Confirmed: Lower Cost Nvidia Cards This Summer

Friday we reported that Nvidia finally revealed its GeForce GTX 480 and 470, two powerhouse DirectX 11 graphics cards that certainly won't come cheap: around $500 for the GTX 480 and $350 for the GTX 470. Both cards will be manufactured "in-house," and won't appear on the market until the week of April 12. Gamers wanting Nvidia-style DX11 graphics but unwilling to donate organs for the 480 and 470 will eventually look for cheaper, value-priced versions.

Last week there were also reports that cheaper, DX11-capable Fermi-based GeForce graphics cards will be arriving sometime this summer, possibly June. We contacted Nvidia to find out whether this was the case or another churn in the rumor mill. According to the company, that is indeed the case, and was actually mentioned by Nvidia executives at a recent financial conference.

It's certainly clear that Nivida needs to churn out a few low-priced GF100 cards rather quick for the budget gamer. AMD has dominated the market with DX11 offerings for quite some time (since October), and has even launched its first sub-$100 DX11 Radeon card back in January. Despite Nvidia's demonstration of Fermi last week, the company clearly has a tough battle ahead.