NVIDIA Announces GeForce GTX 780/770 Price Cuts; GTX 780 Ti Launch Date & Price
by Ryan Smith on October 28, 2013 11:15 AM ESTWith the launch of AMD’s new flagship Radeon R9 290X only a couple of days behind us, NVIDIA has wasted surprisingly little time in responding the latest salvo in the unending GPU wars. Intended to coincide with the launch of NVIDIA’s holiday GeForce game bundle, the launch of ShadowPlay (more on that later today), and the final (non-beta) release of GameStream, NVIDIA has rounded out their Monday by announcing a pair of price cuts for their high-end consumer video cards, and set a launch date and a launch price for their recently announced GTX 780 Ti.
First and foremost, both GeForce GTX 780 and GeForce GTX 770 are getting price cuts, effective tomorrow (October 29th). GTX 780 will be reduced by $150 to $499, and meanwhile GTX 770 will be getting smaller $70 trim, bringing the price of that card down to $329.
For the GTX 770 this is something of a delayed price cut – AMD launched their competitive Radeon R9 280X just shy of 3 weeks ago – but as the saying goes it’s never too late. Between the two GTX 770 is about 5% faster while 280X has the 3GB memory advantage, so $329 won’t significantly threaten the 280X but it is where we would have expected NVIDIA to place it given their performance advantage.
For the GTX 780 on the other hand, this is a rapid response for NVIDIA, coming just days after the launch of the Radeon R9 290X. The 290X, its $550 price tag, and its superior performance unquestionably left NVIDIA with little choice but to cut prices. But we had not been expecting NVIDA to drop the GTX 780 below $500, even with 290X’s performance advantage. The end result is that now 290X is the more expensive part by 10% (or $50), which coincidentally is also the 290X’s performance advantage. This puts the two cards on equal footing on the price/performance continuum with NVIDIA’s kicker – their superior build quality and cooling performance – remaining. Furthermore we were also able to confirm with NVIDIA that the metal reference cooler will still be available even after the price cut, so alongside the collection of custom designs we’ve seen the high performance reference blower will still be an option for buyers seeking a quiet blower.
Fall 2013 GPU Pricing Comparison | |||||
AMD | Price | NVIDIA | |||
$700 | GeForce GTX 780 Ti (Nov. 7th) | ||||
Radeon R9 290X | $550 | ||||
$500 | GeForce GTX 780 | ||||
$330 | GeForce GTX 770 | ||||
Radeon R9 280X | $300 | ||||
$250 | GeForce GTX 760 | ||||
Radeon R9 270X | $200 | ||||
$180 | GeForce GTX 660 | ||||
$150 | GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | ||||
Radeon R7 260X | $140 |
Meanwhile, as previously mentioned today’s announcement also coincides with the launch of NVIDIA’s “The Way It’s Meant to Be Played Holiday Bundle with SHIELD” promotion, which for both the GTX 780 and GTX 770 will consist of Assassins’ Creed IV, Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and the $100 SHIELD discount. So on top of NVIDIA’s price cuts they will also be offering an unusually strong bundle in direct opposition to AMD’s price premium 290X Battlefield 4 bundle. The true value/meaningfulness of a bundle will as always ultimately depend on the buyer, but it’s very unusual to see such a significant bundle attached to what’s already a competitively priced card. So come tomorrow when these price cuts hit, NVIDIA is going to be in a very good position to counter 280X and 290X.
NVIDIA Holiday Game Bundles | |||||
Video Card | Bundle | Shield Discount | |||
GeForce GTX 770/780/Titan | Assassin's Creed IV, Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist | $100 | |||
GeForce GTX 660/660Ti/670/680/760 | Assassin's Creed IV, Splinter Cell: Blacklist | $50 | |||
GeForce GTX 650 Series | $75 Free-To-Play (Continuing) | None | |||
GeForce GT 640 (& Below) | None | None |
Finally, along with the announcement of tomorrow’s price cuts NVIDIA has also announced the launch date for the previously announced GeForce GTX 780 Ti: November 7th (next Thursday). Furthermore NVIDIA has also announced that it will be priced at $699, placing it $200 above the GTX 780 and $150 above the 290X. We still don’t have the specs for the GTX 780 Ti, but the fact that NVIDIA is pricing it so far above the 290X indicates that they have a lot of confidence that they will be able to beat 290X’s performance, and will do so by enough of a margin to justify the price. This isn’t wholly unexpected – after all, GTX 780 wasn’t a fully enabled GK110 consumer part – so it should be interesting to see just what NVIDIA has prepared to carry on as their new gamer flagship card.
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Wreckage - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
So AMDs big Hawaii show was just wiped out by a simple price cut.techxx - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Sure sounds like it. Their R9 280X parade was sweet, but short. I suppose there will always be those who will want the 10% performance advantage though at the cost of build quality, noise, and heat levels.Gigaplex - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Noise and heat levels, sure, but build quality? I've seen far more build quality issues with NVIDIA.just4U - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Build quality across both companies appears to be about equal.. Nvidia's high end reference cooler takes the cake though if it's partners would use it more. Hopefully AMD takes note of that. One of the sticking points for many who might be early adopters (of either company) is always the cooler. Having something really special that will still be enticing after custom designs come out was a great move by Nvidia that I hope AMD also adopts.meacupla - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
not quite yet?We already know 290X trades blows with Titan and actually beats it in ultra high resolutions, while 780Ti performance is still just speculation at this point.
And we are still waiting on word for 290 pricing and performance.
Either way, this competition is good for the customer.
Sancus - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
There's a big problem with using the 290X for ultra-high resolutions, though. If you were to do that, you'd want at least 2 or 3 of them, because one of them isn't good enough even if they are a few percent faster than an overclocked 780: the noise. One 290X is noisy but not a big deal, 2 or 3 of them goes from "noisy" to "completely intolerable". Plus Crossfire is still a mess, especially with Eyefinity.Spunjji - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
You clearly haven't read the 290X crossfire articles, then, because it works fine for the 290X. Also consider that anyone spending the money on those cards and the accompanying setup would have to be startlingly dim to use the stock coolers on any of these devices when superior options are available.The Von Matrices - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
This is a common misconception. Eyefinity does not have to be expensive. You can get three 1080P monitors for the same price as the R9 290X. For those people (I am one of them) the price of swapping the stock heatsink is actually a significant portion of the purchase cost.Sancus - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Next you'll tell me that SLI works just as well as a single GPU.TheJian - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
So you're saying the price of an AMD card is card+fan to avoid the noise/heat...So not $550 then huh? Last I checked it still doesn't come with 3 AAA games either and pulls ~50-60 more watts.