Delays Are Bad For The Business
Graphics cards that cost $300+ are not attractive for everyone. The main business for the end user still takes place in the price range between 150 and 200 dollars. She/he wants the best bang for the buck. ATi now offers two new versions of its Radeon series that differentiate in price from the expensive high-end card Radeon 64 MB DDR . The recommended retail price for the latter is $329. Sporting with of graphics memory the 'smaller' DDR version starts at $200 and the SDR version at $150. ATi positions the DDR card for the retail market, while the SDR version comes in a white box and is officially positioned for OEMs. You will find however that most dealers will also offer the SDR card on retail shelves.
For $150 we expect at least the performance that GeForce2 MX products are able to offer. You should note that MX cards are now available for only $100. A fellow competitor in this price segment is also the 3dfx Voodoo4 4500. This one has however, in comparison to the GeForce2 MX, a worse performance. ATi almost missed to jump on the bandwagon because the GeForce2 MX and the 3dfx cards have been available for two months now. It is somewhat incomprehensible how ATi sets its priorities. The Radeon 32 MB is nothing more than a light version of an existing product! With the Radeon SDR coming rather late to the market, the company might lose important revenues.
