ATI cuts prices on the 3850 and 3870
Price warfare
ATI IS GOING TO drop prices on the 3850 and 3870 in the next day or two. This is not a short term thing, it is a permanent cut.
The price on the 3850/512 is going to sink to $145 or below, and the 3870/512 should hit $159 or less. At that money, many may ask, why bother with the 3850?
In any case, these are screamingly good deals. You can buy three 3870s for the price of a 3870X2, or three and a mobo for less than a GX2. Not bad. µ
Comments
Not bad?
It's hella good! I think ATI might want to cut into Nvidia's margins before they get ready to launch a new high end card--R700?Saw this one coming.
At a large retailer in Alberta, CA which sells most of it's product at 2 to 3 points above cost; they have been pushing NVIDIA cards for a while now. Recently I picked up a 3870 from them which I had to order as they only bring in one brand, 'Sapphire', and only 5 of them per week. Compared to hundreds of NV cards.Their pitch is always the same. NV's cards are flawless, their drivers are flawless, they run cooler, take less power, and they're quieter. ATI cards are flawed, their drivers are horribly flawed, nobody wants them. With all this negativity they're pitching it's no wonder that uninformed users are buying NV cards like mad.
It's sad because savvy people know that they've both had Hoovers and both had driver flaws (NV took months to make PureVideo play HD play after launch). I remember a time back when the Geforce 4 and 5 series were around the pitch was to buy the R300 based chips (9700, 9800).
Sweet!!
I picked up a HIS IceQ 3870 the other day for a little over $200 i thought that was a good price!! Crossfire here i come :DNot enough
A day or two ago I saw the GF9600GT for $145 after rebate and it easily performs better than a HD3870.The 3870 should be $140
The 3850 512 should be $125
It's good
Yep, it's good AMD/ATI is competing on price. They've finally realized that they can't compete on performance for this generation, unless they position themselves in a lower price bracket. I like Nividia, and I like ATI both. Currently I have Nvidia cards, previously I owned ATI (and switching back and forth the further you go back all the way to the original Voodoo by 3dfx) so I can't wait until ATI (hopefully) takes back the speed crown to help keep competition alive.Don't be an ATI fanboi. Admit that currently Nvidia is faster. Don't fall for the fanboi illusion that Nvidia will maintain that position forever. That's highly unlikely, and would be bad for the market in any case. We need competition between these two to keep prices from skyrocketing.
AMD/ATI? Nvidia? Doesn't matter to me because I'm no fanboi.
Rip off Britain
I bet the UK price is still far more than £72 and £79 for the 3850/3870 respectively, which is roughly the currency conversion from $US. Be more like £80 and £100 if we're lucky to even benefit from the cut.Cool... down... pls...
Glenn, why flaming on the article?"NV's cards are flawless, their drivers are flawless, they run cooler, take less power, and they're quieter."
This part of your comment is enough for any NV- experienced techie to roll down the floor laughing.
Any recalls on the recent NV's 9600GT lineup recall cause of the design flawed voltage?!?
Ever seen this on ATI's side?
Ever seen temperatures of a NVidian card with a referent cooling or hearing its noise db?
Ever seen BSOD's on NVidia's WHQL Vista drivers?
Do you know why NV will never Opensauce its commercial drivers? Rumor has it - it's because they're ashamed to! Why? They have so much junk in there that only because of the TWIMTP program and CUDA's SDK they still own the performance "crown" despite having a clear advantage in "raw power" in their top models...
About the AMD's 38x0 price cut - as usual, it's been a long awaited and expected...
Britain
You can't just go around saying britiain is a rip off although it is, You do know about VAT right?It tacks on another 17.5% of what you payed for.
U can get
3850 for about 68 pounds, saw one today in PCWorld. Just need to look for some good price. Not all sellers rip people wallets.Stormy, put on your reading glasses
That's some reading comprehension problem you got there Stormy. Read Glenn's post again. He's referring to the pitch given out by the store sales people:"Their pitch is always the same. NV's cards are..."
Where's the mobility?
So where is the 3870 Mobility? What about competing on the mobile space?In any case, these are screamingly good deals.
This Charlie has succumbed from being a good news writer to becoming an ATI salesman! Go ATI!@ Stormy
Read all Glenn's comment properly Stormy. You just agreed with him."It's sad because savvy people know that they've both ...","..both had driver flaws"
What about the agp-version?
Do anyone know if the agp version of 3850 will receive a pricedrop?Performance
This part of your comment is enough for any NV- experienced techie to roll down the floor laughing.Any recalls on the recent NV's 9600GT lineup recall cause of the design flawed voltage?!?
Ever seen this on ATI's side?
Ever seen temperatures of a NVidian card with a referent cooling or hearing its noise db?
Ever seen BSOD's on NVidia's WHQL Vista drivers?
Do you know why NV will never Opensauce its commercial drivers? Rumor has it - it's because they're ashamed to! Why? They have so much junk in there that only because of the TWIMTP program and CUDA's SDK they still own the performance "crown" despite having a clear advantage in "raw power" in their top models...
How about try using AA & AF on the any of the new ati cards without taking such a big performance hit and can't even compete with the 9600GT in the same prive vs. performance range. At least they provide more than 1 driver per month and with ATI you have to wait a month for the next driver because something they broke with the previous driver and if they can even fix it with the next driver release. Even heard of the 9700 recall. ATI drivers require .net while nvidia does not.
3870 is still great
The 9600GT does not "easily outperform" the 3870. They are actually very similar in performance. Some games the 9600GT wins, others the 3870. On average, they are very close. The 9600GT does seem to scale better in SLI from what I've seen, I will admit. But it's not a universally better card. I would take a 3870 over a 9600GT if I wasn't going dual-card, personally.Yep..
Seems to depend where you look - similar websites cite 3870 as being overall slightly faster than the 9600. The clincher for me is that the 3870 supports a more advanced shader model and direct-X version (4.1 / 10.1)..And ATI is Oblivion-friendly :)