As nVidia readies itself to recapture the peak of the graphics market with the GeForce4, ATI prepares some counter measures to even things out.
nVidia's prolific product roll-out, has led to the company announcing its latest offering, a full month ahead of ATI's RV250 chip.
According to ATI's marketing heads the best way to combat such a lead is to cut prices.
The recent Radeon 8500, the LE and 7500 cards will receive significant price reductions in order to make them more appealing. The Radeon 8500, it is estimated, will cost a maximum US$299, such a price, for a card carrying Dual View (HYDRAVISION), S video and 128 mb's of DDR memory, is extremely decent.
The 7500 will also receive a hefty reduction in price and will be available for a maximum price of US$149.
The RV250
All these price reductions are fine and are bound to make consumers interested but the real battle, for ATI, is the reception its newest chip will receive. According to ATI the RV250 will be one and a half times faster than the R200 was, giving it an advantage over the GeForce4 MX expected speeds.
The real issue for ATI is whether they will be able to produce the RV250 based cards and the R300, DirectX 9 chip, fast enough. ATI managed to sneak back into competition with nVidia by having direct competition to the GeForce3 readily available, the Radeon 8500.
If their unreliable production past catches up with them and they allow the GeForce4 to rule unchallenged, they could find themselves, once more, far from the spotlight.
