14 DAY TRIAL // Advanced Micro Devices may not be particularly inclined towards lowering the prices of its products, but it may not have a choice once its Arch-rival finally releases the GTX 455 and 450 adapters in August. Verily, just after the Santa Clara, California-based hardware maker unleashed the GTX 460, the price point of the ATI Radeon HD 5830 dropped. It can be said that the price war between the two has started, and while other price cuts have not happened yet, they may occur once NVIDIA makes its next move.
During the second quarter, AMD was proud to announce a very favorable situation, even though it still scored a small loss. Revenues grew by 8% sequentially and, most importantly, by 87% compared to the same period of last year. Unfortunately, since it will really have to face competition during the third quarter, the CPU and GPU maker will likely not make as big a profit as it hopes. At least, this is what Digitimes reports.
Apparently, graphics cards players are weary of the upcoming mainstream NVIDIA cards and of the entry-level models that are expected to rear their heads in September. On the other hand, a report recently stated that the next generation of ATI cards will debut in October. With this plan in place, AMD may decide, however unlikely, to not reduce the prices of too many current products at all. Still, the higher likelihood is still that price cuts will be made. This, of course, will not sit well with the manufacturer of video adapters, though consumers will probably smile with glee.
Unfortunately, there aren't many details on either of the companies' product plans, so vague speculations are the best that market watchers can give at this time. Fortunately, August is not too far off, so eager end-users won't have to wait too long for better affordability.