Radeon 9700 Prices

[Alaron]

I have been watching Newegg lately, waiting for the prices on the 9700Pro to drop. I expected them to fall soon after the release of the 9800. I checked them today and saw that the 9700s are all up from around $300 to $350! The regular 9700s are still the same, but I was amazed at the jump on the Pros. Is this a marketing ploy by ATI to make as much as possible on the remaing 9700Pros? Does anyone know if they are going to come back down soon? Any comments welcome.

[TwoRails]

That are still the 2nd "latest-n-greatest" so I wouldn't expect them to drop too much more any time soon. Still, At $299, which is $100 less then the next model up (the 9800 Pro), is not a bad price drop.

[Alaron]

I realize that they are still the 2nd greatest card but the prices havent dropped at all. They were all at $300-$320. Now they are up at $349. I was wondering why the sudden upshot.

[TwoRails]

Maybe I don't follow.... Shortly before the 9800 pro came out, the 9700 pro was the $399 card. Now the 9700 pro is $299 and the 9800 pro is the $399 card. Even Best Buy is selling them for these prices. I just looked at NewEgg and they don't even have a 9700 listed, only AIW 9700's which, of course, are more expensive at $349. (I even did a search on 9700 and the only thing that came up was the AIW's... Don't know why they aren't listing the 9700 right now...)

[Alaron]

Retailers like BestBuy was selling the 9700Pro for $399 but Newegg's 9700Pros have been around the $300 mark, such as the $301 PowerColor card here: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...alue=3048,3668 Now they have jumped to $349, like the FIC at the top of that page. I had figured they would drop a little from the $301 price, not jump up $50.

[TwoRails]

I didn't look at the "powered by" vid card, only in the ATI section at NewEgg. And I was just at Best Buy (and last weekend, too) and they have the 9800 Pro in stock for $399, and the 9700 Pro in stock for $299.