In another quick shift in the hyper-competitive performance video card market, AMD sends word this afternoon that they are enacting some price cuts that will be taking effect later this week. This latest round of price cuts comes hot on the heels of last week’s launch of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which saw NVIDIA introduce their first 28nm performance video card at $299.

The bulk of the cuts here will be for the 7800 series, where the 7870 in particular is finding itself somewhat displaced after the launch of the GTX 660 Ti. The $299 660 Ti isn’t necessarily in direct competition with the already-cheaper 7870 – which had a street price of around $279 last week – and since AMD had already quietly shuffled prices around ahead of the GTX 660 Ti launch, we weren’t expecting any further changes here. But it would appear that the gap between the 7870 and GTX 660 Ti is closer than AMD would like.

As a result the 7870 will be getting a slight price cut to push prices towards $249. This would make the card a full $50 cheaper than the GTX 660 Ti, which is apparently the kind of leverage AMD wants right now.

Meanwhile because the 7870 is getting a price cut, so is the 7850. AMD is expecting the street prices on the 2GB 7850 to fall to around $209 after the price cuts take effect, putting it $40 below the newly repriced 7870. The 2GB 7850 has been averaging $239 in the past week, so this would represent a price cut of around $30. Meanwhile the extremely rare 1GB version of the card would end up below $200, though given how few of those cards exist it’s hard to say if it will hit AMD’s $189 price target.

Alongside those price cuts the 7800 series will be receiving a new game bundle promotion in a few weeks. The AMD Gaming Evolved title Sleeping Dogs will be AMD’s latest bundle, replacing the outgoing DiRT Showdown bundle. This will sit opposite NVIDIA's existing Borderlands 2 promotion, which went live last week. As with past bundles this is being done at a retailer level, so it’s primarily geared towards online retailers (e.g. Newegg) that can quickly bundle vouchers with new cards.

Second Summer 2012 Radeon HD 7000 Series Price Cuts
Card Launch Price Spring MSRP Summer MSRP Second Summer MSRP
Radeon HD 7970GE $499 N/A N/A $499
Radeon HD 7970 $549 $479 $429 $429
Radeon HD 7950 $449 $399 $349 $319
Radeon HD 7870 $349 $349 $299 $249
Radeon HD 7850 $249 $249 $239 $209
Radeon HD 7770 $159 $139 ~$119 ~$119
Radeon HD 7750 $109 $109 ~$99 ~$99

Meanwhile, along with the 7800 series the 7950 is also technically getting a price cut. We say “technically” because AMD seems to be rubber stamping price cuts that have already happened. The 7950 has been readily available below its $349 MSRP for quite some time now, and AMD’s new MSRP of $319 reflects the price of cards that are already available.

Finally, it should be noted that despite AMD’s official announcement we wouldn’t be all that surprised if only a few cards ended up reaching these new MSRPs. AMD lists their MSRPs as “starting at”, which means that AMD is listing the price of the cheapest card. This is largely how the previous round of price cuts played out, so pickings right at these new MSRPs may be slim.

Post-Cut Summer 2012 GPU Pricing Comparison
AMD Price NVIDIA
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition $469/$499 GeForce GTX 680
Radeon HD 7970 $429/$399 GeForce GTX 670
Radeon HD 7950 $319/$299 GeForce GTX 660 Ti
  $279 GeForce GTX 570
Radeon HD 7870 $249  
Radeon HD 7850 $209  

 

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  • Blazorthon - Tuesday, August 21, 2012 - link

    Why even have the 570 in a chart such as the on on the last page where the cheaper 7870 is far superior?
  • Galcobar - Tuesday, August 21, 2012 - link

    It's a chart displaying what cards are currently available, at what prices. Note the label: price comparison, not performance comparison.

    That said, I didn't find a single 7870 at $250 on Newegg, even when rebates are included. Lowest I could see was a $270 XFX, albeit with a two-game coupon. Did see a 570 at $240 after rebate, however.
  • CeriseCogburn - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link

    LOL - another amd fanboy dreamer without the facts
  • DinoDinoDino - Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - link

    the 7850 is now hovering at the $190 mark on Newegg :D
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Sub...
    and i was JUST about to buy the 6950 PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT nothanks ^O^
  • CeriseCogburn - Saturday, August 25, 2012 - link

    MSI twin Frozer GTX570 is $209.99 AR and it kicks the ever loving crap out of 7850 right... ? LOL
    So, like what's the deal about 8 months late when AMD can't beat nVidia prior generation correctly that like was launched like over a YEAR BEFORE the amd 78xx crap series ?
    I mean, amd, like what's up with that ?

  • jfelano - Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - link

    I already see 2GB 7850's at $189 AR
  • CeriseCogburn - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link

    Are you going to write nVidia a thank you note and tell them how much you appreciate them helping you destroy amd's bottom line even further ?

    Oh sorry, for a second I thought you might care about amd and not just yourself or your fanboyism. With fanboys like those who needs competition?
  • CeriseCogburn - Saturday, August 25, 2012 - link

    Just get a real card and be happy
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...

    Hey, amd loses again. It's that $200 market nVidia is "ignoring" according to the amd fanboys.
    LOL
  • Targon - Sunday, August 26, 2012 - link

    The 570GTX came out back at the end of 2010 and cost around $350 at the time. That said, you can ALWAYS find older generation stuff for less than newer generation. Performance is a mixed bag when you have newer generation products out. DirectX 10 parts when DirectX 11 is the current version, and when DX 11.1 comes out, there will be an automatic depreciation of DX 11.0 and earlier parts, so the price drops, even if the performance is high.
  • CeriseCogburn - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link

    GTX570 is DX11

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