Quote Originally Posted by zerazax View Post
First of all, buyers of $400+ GPUs aren't the majority of Christmas shoppers... second, most of them buy regardless of the season (when people aren't buying anything in January for example, high end GPUs can still come out and be sold out) since they are enthusiasts, and third... why would AMD sell a high-end GPU on Black Friday? They're not going to sell it at a discount anyways, so why bother dealing with all the expectations of a discount?

Everyone knows high end GPUs are a niche in itself, and aren't going to be bought by your typical Christmas shopper - Barts on the other hand, will do so. I think you're reaching wayyyy too far with the Christmas analogy

And the 5970 is already out of stock for the $700 models (sans XFX) on Newegg, and will probably be pulled

More importantly though is that the 5870's can be bought in the mid $200's w/ rebate now...now that's clearing stock
I think your ignoring a lot of evidence. the 300-500 dollar price card range is larger than you think. The amount of 58xx series card out there, which have spent most of their life between 280 and 4xx price range, are pretty much the same amount according to steam hardware survey as the 57xx series. Both carry around a 33% market share of the direct x 11 market. The Antilles price range is definitely niche though and I think that word is overused.

Additionally black friday is not just about buying stuff on sale, its about people buying stuff for themselves and for Christmas, even when it is not necessarily on sale. People will pay stupid markup on christmas unlike any other season. Most companies gives those blockbuster deals just to get people in the store to shop as much of these discounted items are priced at or below cost. Also for november, look at pretty much every major videogame console hardware release, PS3, PS2, xbox, xbox 360, gamecube, wii, all mid to late november release. I would definitely say videocards relate to gaming.

You would be surprised at how many people will gift their special someone with hardware or with a computer, electronics etc. People will buy themselves more stuff during christmas because they feel more liberal to spending. Most things besides maybe houses, have epic sales during the november- december months.

There are still lots of 5970s out there and not at 500 dollars, go to pricegrabber. Companies like tigerdirect and mwave still have 5970s for 700 dollars.