[TPU] Radeon R9 290X Sees Price Cuts

[wand3r3r]

It appears the 290x is getting an official price cut.
$550 -> $450

AMD is apparently working with its add-in board manufacturers and retailers to bring down prices of its flagship single-GPU graphics card, the Radeon R9 290X. The card can now be had for as low as $449, non-reference design, factory-overclocked cards starting at a $50 premium. Prices could settle down somewhere between $450 and $500.

http://www.techpowerup.com/205218/radeon-r9-290x-sees-price-cuts.html

Presumably a little competition for the upcoming cards. :thumbsup:

I wonder where the 290 will settle? There are good deals on them, I guess it will become official. Maybe they will see what the 970/80 do.

 

[jpiniero]

I should point out that this article isn't "confirming" that the price has been officially dropped, just that there's a card on Newegg for $449 now. It also includes a $50 gift card, so that's nice.

 

[ShintaiDK]

It shouldnt be a surprise tho due to 970 and 980 coming.

 

[MathMan]

The start of many... Their whole product stack will soon have to move down. Positive for almost everybody!

 

[Lyfer]

kraken with a cheap h55 Aio and this thing will run like a champ!

 

[DooKey]

This might be good for the consumer in the short run, but in the long run this further hurts AMD and that's not good for consumers.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Well, considering a 290X is only up to 10% more gpu than a 290 the 30% markup was already pretty steep.

 

[f1sherman]

Nice for a change to see AMD acting, instead of re-acting.

Dropping prices BEFORE NV launch, instead afterwards and when reviews are already out.

 

[f1sherman]

Well, considering a 290X is only up to 10% more gpu than a 290 the 30% markup was already pretty steep.

Don;t forget that they are much better chips than 290.

Higher clocked 290x running cooler and with less power than comparable 290 is not uncommon

 

[Termie]

wande3r3r - I think this might be pre-mature on TPU's part. I'm fairly sure that the particular model they list at Newegg has been that price for a while. I see no evidence yet of an across-the-board price cut.

That being said, I do predict a $100 price cut when the 970/980 arrives. AMD has had room to move on 290x prices for a long time, given the premium they've commanded over the similar 290.

 

[KingFatty]

This might be good for the consumer in the short run, but in the long run this further hurts AMD and that's not good for consumers.

Looking at it from a different perspective, it's possible that AMD could make more money by lowering the price, because they spark more demand, which moves more volume. Like how Walmart can make more money off selling $9.99 CDs compared to the (now extinct) record stores that would sell a CD for $16.99. Lowering the price to $10 was a good thing, not bad. Similarly, it could be good for AMD to move more chips with the price drop, to move more volume.

 

[AtenRa]

Looking at it from a different perspective, it's possible that AMD could make more money by lowering the price, because they spark more demand, which moves more volume. Like how Walmart can make more money off selling $9.99 CDs compared to the (now extinct) record stores that would sell a CD for $16.99. Lowering the price to $10 was a good thing, not bad. Similarly, it could be good for AMD to move more chips with the price drop, to move more volume.

Not only that, R9 290X has been selling for $500-550 for 11 months now. They have made the initial investment cost and now they can sell at lower prices and still make a profit. Not to mention that Wafer prices at TSMC are lower now than 11-12 months ago and yields should be up.

 

[Attic]

I hope to see the 290 going for $349 and down to low 320's soon.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The question also begs, when we will be seeing larger GCN 1.2 cards to replace the 290/290X.

 

[Vesku]

The question also begs, when we will be seeing larger GCN 1.2 cards to replace the 290/290X.

AMD and Nvidia do try to have new or refreshed product before November-December if at all possible. So if AMD has an even larger than 290X die 28nm product in the pipe they will try to have it out by end of October, imo. If what AMD has in the pipeline is 20nm, however, I think we will see it arrive in Q1'15 in a similar fashion to initial 28nm GPUs. However it seems the rumors that AMD and Nvidia are riding 28nm out until FinFet (TSMC 16nm Samsung/GF 14nm) may be correct.

 

[guskline]

Got my two "used" but almost brand new Sapphire Tri-X R9 290s for @$290 each. Watercooling with EK blocks.

Here's a screenshot of my 3D Mark13 Firestrike run:

 

[james1701]

Still need something more to get me off my 7970's. I can't wait till next spring.

 

[guskline]

James 1701 NICE SCORE!

 

[james1701]

Thanks

 

[RussianSensation]

This might be good for the consumer in the short run, but in the long run this further hurts AMD and that's not good for consumers.

As has been mentioned R9 290 is nearly 1 year old which implies it's cheaper to manufacture and based on technology price/performance curve, we should expect tech to get cheaper over time. Even 770/780/780Ti have seen price drops. 290 and 290X is more or less the same card so in reality maybe a $50-75 price should separate them at most given how close they perform. Since R9 290 came out at $399 and 290X at $549, in nearly 1 year AMD can easily drop prices $80-100 on each SKU and make similar margins. It's because NV keeps prices so ridiculously high and for so long that we start to be conditioned it is somehow the norm.

Think about the fact that it costs $200-225 to manufacture the iPhone or Samsung S5. Even if you add all the R&D, marketing/sales costs, assembly cost, channel distribution costs, retail profits, the margins on some of these products are very high. I mean NV is in the 55-60% range which means they have a lot of room to cut prices (and so does AMD). Since gamers keep paying high prices for NV cards, NV doesn't have to be as aggressive as AMD in offering price/performance.

I already linked low prices for 290/290X for months really, so to me a $440-450 290X or $350 290 is nothing special. People just don't pay attention. I foresee even larger cuts once AMD and NV start competing with 390X vs. 980. When both have released their next gen parts we usually see large improvements in price/performance.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Excellent, the discounting begins. When I can grab a brand new 290 for around $200.- I'll be a buyer.

 

[psolord]

Indeed the new cards are fancy and all, but some cheap 290s maybe with a new never settle bundle later or, would be great.

Academically speaking of course. Personally I don't believe two 290s would give me much more performance than my 7950sGhz. Don't quite need it for 1080p anyway.

 

[tollingalong]

Indeed the new cards are fancy and all, but some cheap 290s maybe with a new never settle bundle later or, would be great.

Academically speaking of course. Personally I don't believe two 290s would give me much more performance than my 7950sGhz. Don't quite need it for 1080p anyway.

Depends on the game though. Mostly I've been using my iGPU for the most part. As soon Witcher 3 comes out I might have to turn on my dGPU.

 

[Phynaz]

Maybe we'll luck out with a price war. I wonder at what point Nvidia says uncle and joins in?