Radeon HD 7850 Prices Fall Again
by Ryan Smith on October 5, 2012 12:00 PM ESTUpdate 10/07: AMD sent us a clarification this morning stating that they were not the ones responsible for the recent reduction in 7850 prices, bur rather that it was a result of the "natural economics that are governing the channel, promotions and agressive pricing that the ecosystem is driving on its own". While we typically take what AMD says at face value, it's hard to imagine partners are able to undercut AMD's MSRP by $20+ on a sub-$200 part if AMD has not changed the prices they're charging their partners.
AMD’s initial launch prices for the Radeon HD 7000 series were not well received by the thrifty. But as AMD has since discovered, starting high means you can make a big deal of price cuts, and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing for roughly the past 6 months. Through a few different rounds of publically announced price cuts on the 7900, 7800, and 7700 series, AMD has not only improved their competitive positioning versus NVIDIA and their old products alike, but has also quickly won favor with a budget-conscientious public.
It should come as no surprise then that AMD is continuing this campaign of public price cuts this fall with yet another round of price cuts. As part of AMD‘s preparations for future events AMD’s cheaper 7800 series card, the Radeon HD 7850, is receiving an all-but-official price cut to shore up the card’s competitive positioning.
| Fall 2012 Radeon HD 7000 Series Price Cuts | |||||||
| Card | Launch Price | Spring MSRP | Late Summer MSRP | Fall Retail Price | |||
| Radeon HD 7970GE | $499 | N/A | $499 | $449 | |||
| Radeon HD 7970 | $549 | $479 | $429 | $399 | |||
| Radeon HD 7950 | $449 | $399 | $319 | $309 | |||
| Radeon HD 7870 | $349 | $349 | $249 | $239 | |||
| Radeon HD 7850 2GB | $249 | $249 | $209 | $189 | |||
| Radeon HD 7850 1GB | N/A | N/A | $199 | $169 | |||
| Radeon HD 7770 | $159 | $139 | $119 | $119 | |||
| Radeon HD 7750 | $109 | $109 | $99 | $99 | |||
For this latest round of cuts AMD is reducing prices on the 7850 by a further $20, putting the market price on the 2GB 7850 at around $189. Meanwhile the largely neglected 1GB 7850 has also seen its market price come down to what’s best called a very rough $169, with individual SKU prices being relatively scattered due to the very small number of SKUs on the market (4, up for 2 a week ago). As with prior cuts the 2GB 7850 will remain as AMD’s primary 7850, with the less common 1GB model covering a specific niche for AMD.
These latest cuts follow AMD’s last round of price cuts in August, where between the launches of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti and GTX 660 we saw the 7870 move from $299 to $249 and the 2GB 7850 move from $239 to $209. Unlike past cuts though these new prices are technically not going to be MSRPs – AMD is making sure not to call them that – but the end result is much the same. Using market prices allows AMD to quote a number that more closely reflects the price of basic feature cards, which in the case of the 7850 have typically undercut the official MSRP by $10.
Source: AMD
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Beenthere - Saturday, October 6, 2012 - link
Just to set the record straight the vendors not AMD lowered prices.Either way it's good news for AMD and consumers. In spite of the brand fanbois, most people are able to determine what GPU card meets their needs and budget. I see people switching brands all the time if they are price sensitive or looking for the best value.
Reality is that any of the current crop of GPU cards is more than powerful enought to run any games at any reasonable resolution for 95% of the market. It hardly matters if your game runs at 40 FPS or 60 FPS. Anything above 40 FPS is just bragging rights as the eye can't differentiate the true speed above 30 FPS.
I always suggest that people buy what makes them happy and fits their budget. Your're just wasting money and getting poor value if you're buying the over-priced, over-hyped top of the line model CPUs, GPUs, mobos, RAM, etc. anyway, but it's your money to burn so enjoy.
johnsonjohnson - Monday, October 8, 2012 - link
Finally some value in the ~$150 bracketTheJian - Monday, October 8, 2012 - link
Heading for another quarterly loss. Meanwhile Nvidia keeps making money. AMD needs to fire all management before they have no company. Jen has openly said he wants them to stop their price war (that they can't win anyway vs. a company awash in 3.5bil cash vs. 2.5B in debt on their own side), so he can get richer. Yet AMD persists in dropping prices as their stock drops. Do they have anyone left at AMD that knows any math? You can't price a company to death with debt while the enemy is floating in cash with better tech. You will only succeed in going broke before they do.I love cheap prices, but I wish they would stop this nonsense. How about you help your stockholders for a few quarters instead of killing the company?
just4U - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - link
I was eyeing the 7950 for awhile (and the 7870) but at the prices they wanted it wasn't worth the upgrade.. (I was using a 6950 2g at the time) I continued to wait and Nvidia released it's 670.. I finally decided to buy it over the two AMD products when suddenly AMD dropped prices on the 7870 to $230ish.. I bought two..... if they didn't do that, i'd be sitting on a 670 and AMDs stockholders would be SOL.
CeriseCogburn - Thursday, October 11, 2012 - link
That story also goes another way, despite what you've convinced yourself of, or brainfarted out haphazardly without thinking.You were always going to get the 2x7870's, you just needed nVidia to give you the lower price, so you waited until the 670 came out, and robbed amd and the stockholders.
Yep. See, that's what really happened. I also see you're no noob, and also see loads of amd fanboy, so that excuse about I had no idea releases cause competitor price drops won't do.
I see your actions as the way amd fans have taken down amd and will be responsible for their bankruptcy soon enough.
just4U - Thursday, October 11, 2012 - link
I am not a fan Cerise, I buy over 40 video cards a year constantly switching between Nvidia and Amd. Depends on what's out there and it's overall cost for the setup I am working on. I have no bias/preference.Gastec - Thursday, November 15, 2012 - link
I need a new card because the one I have now can't keep up with the new games. I see these cards from the 600 series/ 7000 series performing rather similarly but the AMD ones are cheaper. What do you recommend I should buy and why?TheJian - Sunday, October 14, 2012 - link
And what do we hear now? 20-30% layoff's and Engineers going with them. This is a recipe for going out of business. AMD is already SOL unfortunately. While they should be firing management and marketing, they instead lay off ENGINEERS?Blazorthon, where you at? Army_ant come with you to anandtech?? :) Anyone want to argue AMD is financially competitive with Intel again like blaz did at toms? Never mind I made my argument with NVDA not INTC (as blaz incorrectly stated AMD being competitive with INTC). You might want to take a look at their financials as I said. Unfortunately comments at tom's already said it, they are bleeding them dry while management sits untouched. I mentioned all the engineers that have left (for apple etc) and now a 2nd round of engineer cuts. Engineers should be the only thing they keep! Marketing sucks (they're getting some axes too of course), and management completely BLOWS. IF you don't have a good product (pipeline running out as I said before, you're seeing the last of Dirk Meyer's 5 yr pipeline now), you can't make money. How can you make a good product with 30-40% of your workforce being laid off over the last year? A good 10%-15% the first time, and another 20-30% here? I'll say it again, we need to HOPE/PRAY someone takes them over before they get so far behind nobody can do anything with what is left of their IP. They wouldn't be LOSING money if they would quit dropping prices. You can't price NVDA to death (never mind trying to do it to Intel). Both are billions in the green (black? :)) while AMD (green bombshell incoming russian? Is this a red bombshell?) is billions in the red. THIS IS READ's FAULT. Jen Hsun has said he wishes AMD would stop lowering prices so he could get richer (well, duh). He's laughed in public over their price war, as it is ridiculous. He doesn't wish to cut prices but READ continues to think he can somehow win against a company (two companies) with NO DEBT and 3.5B in the bank (time X for intel's billions).
AMD needs to be bought and hopefully by someone with Billions. Samsung or IBM would be best, but NVDA will be able to afford it shortly as their stock keeps dropping. Much more and they could buy them cash easily. But I'd rather see a stronger company buy them so they could turn it around and compete with Intel etc. We do not need ONE graphic card company and ONE cpu company. You all better buy your vid cards/cpu's for xmas this year, as next year you'll see $500 cpu's and $500 mid range vid cards, with the bottom being much higher than now. The year after next? Only the rich will be able to afford an upgrade if AMD doesn't get bought soon. :(
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD-Workforce-Thi...
Congrats on getting in before the prices get hiked next year just4U :)
medi01 - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - link
Last time I've checked, AMD had excellent APUs that didn't even need discrete graphic cards to play many games at modest resolutions and even consumed less at idle.Oh, and when comparing to nVidia, AMD always had more for the buck. 650Ti at 150$ doesn't make any sense, when you can get 7850 for that price, this move makes perfect sense.
Besides, HD8000 series, with major performance boost, will arrive soon
Gastec - Thursday, November 15, 2012 - link
Dude, that's why AMD bought ATI, to get rid of some competition, make a quick profit and when the shit hits the fan to fire people. To thicken the ranks of unemployed. That's what big corporation do, they've been doing it for decades, HELLO! You are american, did you just wake up?