Prices starting at $449, sub-€400
AMD’s new HD 7950 is the talk of town these days and for good reason, too. The second iteration of AMD’s Tahiti GPU costs quite a bit less than the HD 7970, yet it’s fast enough to wipe the floor with Nvidia’s GTX 580.
From what we’ve been hearing, demand is good, but luckily there is no shortage of HD 7950’s in retail. A few dozen shops in mainland Europe have plenty of cards in stock and the prices are pretty good for a brand new product. In Germany, you can pick up a PowerColor reference card for as little as €386, or a Sapphire card for €397. You can even get a slightly overclocked 830MHz card from MSI for €393. In case you are looking for something in the 880MHz – 900MHz range, you have a choice of overclocked cards from Gigabyte, MSI, Sappire, PowerColor and XFX, with prices starting at €441. The HD 7970 sells for €519+, while the cheapest GTX 580 3GB cards go for €460+.
In the US, prices start at $449 for reference cards, while overclocked models retail for €489 or €499, depending on the clock and vendor. This is a full $100 less than the HD 7970 or GTX 580 3GB.
All in all AMD has done a pretty good job with the HD 7950. Quite a few consumers find the HD 7970 a tad too expensive, so the HD 7950 looks like a great deal, particularly in Europe, as it is up to 30 percent cheaper than the flagship HD 7970.
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