Regarding Nvidia's strategy...

Targeting the high end was fine especially since ATI was doing the same. In fact, the mid-range mainstream cards were largely neglected throughout the course of history, for those of us who remember that far back.

In fact, it was usually the exception, not the norm, to have a great mid-range card. In particular, the 6600's and the X1950Pro stood out to me as great bang/buck cards - but they were part of a whole flood of bad cards. Remember how craptacular the 8400/8600's were as well as the 2400s/2600s just 2 1/2 years ago?

Of course, we've been spoiled lately but Nvidia's strategy has definitely started to hurt regarding the $150-$300 range. The GT200 release was helped by having a G92 lineup underneath it, but the RV770s easily slotted in to the 200-300 range, especially since the GT200's priced themselves too high while the G92 performance couldn't match RV770 as easily.

I will say though that I like ATI's new approach to releasing a whole slew of cards at once - meaning we can get a 58xx, 56xx, and 54xx all within a short period of time, rather than the old approach they (and Nvidia still) has of releasing the flagships, then waiting 6months to a year+ for the mid range to show up