The Fermi Thread - Part 3

[***Deimos***]

Assuming by April 12th, nVidia comes through with 10K+ availability, GTX480 is HUGE WIN for nVidia.
In some benchmarks its 30, 40 even 60% faster than 5870. I never expected 700Mhz, let alone stock HS OC to 820Mhz... WOW.
And do a double take on those DX11 and tesselation benchmarks. Certainly nobody would prefer a GTX295.
Unlike R600, FX or whatever you want to compare it to, IT IS the PERFORMANCE KING, the best GPU in history.

For the launch MSRP, nobody would deny its a WIN if it was <200W. Nobody.

But, thats the problem. Even the lowly GTX470 is a bit faster than 5870 half the time and between it and the 5850 the other half. But, its almost 100W more than 5850 and nearly 5970 numbers. Water cooling may lower temps, but its still the same ~300W going into your house.

Although 5870 is $420, and GTX470 is $350, it is VERY VERY EASY for AMD to lower price $50. On the other hand, much more difficult for nVidia to lower power by 50W (25%). Imagine 5850@$250 and 5870@$320 and 5970@450... now nobody would buy the GTXs.
+$50 or +$50Watts, which would you choose?

Winners and losers:
Fastest GPU - GTX480
Fastest card - 5970
Best performance for 200W - 5870
Best performance for 300W - 5970
Best performance for $350 - GTX470*
*until inevidable price cuts.

My point is that nVidia's only advantage is PRICE. And their costs are much higher. So AMD can easily win here.