If you didn’t already have enough reasons to buy a Radeon 4870 in one of its many forms, well, here’s another one. AMD’s been trying to push sales of its graphics cards, hoping to lower inventory and get a little dough, maybe to offset the enormous loss they posted this last quarter. Their strategy was to lower the 512MB 4850 to ~$120, and its big brother the giant-killer 4870 to an incredible $150. But their partners said “no thanks,” comparing the 4870’s performance to much higher-priced NVIDIA cards. So wait, it’s too good?
AMD was planning on offsetting (but not eliminating) the loss of revenue caused by lowering prices with mail-in rebates. But the companies that make the cards you and I have in our boxes decided it wasn’t enough of a draw, they’d rather keep it at its previous pricing and hope nobody notices. What does this mean to you? Well, nothing yet. As you can see, no one has taken the bait yet, but it’s only a matter of time before you start getting even better deals for the much-loved 4870. It’s already a good deal, and you better believe that at $150 it’s a steal. Don’t believe me? Ask the guys trying to make money off them.