Quick question about retail price drops

[mike678]

Ive been looking at how much mega hash certain cards can produce and I noticed that if the price were to be cut for retail versions they would be worth investing in. My question is how often do ati cards drop in price and when can we possibly expect to see a change in price?

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[Tx2000]

They will drop from time to time but usually the significant drops happen when demand is low and/or when the next gen cards are close to coming out (i.e. clearing inventory for them).  So unless one or the other is close to happening, the prices will stay relatively the same, aside from some sales.

[mike678]

I've heard that the 7xxx series is coming out this year so when it does come out any idea how much of a drop in price the 6xxx series will get?

[Mousepotato]

Just "rent" your cards by taking advantage of the 15-day return policy

[mike678]

Just "rent" your cards by taking advantage of the 15-day return policy

I'm pretty sure newegg would not be amused by this lol.

[Tx2000]

I've heard that the 7xxx series is coming out this year so when it does come out any idea how much of a drop in price the 6xxx series will get?

Well it's tough to say.  I'll give you an example.

When the 5850s first came out, they were limited in stock due to the fab process or something of that nature.  They were pretty cheap at the start (around $280 or so) but when I got around to buying one, I had to end up shelling $360 instead because of demand>supply.  Having that said, it's hard to gauge what sort of price drop we can expect if demand is still driving high, especially if the 7xxx is bad at mining (and things are pointing that to be the case).

I think you can expect 20-50 drop in price that may or may not shoot back up as per the demand.  It's all speculation at this point.

[dinzy]

Just "rent" your cards by taking advantage of the 15-day return policy

I'm pretty sure newegg would not be amused by this lol.

Fry's is.  And you can even rent open boxed ones.  Not that I do it, but I have bought and returned so many items from them in the last 4 months, many of which I kept. 

[newguy05]

I've heard that the 7xxx series is coming out this year so when it does come out any idea how much of a drop in price the 6xxx series will get?

2012, and depends on the performance of the new cards. Look at 5970, they didnt go down much at all since 6990 and 5970 perform very similar for bitcoin mining.  Unfortunately by the time 7 series come out mining likely be a thing of the past unless the difficulty stop gapping like it does now.

[Jack of Diamonds]

I've heard that the 7xxx series is coming out this year so when it does come out any idea how much of a drop in price the 6xxx series will get?

2012, and depends on the performance of the new cards. Look at 5970, they didnt go down much at all since 6990 and 5970 perform very similar for bitcoin mining.  Unfortunately by the time 7 series come out mining likely be a thing of the past unless the difficulty stop gapping like it does now.

IMO mining is only dependent on profitability. Hobbyists and for-fun miners are a minority.

If price catches up with difficulty, people will have their farms online even at 10-20m difficulty for 0.10 bitcoins per day.