention away from the fact that Nvidia tried to get overly greedy and it completely backfired on them.

Absolutely, if they had reason to believe consumer's had confidence in their parts they would've went head to head with the GTX 260 at $400 with the 4870 and against the 9800GTX for $250-300 with the 4850, which wouldn't be far off from their prior launch prices for high and mid-range single-GPU. But they knew in a coin flip situation based on price and performance alone against Nvidia they would lose based on consumer confidence.

By starting prices lower, they were already coming in at a point below the competition and offering the same or better performance giving consumers less reason to wait. I'm sure they realized this was a better approach than launching an underperforming part at similar prices to the competition (R600 and RV670), not selling any for a month, and then slashing prices. Kinda like what happened to NV this round with the GTX 260 and 280.