Earlier this month US prices emerged for Nvidia’s GTX 480 and GTX 470, also known as their Fermi GPUs.
At $349 (R2580) and $499 (R3690) for the entry level and high end product, the cards certainly are not cheap by US standards. However, Europeans, and therefore us, can expect to pay significantly more. The GTX 480 is available in Europe for between €449 (R4480) and €499 (R4970).
And if you thought Europeans had it tough, then early local pricing may shock you. Bear in mind that local distributors typically import from Europe, and therefore European prices should provide the basis for our own pricing. Obviously we have to account for import duties, and local operating costs.
Early local pricing
Prophecy.co.za – Asus GTX 480 R7719
Landmarkpc.co.za – Asus GTX 480 R6712
The GTX 480 has widely been accepted as the fastest single GPU graphics card in the world now, but at these prices we really do have to question the value proposition on offer. For R6500, you can quite easily find a HD 5970, which is a dual GPU card which beats the GTX 480 easily.
AMD’s HD 5870 offers excellent performance and is currently hovering very close to the R4000 mark, making it an excellent option for high-end gamers, and in the case of Prophecy, it is almost half the price of the GTX 480 which is essentially its direct competitor. Indeed, not many would argue that the mild performance advantage of the GTX 480 warrants such a significant price increase.
Fortunately, these are early prices and we expect that as availability becomes more widespread, prices will drop. However, prices would have to come down a fair amount for the GTX 480 to compete with the HD 5870 in terms of value for money.
Insiders at local e-tailers told us that they are expecting stock to arrive in SA early next week, although they confirmed that they had no immediate plans to reduce the prices published on their sales portal.
Update
A Prophecy representative contacted MyGaming to add a few comments from their side. Firstly, based on previous trends, they expect the prices of the GTX 480 to come down as soon as more stock becomes available. The introduction of other brands (currently only ASUS has stock) will also help bring down prices.
So keep an eye on Prophecy, they promise to bring the price down as much as they can.
Discuss local GTX 480 pricing in the forums
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