If you have been holding out for a new top-end graphics card, here’s a little bit of good news.

Sim Lim Square stores like Cybermind and Bell and online retailers like Potterhouse are (finally) selling some Nvidia GTX 280 cards for S$699 this weekend (down from S$799), reflecting the price drop that gamers in the US have been enjoying for weeks.

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According to local distributors, it will be in end of this month (July), when these power-packed graphics cards will make their way to shops here.

What we have now are these single-chip 512MB versions, which are selling for S$435 (e.g. MSI version) in Sim Lim Square shops.

What’s the big deal with these cards, you ask? If you are a hardcore PC geek, you’d already know that they herald ATI’s long-awaited comeback to bring some competition to the market.

PC gamers have seen Nvidia update/refresh their existing chips to the max, but never seen real next-gen improvements until recently – but that’s with the overpriced 280 GTX and 260GTX in recent weeks.

Now, the ATI’s HD4870s and HD4850s are giving them a run for the money. Two HD4850s (at 2 x S$279=S$558) in Crossfire can shoot along with a S$900+ 280GTX. Two HD4870s – preferably on the same card in x2 format – will do really well if they scale properly in Crossfire.

So if you are in the mood to upgrade your PC graphics for games like Age of Conan and Crysis, there’s never been a better time to plonk it for two cheap monsters from ATI.

(spy pix of the 4870×2 here)