Nvidia has chopped down the price of its mega-high-end, monster graphics card by over 10% – with international retailers reducing the price on the 1.5GB version of the card from around €379(R3760), to €339 (R3360).
Palit cards were spotted leading the way first, but other partners – such as Zotac, EVGA and others – are also beginning to reduce pricing on the cards. The 3GB models have been slashed from €459 (R4,555) to €399 (R3970).
The price cut puts the GTX 580 up against AMD’s new HD 7950 cards in terms of pricing.
The price cut is thought to be in anticipation of Nvidia’s GTX 600 series, which is being launched in 2 weeks’ time.
We caught up with local hardware retailers, Evetech and Landmark Computers about the effect on local pricing.
Landmark’s Andrew van der Nest expects the price cut to affect SA in late march only; and one local stockist has cleared off the shelves, as the new prices will only be relevant to new stock.
“Also there is a shortage of most GTX570 and GTX580 cards at the moment so I don’t think this is going to affect the SA market much at all,” said van der Nest.
Evetech’s Kamran Sorathia, however, was adamant that the price cut has already affected the retail pricing. When asked if we can expect to see prices come down, Sorathia said “My GTX 580 Phantom goes to R4999 from R5499.”
Sorathia also said that “New cards (GTX 600 series) are coming in 2 weeks’ time.”
Evetech’s pricing on the GTX 580 3GB edition – for R4999 – puts it closer to what people are paying for the card in Europe, following the price cut – €399 (R3970).
