It doesn't matter. They have a faster product than anything else on the market, and they are pricing it cheaper than NVIDIA's offerings, so how is it disappointing? If you don't have a 6000-series card, your upgrade path just got a lot cheaper, and if you do, there is now a faster option. The reason they could not charge more for the 4870 or 6970 was because they were not the fastest cards out. The GTX280 was faster than a 4870, the GTX580 was launched right after the 6970. And this is on a low-yield new process, with a new architecture, so I imagine they are pricing it this way to help with costs.The 580 launched last year with MSRP $500.
Considering it's been a year, and the relative performance gain on the 7970... Yeah, it's over-priced. It should be around $499 or less, I would hope.
That's why I'm disappointed.
3870 to 4870, 7 months, 50% increase, MSRP $299.
4870 to 5870, 1 year, 100% increase, MSRP $379.
5870 to 6970, 1 year, 15% increase, MSRP $370.
6970 to 7970, 1 year, 20% increase, MSRP $549.
Prices, dates via Anandtech/TPU.
As soon as Kepler drops the prices will fall, possibly even faster if NVIDIA counters with aggressive pricing on the GTX 500-series cards.