[Silent_Buddha]

Originally Posted by Davros

thats not always the case though
lets take the downloadable version of Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended
$999 or £621
how much do adobe charge brits : £952 or $1530.15
In other words 50% more as this isnt a physical product there are no delivery or shipping costs to take into account and no type of import duty
and considering its a u.s based company would they even have to pay vat ?

or Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection
u.s = $2,599.99 (£1618.49)
u.k = £2,667.60 or $4286

Sure, but without knowing all the possible government regulations and restrictions that Adobe have to abide by in order to sell product there, none of us will know the true cost of the software.

And from talking to some Brits while travelling as well as the occasional comments you see on TV talk shows (like Top Gear, for example) it's quite apparent that the British govenment just absolutely loves rules and reglations to restrict what people and businesses can do. As well as loving to tax everything.

At least you don't have to worry about something like the French. Where there's additional support costs to support localized (French Language) professional level support staff for a relatively small market (compared to the English speaking market). Although it wouldn't suprise me if they had to have localized professional support for Britain as well due to the various differences between English (UK) and English (US).

Regards,
SB

[Blazkowicz]

too bad Napoleon didn't refrain from invading Russia, else we would all be speaking French now.

[Davros]

@budha its the exact same software
as for regulations being based in the u.s they dont have to comply with any u.k regs I doubt there are any that pertain to software. (there is a 2.5% surcharge on credit cards)
the adobe case has been the subject of many articles and the bottom line is they charge because they can.

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by Blazkowicz

too bad Napoleon didn't refrain from invading Russia, else we would all be speaking French now.

Or German if Hitler was successful with the same idea.

But... but.... it doesn't matter so much because the system is in all cases broken. Be it capitalism, communism or fascism.

end of off.

[Davros]

So anyway about those 670's

[Dr Evil]

Originally Posted by onethreehill

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A..._Direct_Cu_II/

ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP.

Yes, you've seen correctly, the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP is the first graphics card ever that I gave a perfect ten score. The stock GeForce GTX 670 provides already great performance, but ASUS has topped that by boosting it with a large overclock out of the box which catapults it beyond GTX 680 performance levels. Averaged over all our testing we see the card 1% faster than GTX 680 and 8% faster than GTX 670.

The ASUS DC II cooler is a revelation on the GTX 670, it provides incredibly low noise levels. In both idle and load the card emits almost no noise, it is actually quieter under full load than most other cards on the market are at idle. Not only noise is low but temperatures are great, too. With only 74°C under load the card is quieter than most other GTX 670 cards tested today.

This card doesn't seem to be too shabby at $419.

[pjbliverpool]

Holy crap! I must have one! This makes the 680 along with every other high end gpu pretty much irrelivant!

[AlphaWolf]

HardOCP tests overclocking compared to 680, 7950 and 7970

I wouldn't say those other products are irrelevant just yet.

[John Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Davros

So anyway about those 670's

I was thinking the same thing. Mine arrives Thursday, got the drivers d/l.

[Man from Atlantis]

http://www.ixbt.com/video3/gk104-3-part2.shtml

synthetic benchmarks

[DavidGraham]

Originally Posted by Man from Atlantis

http://www.ixbt.com/video3/gk104-3-part2.shtml

synthetic benchmarks

Seriously though , HD 7970 handidly beats GTX 680 in every synetheic category except for Geometry and Vertex stuff and the usual cloth/particle simulations ! How is that possible ? The situation has been the same between HD 5870/GTX 480 , HD 4890/GTX 285 , and probably between HD 6970/GTX 580 too .

How can these multiple AMD advantages don't translate into real world gains in games and 3d applications? , Is it NVIDIA's superior software support ? Is it AMD's less effective front end ? or is it something else ?

[trinibwoy]

Originally Posted by DavidGraham

Seriously though , HD 7970 handidly beats GTX 680 in every synetheic category except for Geometry and Vertex stuff and the usual cloth/particle simulations ! How is that possible ? The situation has been the same between HD 5870/GTX 480 , HD 4890/GTX 285 , and probably between HD 6970/GTX 580 too .

How can these multiple AMD advantages don't translate into real world gains in games and 3d applications? , Is it NVIDIA's superior software support ? Is it AMD's less effective front end ? or is it something else ?

I was wondering the same thing. Tahiti is superior in nearly every synthetic metric yet falls short in games....

[Albuquerque]

Originally Posted by trinibwoy

I was wondering the same thing. Tahiti is superior in nearly every synthetic metric yet falls short in games....

Sounds like a pretty sound indictment of the usefulness of synthetic tests

(saying this as the owner of a 7970 OC edition that I'm quite happy with)

[Rangers]

Originally Posted by trinibwoy

I was wondering the same thing. Tahiti is superior in nearly every synthetic metric yet falls short in games....

Falls short to what? Most reviews are now showing when both are fully overclocked, 7970>680

[silent_guy]

Originally Posted by Rangers

Falls short to what? Most reviews are now showing when both are fully overclocked, 7970>680

This is not about e-peen few % difference in game performance. It's that the 7970 synthetics vastly overpower the 680, yet none of that is seen in practice.

[trinibwoy]

Originally Posted by Rangers

Falls short to what? Most reviews are now showing when both are fully overclocked, 7970>680

What does that have to do with anything? Were the synthetic tests run with both fully overclocked? Stop grasping at straws.

[UniversalTruth]

Originally Posted by Davros

thats not always the case though
lets take the downloadable version of Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended
$999 or £621
how much do adobe charge brits : £952 or $1530.15
In other words 50% more as this isnt a physical product there are no delivery or shipping costs to take into account and no type of import duty
and considering its a u.s based company would they even have to pay vat ?

or Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection
u.s = $2,599.99 (£1618.49)
u.k = £2,667.60 or $4286

This price difference in all cases points to severe trade barriers...

Tariffs
Non-tariff barriers to trade
Import licenses
Export licenses
Import quotas
Subsidies
Voluntary Export Restraints
Local content requirements
Embargo
Currency devaluation
Trade restriction

Also, this Purchasing power parity

Big Mac Index

An example of one measure of law of one price, which underlies purchasing power parity, is the Big Mac Index, popularized by The Economist, which looks at the prices of a Big Mac burger in McDonald's restaurants in different countries. By determining whether a currency is undervalued or overvalued, the index should give a guide to the direction in which currencies should move. The Big Mac Index is presumably useful because it is based on a well-known food whose final price, easily tracked in many countries, includes input costs from a wide range of sectors in the local economy, such as agricultural commodities (beef, bread, lettuce, cheese), labor (blue and white collar), advertising, rent and real estate costs, transportation, etc.
This index provides a test of the law of one price, but the dollar prices of Big Macs are actually different in different countries. This can be explained by a number of factors: transportation costs and government regulations, product differentiation, and prices of nonfood inputs.[3] [9]. Furthermore, in some emerging economies, western fast food represents an expensive niche product price well above the price of traditional staples—i.e. the Big Mac is not a mainstream 'cheap' meal as it is in the West, but a luxury import for the middle classes and foreigners. This relates back to the idea of product differentiation: few substitutes for the Big Mac allows McDonald's to have market power. Countries like Argentina that have abundant beef resources see a structural underpricing in the Big Mac.

The solution is

Examples of free trade areas

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA)
European Free Trade Association
European Union (EU)
Union of South American Nations
New West Partnership (An internal free-trade zone in Canada between Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan)
Gulf Cooperation Council common market
Other trade barriers include differences in culture, customs, traditions, laws, language and currency.
trading barriers include farming produce industry

So, after all, the new world order and a single global union with one global government might be beneficial for some countries...
How do you think?

[Sxotty]

Originally Posted by Silent_Buddha

Don't forget your VAT which is always included. So that would bring it up to ~292 pounds? Still a bit high, but then again we have no idea what stuff your government regulations would add. Such as whether the manufacturer must accept returns within X days or provide a refund within X days. Or if the manufacturer must pay fee's for recycling or disposal, etc.

All those "consumer protection" regulations all come with a price tag.

Regards,
SB

That is complete bollocks. The real exchange rate has always favored the dollar compared to the euro and pound in consumer products. It was even worse 5 years ago.

You were wrong about diesel as well until recently. It was because of many factors but EPA regulations were quite lax until the introduction of ultra low sulfur diesel. It has more to do with refinery decisions and fuel tax rates.

[Silent_Buddha]

Originally Posted by Sxotty

That is complete bollocks. The real exchange rate has always favored the dollar compared to the euro and pound in consumer products. It was even worse 5 years ago.

You were wrong about diesel as well until recently. It was because of many factors but EPA regulations were quite lax until the introduction of ultra low sulfur diesel. It has more to do with refinery decisions and fuel tax rates.

Nope, I was quite right about diesel. The particulate emissions restrictions were far higher up until a few years ago in the US compared to Europe which made getting emissions passing diesel engines (passenger car category, not light trucks) extremely difficult.

Hence, while light truck and SUV diesel engines were quite common and plentiful it was virtually impossible to find passenger cars with diesel engines. And those that did feature them were significantly more expensive than their regular gasoline counterparts.

Compare that to light trucks and SUVs where the diesel variant was roughly equivalent to the gasoline variant.

As to the prices, sure there's going to be some additional headroom, but it's not due in any way to the exchange rate. Or are you implying that VAT has no influence?

Regards,
SB

[pjbliverpool]

Originally Posted by Davros

Its £360 in the u.k aka $580

You can actually pick a standard (non-OC) 670 from scan.co.uk now for £299 which is £250 before VAT. So discounting VAT we seem to be getting a similar deal to the US now.

At the moment I'm tossing up between getting that or paying £50 extra and getting the Asus 670 Direct CUII TOP. It's supposed to be about the same speed as a 680 and runs almost silently even under load.

[pjbliverpool]

Originally Posted by pjbliverpool

At the moment I'm tossing up between getting that or paying £50 extra and getting the Asus 670 Direct CUII TOP. It's supposed to be about the same speed as a 680 and runs almost silently even under load.

I decided to go with the DCUIIT in the end. Managed to get it for £340 from Dabs with a promo code. I can't wait!!

This is easily the highest end GPU I've ever bought for it's time (basically stock 680 performance) so I can't wait to give it a run for it's money. I've got a couple of DX11 games waiting on my shelf already (Lodt Planet 2 ans Crysis 2) with a couple more I plan to pick up soon - BF3 and MP3 so it should have plenty to do. I'll also be picking up Skyrim which I guess my current 4890 could max out anyway but I'll be loading on the mods and image quality so that should let the 670 stretch it's legs a little.

Hopefully I'll be ready for the next gen console ports now as well.

[Man from Atlantis]

Zotac brings shortest GTX670, cooler and quiter than reference board.. and factory oc'd
http://www.techpowerup.com/167657/ZO...-Detailed.html
http://www.4gamer.net/games/120/G012093/20120614033/

[psolord]

Any MSI GTX 670 with Twin Frozr IV / Triple overvoltage reviews yet?