Finally, after weeks of waiting for PC buffs, ATI’s 4870×2 graphics cards are starting to appear in Sim Lim Square stores.
Cybermind is selling a 2GB Powercolor version for S$799 – that’s the price of two 4870s ($399 each), which together boast only 1GB of RAM, of course.
The new card is not exactly cheap, but it seems about right now that Nvidia has dropped its prices for its slower GTX280s, the cheapest of which can be had at Sim Lim for S$649 to S$699. Expect more price drops in the coming weeks, as the competition heats up.
This is one of the best times for PC gamers to swop in for a top-end graphics card, after almost two years of Nvidia domination (and lack of innovation and resultant high prices).
Blame it on the AMD-ATI merger, or whatever, but the good news is that the AMD-ATI underdogs are back, at least for this round, with the top-of-the-hill 4870×2 for those gamers looking for the absolute fastest card out there.
It’s not yet time to drop Nvidia altogether, of course. The GTX 280, after all, is a single GPU card, which means users don’t have to worry about games/software having to be updated to take advantage of both GPUs on a card, like on the 4870×2.
Having said that, the 4870×2 has 2GB onboard – compared to the GTX 280’s 1GB. Games don’t make use of the extra memory for now, but in future, you bet they will.
Let’s hope the GTX280 becomes cheap enough (think S$550 to S$600) to be more attractive. For users like me who have migrated from (buggy) Nvidia SLI motherboards to a Crossfire/Intel board, the least we could do is buy a S$399 4870 and Crossfire it later, and performance will still be superb. Good times ahead for PC gamers.
