In your experience, when will prices come down?

I

IcarusSC

Gawd
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Apr 19, 2006
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I'm looking at putting together a new rig at the end of Jan, and I've waited on the video card. I'm seeing prices (with deals and everything) still above MSRP for the 58xx series, which is what I'd like to get.

Since this is my first build, I don't have much experience on the economic side of things. For you more experienced folks, when do you think I can expect to see prices drop? Within a month of Christmas?
 
Until NVIDIA comes out with their cards in 2010, ATI 58xx pricing will be set by supply and demand. Demand will drop after Christmas for sure, but nobody knows how or when supply will improve. Wait as long as you can, then bite the bullet and buy the card you can afford. Otherwise don't worry about it for now. :)
 
TSMC needs to sort out their 40 nm process, which seems to be slowly happening, and nVidia needs to launch its cards (around May/April) before ATI can and will have to lower the prices on its current-gen cards.
 
With the way the economy is going, January, February and March are going to be slooooowwwww months for retailers. By mid-Feb I expect to see some good deals just to keep inventory moving. I hope I'm wrong (because it helps no-one) but I see retailers scrambling for the few sale out there in the first quarter and into the second quarter.
 
In other words; buy now and be happy, or wait at least 6 months until Nvidia's new cards are properly out on shop floors.
 
spine said:
In other words; buy now and be happy, or wait at least 6 months until Nvidia's new cards are properly out on shop floors.
Click to expand...

Well, ATI's 5850+ cards are running higher than initial retail by about 50 bucks, so I would wait a month of two if you can. Right now the demand is a lot higher than supply (see how many times they are out of stock) so the prices were adjusted up. A month or so from now the supply is going to be much higher than the demand. Christmas is often a time when people buy things even if the cost is more than they want to pay so retailers can get away with tacking a little more onto those cards.

Not only are things going to be tighter in Jan/Feb/March, some people are going to start realizing they aren't going to get as much of a tax return so that segment (which is me... I always bought something computer related with part of my tax return) is going to be diminished.
 
Regardless of the economy and demand, I wouldn't expect to see 5850/5870 prices come down much below $300/$400 until Nvidia gives them a reason to drop prices, whether that comes in the form of their next gen cards or price cuts. You already get better performance for less money with 58XX cards than what Nvidia currently has to offer, it wouldn't make sense to make the 58XX cards even cheaper right now.
 
If the cycle repeats from 2009, June to August should produce the best pricing for computer components. From the latest technical reports I've been perusing through over the weekend....we're right on cue for a late winter/spring downturn in the economy...so I'd imagine I agree with Direfox's view in post #4.

I've just purchased components for a rig in the last week, I made sure to not purchase anything that wasn't on sale with free shipping + Bing Cashback. Saved me $112 on a $900 purchase. Make sure you shop around. I purchased from Mwave, TD, eWiz...and the Egg, but only with the 10% cashback offer from PP, other than this, their pricing wasn't competitive on a single component I was looking to purchase.

I'll add...the retailers like to offer reduced pricing after Christmas to get the customers in the door....but the real bargains come in February...and again two weeks after Father's Day.

Best,

Liquid Cool
 
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Prices for video cards below $170 are actually really great, like a golden age of budget video cards. Even the GTS 250 is competitively priced, and the 4890 at $135-$145 is an incredible deal. It's the step between $170 and $310 that's a doozy.
 
Thanks for the advice. That's kind of what I was afraid of ... I travel a lot, so I basically need to put the rig together the last week of January. It's my only window until late summer, and I'd rather not wait that long.

But hey -- that's life. Here's hoping somebody holds a grand sale in the middle of January.
 
I'd say go for a 4890 now if you absolutely need to have it and then buy a new video card when ATI puts one out to compete with Nvidia's Fermi. They'll probably have new video card around March/April time.
 
Ya I just ordered all my parts for my new build, but I'm waiting until mid Jan. to buy a 5970. I sure hope they'll be plenty available, and price goes down some.
 
I just want the 5850's to go back to $260 but I wouldn't be surprised if they stayed at $300 for another 2-3 months.
 
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