XGI Volari duo V8 Ultra german babelfished preview.

[Nappe1]

acording to VolariGamers -site, some Netherlandic store has price for Club3D XGI Volari V8 Duo 256MB DDR-II, which is 429 Euros. While same store sells Club3D ATI Radeon 9800Pro 256MB at 569 Euros.

What's the price of the 128 MB Radeon 9800 Pro or Non-pro?

Effectively, the V8 Duo is only 128 MB.

umh... anyone knows exactly how Volari dual chip implementation is done? is it more like MAXX or more like SLI? or perhaps something different?

 

[Dave Baumann]

Alternate Frame Rendering, so no memory efficiencies.

 

[Nappe1]

Alternate Frame Rendering, so no memory efficiencies.

ok, thanks. somehow I have missed this...

 

[Ailuros]

Pardon me but that doesn't make sense. It should be quite a bit lower with that reasoning in the US, because:

a) The current currency relation between the dollar and the euro.

b) HW is in most cases cheaper in the US than in Europe.

A Euro = $1.16. €400=$463 so it is quite a bit more expensive in Europe than in the USA.

Under that reasoning yes, but I haven't so far seen a single card that did cost up to now as many euros as dollars in Europe and the US, despite those differences.

I don't recall what the launch price for the Hercules 9700PRO was in the US at it's appearance, but it was around 520 euros in Europe at launch, which in effect was quite a bit higher then the recommended MSRP of 399$.

acording to VolariGamers -site, some Netherlandic store has price for Club3D XGI Volari V8 Duo 256MB DDR-II, which is 429 Euros. While same store sells Club3D ATI Radeon 9800Pro 256MB at 569 Euros.

If that should be true, then I'd expect a much lower price than 400$ in the US. Just compare what the 256MB 9800PRO costs at the moment in the US.

Well, our European prices also include the local VAT, while US MSRPs don't include any taxes at all, which makes up for part of the difference, or all of it.

Not always and when taxes are included it's rather rare; the majority of pricings across the EU are prior to local VAT. The Sapphire 256mb 9800PRO goes at the moment for 599euros + VAT around here.

***edit: self correction; that was the Ultimate edition. Regular 256mb R350 is at 425.

 

[k19]

I also think V8 Ultra is too expensive

 

[Ailuros]

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031107/index.html

Last page claims a 300$ pricetag, which makes more sense compared to the 430euro projected european price.

As for the review itself, no comment.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Last page claims a 300$ pricetag, which makes more sense compared to the 430euro projected european price.

Yes, that's street price though.

I can get a 128 MB Radeon 9800 Pro right now for that.

Damn...this is a tough business....

 

[Ailuros]

That wasn't the point Joe. I said one page ago that a 400$/400euro projected MSRP doesn't make sense; in the US hardware is always cheaper. Thus the 300$/430euro price relation makes sense.

As for Volari I already have an R300; in the future maybe if they finally can get out a product that has upon launch texture and LOD quality as I'd expect it from a high end product, then I won't hesitate considering them.

I'm yelling for quite some time now for single cycle trilinear; bilinear we have for free for ages already....

 

[Tim]

Pardon me but that doesn't make sense. It should be quite a bit lower with that reasoning in the US, because:

a) The current currency relation between the dollar and the euro.

b) HW is in most cases cheaper in the US than in Europe.

A Euro = $1.16. €400=$463 so it is quite a bit more expensive in Europe than in the USA.

Under that reasoning yes, but I haven't so far seen a single card that did cost up to now as many euros as dollars in Europe and the US, despite those differences.

Not even if you take into account that VAT will be added on top of the European price?

 

[Ailuros]

As I said before in the majority of cases quoted prices in the EU are w/o any tax included. With local taxes included the duo Volari should range around here in the 500 euro league (if the 430 initial price should be true).

See above Joe can get for 300$ a 9800PRO and I can get here at the moment at 425 a R350, both prices w/o taxes. VAT values vary by the way from country to country.

 

[Sage]

As I said before in the majority of cases quoted prices in the EU are w/o any tax included. With local taxes included the duo Volari should range around here in the 500 euro league (if the 430 initial price should be true).

See above Joe can get for 300$ a 9800PRO and I can get here at the moment at 425 a R350, both prices w/o taxes. VAT values vary by the way from country to country.

also consider cost of living. My parents make under $35k a year (with income taxes subtracted), maybe even less, and are upper-middle-class. And here we have to pay for everything out of our ownpicket, taxes don't pay for our health care or anything. For me $300 is a lot of money- about two weeks pay (again with income taxes subtracted).

of course, cost of living does greatly vary in the US

 

[Tim]

See above Joe can get for 300$ a 9800PRO and I can get here at the moment at 425 a R350, both prices w/o taxes. VAT values vary by the way from country to country.

I don't think you are shopping the right places. I could find a 9800Pro (Saphire at less than €325 before taxes at one of my favorite e-tailers. You can buy a PowerColor 9800Pro even cheaper and I was able to find a Club 3D 9800Pro at €286 before taxes in Germany.

 

[Ailuros]

Where I personally get my hardware from is another story. I'm quoting the lowest possible local prices and I'm not located in Germany.

I'm not even sure what you're trying to say here; the supposed 425euro pricetag came from a dutch online retailer and I have severe doubts that initial pricings for Duo Volari are going to be lower than that in Europe.

Either way it still has to prove itself that it's even worth a 300$ pricetag.

 

[Sage]

lowest possible local prices

Yeah well the lowest possible local prices here for a GeForce2 is $250. I can get a Radeon 9600XT for $196 but I'm not getting it locally.

 

[Dave Baumann]

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031107/index.html

Last page claims a 300$ pricetag, which makes more sense compared to the 430euro projected european price.

As for the review itself, no comment.

Lars commented on it himself - Look at the die size. Going by a rough comparison that die would appear to be larger than a R360, its built using 130nm and they have two of them on a board! If they are not using the SiS / UMC link to get very good wafer prices, my initial reaction is "how is this sustainable"?

 

[Xmas]

As I said before in the majority of cases quoted prices in the EU are w/o any tax included. With local taxes included the duo Volari should range around here in the 500 euro league (if the 430 initial price should be true).

That 429EUR price tag from maxpc.nl is with VAT included. What exactly do you mean with "the majority of cases"?

 

[parhelia]

The maxpc price is an "end-user price" including VAT and all

 

[David G.]

A Euro = $1.16. €400=$463 so it is quite a bit more expensive in Europe than in the USA.

Yes , that's pretty much acurate . They are trying to make more money by using the same price number but in a different currency . Just like in UK .

 

[parhelia]

every computer stuff is cheaper in USA than in Europe, trust me I already checked.
Each time I go to USA I buy computer stuff there and stop buying here as they're much cheaper there than here.
The first time I saw the price difference my jaw opened wide and I couldn't believe my eyes.

The shop MAXPC (where the Volari prices came from) sell ATI and NV expensively IMO. It's always easy to say "Average Joe can get for 300$ a 9800PRO" so the Volari is too expensive, but did you even look at the price this shop is asking for a 9800 Pro? 569€
Of course the anti-XGI guys just want to ignore this important fact and are quick to use anything to flame without finding more info.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

The shop MAXPC (where the Volari prices came from) sell ATI and NV expensively IMO. It's always easy to say "Average Joe can get for 300$ a 9800PRO" so the Volari is too expensive, but did you even look at the price this shop is asking for a 9800 Pro? 569€
Of course the anti-XGI guys just want to ignore this important fact and are quick to use anything to flame without finding more info.

Um...


http://www.maxpc.nl/N_grp_31_141-1.html


Club3D Volari V8 Duo: 429€

Club3D Radeon 9800 Pro: 369€

Yes, that's the 128 MB 9800 Pro. As previously stated, the 256 MB Volari has no more effective memory thatn the 128 MB Radeon.

I'm not Anti XGI. I'm pro-truth. And for now, XGI products (at least the V8 Duo) is a bad deal.