ATi getting rid of high-end X800's ?

which is exactly why I don't think ATI will dump their R400 chips. maybe lower prices a few percent, but nothing that would make anyone go wild with glee.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
You can get a GT for 300 (less actually)
The cheapst XL's are MIB/ rebates, those are comparable in price to a GT but normal prices are in the 350+ range and you can get 7800gts for around 300 without any rebates.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
looking at techreports GTX 512MB review they're actually pretty even beside the SS2 HDR bug and they used a reduces number of games.

 

Imo the XL is a smarter buy, simply because the majority of them can overclock very high (to almost XT speeds, some even more). Sure, you can o/c the GT as well, but it's still 4 pipes short.

edit: I am expecting an XL soon for a review (haven't had the chance yet), I am going to do a same-style review as my previous one and see how much you can get out of it.

 

On the topic of surplus ATI x800 class chips.

I was just thinking, is it possible that Nvidia surprised ATI with the 7800 release, and b/c of this they had a surplus of orders? I was just wondering, or would ATI have known from TSMC that Nvidia was pumping something out at least.

 

I would beleive they new about the 7800, they also had the 520 to be out by june, same time as the 7800... or even earlier....

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814142053

$25 more, no MIBs, plus people are reporting seeing some at $300 in various retail stores. Like I said, performance isn't really a deciding factor between either card, so for me the XL's image quality and extra features, namely the dynamic branching, wins me over even if I have to pay a little more.

 

I just purchased a made by ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB AGP at Futureshop in Canada for $350 CDN (with a $50 mail-in rebate making it $300 CDN). That's down from the $599.99 that Futureshop had it priced at before. Sure looks like they're clearing inventory to me

The board was purchased in the Toronto area. All Futureshop and Bestbuy locations in Southern Ontario appear to be offering this clearance deal.

 

Tempting, considering it doesn't seem like I'll ever be able to get a faster AGP card. Still, I'd rather not invest in a dying specification. 80% of the upgrade market may still be hankering for AGP, but 0% will be able to get the fastest cards for it. I'll just continue to save my pennies for an upgrade to PCI-E. I'm waiting for those magical Pentium M based chips to come out (Conroe?). Quiet and cool will be a nice change from this 3.0Ghz supernova currently at my feet.

 

I jumped on the same deal last week, only through Microcenter based in the US. $300 usd and a $50 MIB. The sticker price still said $400.

 

Ya... am looking at that same deal... not sure whether to go with futureshop and pay the GST+PST.. or jump through some hoops to get the card from across the border. Including the exchange rate, they're about the same in price. Taxes add an extra 50..

 

You're gonna have to pay the GST if you get it shipped from the US, you'd also have to pay the $5 GST collection fee. Unless you mean via a private party.

 

The site doesn't ship to Canada anyways. But am heading down their for xmas during my 2 week break from school, so I was probably going to get my friend to pay for it and get it shipped and take it back with me. (From what I saw on the site, there was no way to have a canadian billing address either) But the rebate would end up being left with them to deal with, as it seems to only apply to US residents.

As I said, jumping through hoops.

Didn't know futureshop had this deal till I saw this thread though. But the sale ends just in a few days, so I have a couple days to toy with the idea first.