NVIDIA Announces GeForce GTX 780/770 Price Cuts; GTX 780 Ti Launch Date & Price
by Ryan Smith on October 28, 2013 11:15 AM EST
With the launch of AMD’s new flagship Radeon R9 290X only a couple of days behind us, NVIDIA has wasted surprisingly little time in responding the latest salvo in the unending GPU wars. Intended to coincide with the launch of NVIDIA’s holiday GeForce game bundle, the launch of ShadowPlay (more on that later today), and the final (non-beta) release of GameStream, NVIDIA has rounded out their Monday by announcing a pair of price cuts for their high-end consumer video cards, and set a launch date and a launch price for their recently announced GTX 780 Ti.
First and foremost, both GeForce GTX 780 and GeForce GTX 770 are getting price cuts, effective tomorrow (October 29th). GTX 780 will be reduced by $150 to $499, and meanwhile GTX 770 will be getting smaller $70 trim, bringing the price of that card down to $329.
For the GTX 770 this is something of a delayed price cut – AMD launched their competitive Radeon R9 280X just shy of 3 weeks ago – but as the saying goes it’s never too late. Between the two GTX 770 is about 5% faster while 280X has the 3GB memory advantage, so $329 won’t significantly threaten the 280X but it is where we would have expected NVIDIA to place it given their performance advantage.
For the GTX 780 on the other hand, this is a rapid response for NVIDIA, coming just days after the launch of the Radeon R9 290X. The 290X, its $550 price tag, and its superior performance unquestionably left NVIDIA with little choice but to cut prices. But we had not been expecting NVIDA to drop the GTX 780 below $500, even with 290X’s performance advantage. The end result is that now 290X is the more expensive part by 10% (or $50), which coincidentally is also the 290X’s performance advantage. This puts the two cards on equal footing on the price/performance continuum with NVIDIA’s kicker – their superior build quality and cooling performance – remaining. Furthermore we were also able to confirm with NVIDIA that the metal reference cooler will still be available even after the price cut, so alongside the collection of custom designs we’ve seen the high performance reference blower will still be an option for buyers seeking a quiet blower.
| Fall 2013 GPU Pricing Comparison | |||||
| AMD | Price | NVIDIA | |||
| $700 | GeForce GTX 780 Ti (Nov. 7th) | ||||
| Radeon R9 290X | $550 | ||||
| $500 | GeForce GTX 780 | ||||
| $330 | GeForce GTX 770 | ||||
| Radeon R9 280X | $300 | ||||
| $250 | GeForce GTX 760 | ||||
| Radeon R9 270X | $200 | ||||
| $180 | GeForce GTX 660 | ||||
| $150 | GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | ||||
| Radeon R7 260X | $140 | ||||
Meanwhile, as previously mentioned today’s announcement also coincides with the launch of NVIDIA’s “The Way It’s Meant to Be Played Holiday Bundle with SHIELD” promotion, which for both the GTX 780 and GTX 770 will consist of Assassins’ Creed IV, Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and the $100 SHIELD discount. So on top of NVIDIA’s price cuts they will also be offering an unusually strong bundle in direct opposition to AMD’s price premium 290X Battlefield 4 bundle. The true value/meaningfulness of a bundle will as always ultimately depend on the buyer, but it’s very unusual to see such a significant bundle attached to what’s already a competitively priced card. So come tomorrow when these price cuts hit, NVIDIA is going to be in a very good position to counter 280X and 290X.
| NVIDIA Holiday Game Bundles | |||||
| Video Card | Bundle | Shield Discount | |||
| GeForce GTX 770/780/Titan | Assassin's Creed IV, Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist | $100 | |||
| GeForce GTX 660/660Ti/670/680/760 | Assassin's Creed IV, Splinter Cell: Blacklist | $50 | |||
| GeForce GTX 650 Series | $75 Free-To-Play (Continuing) | None | |||
| GeForce GT 640 (& Below) | None | None | |||
Finally, along with the announcement of tomorrow’s price cuts NVIDIA has also announced the launch date for the previously announced GeForce GTX 780 Ti: November 7th (next Thursday). Furthermore NVIDIA has also announced that it will be priced at $699, placing it $200 above the GTX 780 and $150 above the 290X. We still don’t have the specs for the GTX 780 Ti, but the fact that NVIDIA is pricing it so far above the 290X indicates that they have a lot of confidence that they will be able to beat 290X’s performance, and will do so by enough of a margin to justify the price. This isn’t wholly unexpected – after all, GTX 780 wasn’t a fully enabled GK110 consumer part – so it should be interesting to see just what NVIDIA has prepared to carry on as their new gamer flagship card.
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mfergus - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
AMD did the same thing when the 7970 was released. It's just business as usual.Hrel - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
GTX760 needs a $50 price cut.aakash_sin - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
+1Conduit - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
The R9-290X custom cooled editions will be the ones to go for, they will bring the temps back down to normal levels while significantly outperforming the GTX 780.I find it funny that Nvidia has bundled a bunch of poorly received games (reviews were generally not favorable for these games) and a Shield coupon, let's face it, who the hell wants to stream PC games to a tiny little screen with poor controls when you can just connect a HDMI cable to a TV?
Sandcat - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Exactly. As it is, the 290x can't overclock worth a crap, so a 780 with a nice OC negates any performance difference. Non-ref cooler should help ameliorate that.The Von Matrices - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
So you're going to argue that AMD charging $30 for a BF4 bundle is better than NVidia giving away three recent AAA games for free.Also, how can you even say that the bundled games' reviews are generally not favorable? Splinter Cell Blacklist and Batman: Arkham Origins got "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic and Assassins' Creed IV isn't even released yet. I don't get your argument.
I also don't necessarily agree with the purpose of Shield, but you don't have to buy it so why complain about a discount?
Custom cooled R9 290X's won't be here for a month or two. There's no point in waiting for one when you can get a $499 GTX 780 right now.
Conduit - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
I like the GTX 780 at $499, but personally if I was to buy a enthusiast class GPU I would just get the 290X with the BF4 bundle for Mantle (which will allow it to embarrass the GTX 780 in Mantle supported games) as well as guaranteed future proofing due to next-gen consoles having GCN gpu's. When all the next gen games are released AMD card's will have better performance.Also I wasn't talking about Metacritic's "generally favourable" definition. I was talking about my definition, 79 is not a good score for me, I know it sounds very critical but I probably wouldn't buy a game less than 85, which is pretty much barely cutting it to me.
I'm not saying people shouldn't buy 780's now, but I really dislike the fact that Nvidia was ripping consumer's off and hope they lose profit this quarter as a lesson to them.
The Von Matrices - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
I appreciate the reasoned arguments, but I fail to see how free bundled games diminish a card's value, especially when the alternative is paying $30 extra for a bundle. I also think you are putting too much faith in Mantle given that there is only one guaranteed game and just a promise from AMD that there will be more. If you are the type of person who replaces cards every 1 or 2 years then assuming best case scenario Mantle will only be hitting its prime once the card is obsolete.As far as ripping off consumers, I like lower prices too, but I dislike how the blame for the high prices is placed solely on NVidia. Sure, NVidia set the prices, but AMD kept the 7970 as their high end product for a ridiculous 22 months. At least NVidia refreshed their lineup with GK110. If there's anyone to blame for NVidia's prices it's AMD for waiting two years to replace the 7970.
EJS1980 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Splinter Cell:Blacklist has a Metacritic score of 85, Arkhman Origins is around 80, and AC4 hasn't even been released/reviewed yet, even though anyone with a pulse could tell you that it will score pretty well (like EVERY AC to date!).So, your ridiculous attempt to disparage the Nvidia games bundle is as petty as it is incorrect. :(
Footman36 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Just bought an EVGA GTX 780 Classified from Newegg for $579 down from $699 and it comes with the Holiday season game bundle. That's what I call a good deal. The Classified is as fast as the stock R9 290X and if I need more speed I guess I can step up next month to the GTX 780 TI. Price drops available now on Newegg....