Thread: AMD raises the cost of the Radeon HD 5850

AMD has just learned that its ATI Radeon HD 5850 would see its price rise in the coming days. This would meet a success greater than expected. Blaming the output of the economic crisis that hit last twelve months (we've seen everything!), AMD justify this increase by the rising costs of its manufacturers.

One can hardly imagine that the firm had miscalculated the cost of the final product. The only likely explanation we believe AMD had commissioned a limited quantity of wafers etched in 40 nanometers to TSMC, that at a certain price (when you literally do not give much for the 40 nm process from Taiwanese foundry?) And is found today have to wait to see pay more to have the new chips ...

Or more simply, AMD wants to increase its margins on what he describes so well as one of the only solutions (the other being its sister ATI Radeon HD 5870 and HD 5770-5750) DirectX 11 compatible market. However, if the reference is successful, it is precisely because it is much more accessible than the Radeon HD 5870! The price differential vis-à-vis the performance gap we had also surprised at the launch of these cards.

It is possible that AMD has decided to reduce this gap ... the worst of ways, by increasing the price of the cheapest, rather than lower than the most expensive! The decision is all the more bizarre it could play in favor of NVIDIA. The only goal of the firm to the chameleon for this quarter is to wait the potential buyers of Radeon HD 5000 to launch its Fermi (GF100 / GT300). If they were seeking an excuse to do exactly that, they might well have found!

If our information is correct, AMD would move its ATI Radeon HD 5850 to 279 dollars instead of 259 dollars or 20 dollars more...