The Rising Cost of Graphics

Vikingod · Dec 1, 2005, 07:57 PM

A few weeks back NVIDIA released their GeForce 7800 GTX 512 MB card to great acclaim as well as stupendous sticker-shock. This monster had a massive cooler, redesigned PCB, ultra-fast 1.1 ns GDDR-3 memory, and a core clocked much higher than anyone was truly expecting. This all came at a hefty price of course. NVIDIA set the MSRP at $649, but during the first week we saw the lowest prices for these cards hit $699, and now that it is several weeks past the introduction prices have actually increased on these cards to $749 at most online shops. For the past several years we have seen a steady increase in the price of the performance crown cards, and it doesn’t look to hit a ceiling anytime soon.

High end hardware has always been expensive, and when we look at the beginnings of 3D we see the standard 2D graphics card priced below $200, while the Voodoo Graphics was introduced at $399. While that $399 price didn’t last long due to a massive drop in memory prices that allowed it to be sold for $299, we didn’t see a significant increase in high end card prices for the next few years. $299 was seemingly a magic number that many stuck to, and a large group of enthusiasts were ecstatic about owning the latest and greatest for $299. Unless of course that user was willing to buy two Voodoo 2 12 MB cards and use them in SLI for $598.
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Read More / Source: PenStarSys.com

Dec 1, 2005, 07:57 PM	#1
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,187 Rep Power: 109 System Specs	The Rising Cost of Graphics A few weeks back NVIDIA released their GeForce 7800 GTX 512 MB card to great acclaim as well as stupendous sticker-shock. This monster had a massive cooler, redesigned PCB, ultra-fast 1.1 ns GDDR-3 memory, and a core clocked much higher than anyone was truly expecting. This all came at a hefty price of course. NVIDIA set the MSRP at $649, but during the first week we saw the lowest prices for these cards hit $699, and now that it is several weeks past the introduction prices have actually increased on these cards to $749 at most online shops. For the past several years we have seen a steady increase in the price of the performance crown cards, and it doesn’t look to hit a ceiling anytime soon. High end hardware has always been expensive, and when we look at the beginnings of 3D we see the standard 2D graphics card priced below $200, while the Voodoo Graphics was introduced at $399. While that $399 price didn’t last long due to a massive drop in memory prices that allowed it to be sold for $299, we didn’t see a significant increase in high end card prices for the next few years. $299 was seemingly a magic number that many stuck to, and a large group of enthusiasts were ecstatic about owning the latest and greatest for $299. Unless of course that user was willing to buy two Voodoo 2 12 MB cards and use them in SLI for $598. __________ Read More / Source: PenStarSys.com __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*