I just bought a GTX 280. Feel free to comment on how stupid I am.

Yeah GLQuake (or VQuake if you happened to get a Rendition Verite card instead of a 3DFX based card) was an absolute revelation. Jerky pixellated 3d was gone, smooth, flowing graphics were here.

It's hard to overstate my amazement the first time I ran GLQuake with a 1st gen 3d accelerator card, having played a lot of regular non-accelerated quake beforehand.

I never got into PC gaming until Half-life. Still, best birthday present ever. Thank you cousin gordon.

And after two weeks on the market, it drops about 10% in price. Christ, I'm a {ableist slur}.

kuddles wrote:

And after two weeks on the market, it drops about 10% in price. Christ, I'm a {ableist slur}.

No you're not. Without early adopters, the price wouldn't drop at all. So, thanks from the rest of us.

I think it's safe to say from looking at the patterns of this, the PS3, the first iPhone, etc. that the favored pricing strategy for enthusiast electronics right now is "screw the early adopters for all they're worth, then introduce the REAL price."

Perhaps the store you bought from has a 30-day return policy or price protection?

nsmike wrote:
kuddles wrote:

And after two weeks on the market, it drops about 10% in price. Christ, I'm a {ableist slur}.

No you're not. Without early adopters, the price wouldn't drop at all. So, thanks from the rest of us.

Although i think this particular case might be down to the ATI range.

Don't feel bad Kuddles. Think of it this way: If you'd have bought now, in two months time it'll have dropped another £50 or so. You can never win on price - only make a choice to buy sooner or later.

Duoae wrote:

Don't feel bad Kuddles. Think of it this way: If you'd have bought now, in two months time it'll have dropped another £50 or so. You can never win on price - only make a choice to buy sooner or later.

Oh, I don't really feel upset. It was a risk I knowingly took by purchasing the card in the first place. It justs makes you slap your face over being so bloody impatient, especially since I usually mock the people who complain about being screwed over after getting a product the exact moment it was available as if they needed it to breathe, and for once I'm on the recieving end.

Thanks for paying the early adopter premium for the rest of us.

Mistakes that cost you only $60 aren't worth much angst, kuddles.

kuddles wrote:

And after two weeks on the market, it drops about 10% in price. Christ, I'm a {ableist slur}.

"Yes, I know very few games are currently pushing hardware. I know my lack of ability to play on a 30" monitor means I won't garner nearly enough benefit to make the price/performance ratio worth it. Yes, ATI may very well come out with a series next week that trumps it.

But I like new things because they're cool and shiny, and I felt like I was itching for an upgrade. Also, the benchmarks I've seen suggest this card is much more capable of taking on AA with much less than usual performance loss. Finally someone offered to buy my 8800GTX for $300 so I said why the hell not.

Wish me luck.

Or call me an idiot with too much extra income. Both are true."

Malor wrote:

Mistakes that cost you only $60 aren't worth much angst, kuddles.

Quoted for truth and peace of mind. There are far worse things to worry about Kuddles. If you enjoy the card, considering you were able to sell your other one and get a great discount, then I say don't worry, just have fun.

Yeah don't worry about it. There will be more price drops like the drop to $499 they announced today.

That's just cruel, man.

Yay for competition and ATI.

Any new reviews/benchies/drivers or updates in general on all the new cards? Any big shootouts? The OC version of the 280 still king of the hill?

The price drops on the 280 have me drooling. Keep'em comin boys. I'm itching for a new card.

It's like the card prices and NVIDIA's stock price are racing each other!

<- sad panda of an Nvidia stockholder.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

<- sad panda of an Nvidia stockholder. :cry:

Plant!

Swat wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

<- sad panda of an Nvidia stockholder. :cry:

Plant!

If the company can't afford to cut him checks, will he still count as a plant?

*Legion* wrote:
Swat wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

<- sad panda of an Nvidia stockholder. :cry:

Plant!

If the company can't afford to cut him checks, will he still count as a plant? :)

I guess the correct term would be persistant vegetative state... though that would only be after the stock price flat-lines.

Looks like the GTX280 is down to $459.99. Competition is great.

Swat wrote:

Looks like the GTX280 is down to $459.99. Competition is great.

I don't quite count $499 with rebate as "$459", but the rebate is a nice bonus.

To think I could have bought the FTW edition for $100 dollars less than I paid for my normal one if I just had patience.

But you might not have been easily able to sell your old card if you'd waited -- you got top dollar for your 8800.

Malor wrote:

But you might not have been easily able to sell your old card if you'd waited -- you got top dollar for your 8800.

This is actually a big deal. You might as well just subtract the sale price on your 8800 from the purchase price of the 280. I don't expect to get much more than $100ish out of my 8800GTX. I'd kill to get $300 for it to put toward a new card. I still can't believe you found someone willing to pay that much for it.

Malor wrote:

But you might not have been easily able to sell your old card if you'd waited -- you got top dollar for your 8800.

I don't want to sound like I'm Malor's yes-man, but once again, he's already made the point I was going to make.

Spotted this on Ars Technica:

Capt.Wank wrote:

In a rather surprising move EVGA, and I think XFX, are offering up to $125 (or $150 EVGA bucks) cash back for anyone who bought a 260 / 280 before July 7th. As happy as I am with my 280, even I felt a bit of a sting seeing the cards drop in price so fast (go ATi, hooray for GPU competition once again).

He then links to the EVGA rebate info, which is here.

Yeah, thanks, I already registered my card. After that offer to compensate me for a market adjustment that was completely out of their control, I guarantee you this won't be the last EVGA card I purchase.

Weak-minded fool! Don't you realise that the cut price comes from NVidia giving their partners rebates because they forced them to cut the price, not from EVGA themselves?

Just kidding on the weak-minded fool thing!

Seriously though, it's not that EVGA are losing money on this - they're probably well compensated by Nvidia.