R9 290 Price Rant

[DrDoug]

Oh cool another ford fan. I too almost bought a '13 Shelby until they were asking $72k for it. Instead I got a boss below msrp, lol. Keep in mind these cars are built in very small volume, unlike video cards aside from titans and kingpin models.

Yup! I own an older model Mustang but like any true blue Mustang owner, I pay attention to everything Mustang. Regarding the markups, Ford actually increased production of some non-limited models to alleviate the pricing problems but the limited models are being milked for every penny the sellers can get.

I wish AMD still had their own foundry as I bet they would be pumping up production immediately. I bet they are pushing TSMC for more chips right now and if not then they are stupid. The coin craze really took off (again) after the newest cards were released and they were caught with their pants down.

It sucks but I'm a patient dude, I'll wait for the furor to die down before upgrading my system. That gives Mantle more time to mature and settle out too, so that's also a good thing.

 

[Venomous]

They have little control over how many GPUs they have on hand. In case you are unaware, they do not Manufacture their GPUs.

Yes I'm aware of that... They go from taiwan (tsmc) straight to the AIB partners who are setup down the street from them.

Again I've not read any of those companies making a mention there was a yield or supply issue. I know Anandtech themselves post it front page and even get confirmation about yield issues. I have not seen this...

 

[sandorski]

Yes I'm aware of that... They go from taiwan (tsmc) straight to the AIB partners who are setup down the street from them.

Again I've not read any of those companies making a mention there was a yield or supply issue. I know Anandtech themselves post it front page and even get confirmation about yield issues. I have not seen this...

Again with the Yields. They could be getting 100% Yield and still not have enough GPUs to Supply the Demand. They are not Announcing anything because they have no problems making their Sales targets.

 

[Headfoot]

*chuckles* UK and European prices have always bent people over; but there hasn't been any major mark ups.......the prices are near normal if you just look away from New Egg; they've been known for years to jack prices up way nasty when something sells well.

A little digging and you can find them normally.....

Since you're good at finding them apparently, why don't you link somewhere you found them after "a little digging" and show me a $399 R9 290. I'm very interested in buying one or more for builds I do for friends.

 

[ViRGE]

Since you're good at finding them apparently, why don't you link somewhere you found them after "a little digging" and show me a $399 R9 290. I'm very interested in buying one or more for builds I do for friends.

I would like to see this too, as it seems like everyone has followed Newegg's lead. Amazon either never has them in stock, or has a marketplace seller charging as much as Newegg. TigerDirect has a pitiful selection of R9 cards that are just as badly priced. And NCIX doesn't do any better on pricing while clearly selling some products before their shipments have even arrived.

Anyone that actually has a 290 at this very instant in stock and ready to ship is charging as much as Newegg is in the first place.

 

[3DVagabond]

Since you're good at finding them apparently, why don't you link somewhere you found them after "a little digging" and show me a $399 R9 290. I'm very interested in buying one or more for builds I do for friends.

The 290 is a bit of a special case. They can make either 290X's or 290's from Hawaii chips. As well as the cards are selling the only incentive they have to produce 290's are if the chips can't pass 290X spec. Considering that many of even the first 290's that were produced were able to be flashed to 290X's, I'd venture a guess that there aren't many chips that have to be 290's. Another use for the 2nd tier pro model cards is to burn off excess inventory without having to necessarily reduce the retail value of the top model. That's obviously not needed right now.

You can find 290X cards at or near MSRP.

 

[3DVagabond]

I would like to see this too, as it seems like everyone has followed Newegg's lead. Amazon either never has them in stock, or has a marketplace seller charging as much as Newegg. TigerDirect has a pitiful selection of R9 cards that are just as badly priced. And NCIX doesn't do any better on pricing while clearly selling some products before their shipments have even arrived.

Anyone that actually has a 290 at this very instant in stock and ready to ship is charging as much as Newegg is in the first place.

If you sell them for at or near MSRP they are going to sell faster than you can get them. If you are willing to sit on stock for a bit you can get ~20% above MSRP. You, as a consumer, have to decide if you are going to save money and order one from the first guy and wait to save money, or if you want instant gratification you are going to have to pay extra to the guy who is holding out for the higher price. My suggestion, if the price is a major stumbling block (as it would be for me), is to order one from Amazon, NCIX, B&H, or J&R (others???) and wait a couple of weeks. Heck, I can remember when it was typically 4 to 6 weeks to get things mail order anyway (yeah, I'm old). You did it though to save B&M store markups.

290's are going to be a tough have though as per my reasons in my prior post.

 

[Atreidin]

Since you're good at finding them apparently, why don't you link somewhere you found them after "a little digging" and show me a $399 R9 290. I'm very interested in buying one or more for builds I do for friends.

I got one from Amazon, not a marketplace seller, but Amazon the company. They had it for sale but not "in stock" for MSRP. There was no estimated delivery date but I only waited just over a week after ordering it. I think they list them for sale when they have a shipment incoming but de-list it when the shipment is all claimed. You just have to refresh occasionally and get lucky.

 

[24601]

I would like to see this too, as it seems like everyone has followed Newegg's lead. Amazon either never has them in stock, or has a marketplace seller charging as much as Newegg. TigerDirect has a pitiful selection of R9 cards that are just as badly priced. And NCIX doesn't do any better on pricing while clearly selling some products before their shipments have even arrived.

Anyone that actually has a 290 at this very instant in stock and ready to ship is charging as much as Newegg is in the first place.

Good luck, prices have only gone up (multiple times) since launch.

The low hanging fruit was picked in 2013 as well from the clueless sellers.

Anyone telling you otherwise are just obvious shills.

BTW, pre-orders are NOT cards, they are informal futures contracts for physical delivery on the commodity that you want (unfortunately with no actual guarantee of delivery or delivery date).

Don't bother looking for AMD/ATi cards for gaming unless you hear news of a major sustained crash in scrypt coin prices.

Hash rate saturation isn't anywhere near the needed 5000+ difficulty for litecoin alone.

With Dogecoin picking up much of the additional hashrate, this rally in mining profitability which started in mid November seems to be self-sustaining as there is just not enough mining hardware in circulation and the production rate is not nearly enough to saturate profitability within the next few months at current exchange rates.

The markets survived the January 31st China ban with only minor price degradation priced in at announcement time.

 

[3DVagabond]

Good luck, prices have only gone up (multiple times) since launch.

The low hanging fruit was picked in 2013 as well from the clueless sellers.

Anyone telling you otherwise are just obvious shills.

BTW, pre-orders are NOT cards, they are informal futures contracts for physical delivery on the commodity that you want (unfortunately with no actual guarantee of delivery or delivery date).

Don't bother looking for AMD/ATi cards for gaming unless you hear news of a major sustained crash in scrypt coin prices.

Hash rate saturation isn't anywhere near the needed 5000+ difficulty for litecoin alone.

With Dogecoin picking up much of the additional hashrate, this rally in mining profitability which started in mid November seems to be self-sustaining as there is just not enough mining hardware in circulation and the production rate is not nearly enough to saturate profitability within the next few months at current exchange rates.

The markets survived the January 31st China ban with only minor price degradation priced in at announcement time.

Completely unsubstantiated accusation.

 

[KingFatty]

I still hold out hope that Nvidia's next video card will include the hardware instruction that AMD has, to level the mining playing field, and then Nvidia cards will enjoy their typical performance lead in gaming, and that will also translate into a lead in mining. That will really help out with getting pricing back to how it was, where AMD was typically lower priced. So I think it's a temporary imbalance, just by luck that AMD happened to have support for the hardware instruction that can do mining efficiently. NVidia is bound to add that instruction support, the market is too hungry to ignore it.

Also, I think Nvidia's ceo Jen-Hsun Huang is interested in being the best, having the best video card, as sort of an ego-driven success that shows in how he positions his products that just have to beat AMD. So that's bound to be affecting his thinking, where the market perceives Nvidia cards as inferior for mining. So just based on the power of Huang's ego, Nvidia cards are destined to dominate at mining too.

 

[Mgz]

I want a 290 but not at this price, guess I will stick with my 6870 a little bit longer... I don't play game that much anymore thou, so that's OK for now.

 

[shadow9d9]

What do you guys think about Gigabyte R9 290 GDDR5-4GB OC Windforce vs EVGA GeForce GTX780 SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler 3GB? They are essentially the same price. I am considering buying a card now for my new computer that doesn't have a graphic card yet. Do you think the 3gb vs the 4gb makes a difference? Will Maxwell have competition in this price range?

 

[Madpacket]

If you guys really want a 290 just buy one at the inflated price and mine for a few weeks to make up the difference from MSRP. It's simple to understand why the prices are inflated the way they are and they won't be dropping any time soon so either suck it up and buy one at the current price or go with team green.

 

[B-Riz]

The thing that bothers me the most is that the R9 290 WAS intended for the $400 price point, but no longer works in the current market, and nothing else really offers an upgrade from a 7950.

While the R9 290 has gone up in price, I did not buy the 7950 until 8 months after release, for $350, and thought it was a heck of a deal versus the $450 launch price.

If the R9 290 is not down to MSRP or cheaper in 8 months and AFTER nVidia launches their new hotness, I would think that the $399 was too low a price point for the level of performance that it offers.

And I buy cards for gaming, not mining, so please don't point out how I can mine and "make my money back".

 

[chihlidog]

A few points.

- There's no guarantee that mining would make the money back.

- I have no desire to beat on my new GPU for the first few months of its life by mining, nor do many other people.

 

[wand3r3r]

My buddy picked up a 290 from Microcenter, there were 8 - 290/x's (reference models) for ~$50 over retail at the time (Friday). They were gone quickly though (checked Monday) and couldn't be ordered online.

 

[Madpacket]

I think your options are quite clear then if you don't think mining will be profitable for you or you seriously think a few weeks of mining will degrade the card LoL. Go with team green!

There is no sense bitching about the prices of these cards, it's out of AMD's control and the e-tailers are simply being capitalist which is expected of them given the way the world works.

As others have stated, *if* the price BTC plummets for an extended period of time (doubtful) or ASIC scrypt miners magically start coming out en-masse you won't see the price of these cards lower any time soon.

The thing that bothers me the most is that the R9 290 WAS intended for the $400 price point, but no longer works in the current market, and nothing else really offers an upgrade from a 7950.

While the R9 290 has gone up in price, I did not buy the 7950 until 8 months after release, for $350, and thought it was a heck of a deal versus the $450 launch price.

If the R9 290 is not down to MSRP or cheaper in 8 months and AFTER nVidia launches their new hotness, I would think that the $399 was too low a price point for the level of performance that it offers.

And I buy cards for gaming, not mining, so please don't point out how I can mine and "make my money back".

A few points.

- There's no guarantee that mining would make the money back.

- I have no desire to beat on my new GPU for the first few months of its life by mining, nor do many other people.

 

[chihlidog]

As I've stated, I WILL be going with NVidia this time around, and will be avoiding e-tailers that have inflated the prices to such a degree.

 

[Madpacket]

Cool. The Rev.B 780's are a good value right now. Which e-tailers haven't inflated their prices of these cards?

 

[chihlidog]

Cool. The Rev.B 780's are a good value right now. Which e-tailers haven't inflated their prices of these cards?

Amazon has been good about it. Seems the ones they themselves sell directly have been very near MSRP. I'm also planing to purchase my GPU directly from EVGA.

 

[B-Riz]

I think your options are quite clear then if you don't think mining will be profitable for you or you seriously think a few weeks of mining will degrade the card LoL. Go with team green!

There is no sense bitching about the prices of these cards, it's out of AMD's control and the e-tailers are simply being capitalist which is expected of them given the way the world works.

As others have stated, *if* the price BTC plummets for an extended period of time (doubtful) or ASIC scrypt miners magically start coming out en-masse you won't see the price of these cards lower any time soon.

Overall, mining should not be a consideration when buying a card for playing games.

I am not buying the best card to be used for mining.

I was looking forward to a nicely priced UPGRADE for the 7950.

I am not "bitching about the price", I am pointing out that it was the perfect upgrade at $399, when I paid $349 for the 7950.

The card makes no sense now for me and I will not purchase one at current prices.

IF the price goes down in a few months, I will grab one.

 

[nwo]

A few points.

- There's no guarantee that mining would make the money back.

- I have no desire to beat on my new GPU for the first few months of its life by mining, nor do many other people.

1) No guarantee long term, but it is fairly certain that if you mine for a couple of weeks to a month, you could easily make up for the MSRP difference if you sell right away.

2) That's what warranty is for

 

[Madpacket]

B-Riz

"Overall, mining should not be a consideration when buying a card for playing games."

While I mostly agree with this statement, it's a nice option for many of us to be able to pay off these cards with alt-mining while you're *not* playing games. This shouldn't be ignored.

I think the perfect upgrade for you would be to sell your 7950 which would net you a lofty sum at the moment and then take the proceeds to be put towards a non mining card such as a Geforce 780. It would probably only cost you a hundred bucks or so.

Good luck.

 

[AnandThenMan]

...just by luck that AMD happened to have support for the hardware instruction that can do mining efficiently.

Luck had nothing to do with it.