and theres a rumor going around that the 5870 will cost 100$ less than a 295, which is 399$ then? thats pretty high... either yields are bad or ati wants to cash in as long as nvidia cant compete... i have to say, i really dont like what im hearing about prices now... it really spoils the anticipation of the new 800 series :/
sorry, but we're still living in a capitalistic society, the reason the current 4xxx series is so affordable is not because AMD/ATI is being nice/friendly; it's because they want to grab market share by offering better price/performance ratio; if their 5870 performs on par with a more expensive NVIDIA product and they price it lower they continue the trend. If their products performs better and is priced the same, they also continue the trend. I see no fault in this logic; a fault in the logic would be for them to give away their products at lower prices "just because".