14 DAY TRIAL // Even though it has been weeks since NVIDIA officially introduced its GeForce GTX 400 series of graphics adapters with DirectX 11 support, the low availability and graphics card price inflation saga continues. In this latest episode, low availability once again rears its ugly head, causing such effects as scarceness and, most notably, prices that may cause fatalities among those suffering from mild to severe heart conditions.
When the cards were announced, NVIDIA promised that they would have a price of around 470 Euro for the GeForce GTX 480 and 330 Euro for the GTX 470. Online retailers, however, don't seem to mind adding a little tax of their own or even blowing the prices out of proportion. As Fudzilla reports, listed models have price tags ranging all the way up to almost double the MSRP.
Apparently, cards are so scarce that retailers don't mind adding margins rivaling the original price itself. The situation of the GTX 470 is the less dire one. While it should cost around 330-350 Euro, it is listed with a tag of 380 Euro and, in some cases, for over 400 Euro. One could argue that this is more of a price increase than low inventories can justify.
Unreasonable as they may seem, however, the prices get even more interesting when it comes to the GTX 480. In fact, most retailers are asking for about 550 Euro for any model, which is obviously much more (to say the least) than what the product is supposed to cost. Not only that, but the report also says that Amazon is the champion of margin-adding, having listed the Palit cards for 705 Euro. Observers will realize that 705 is almost twice as much as the base price that NVIDIA set.
Consumers that have any patience left may want to wait for a week or so until availability improves and prices finally reach sane parameters.