We've had a full-blown day of Radeon HD 7950 coverage (see here, here and here), and we can think of no better way to top it off than to take a look at launch-day availability and pricing.
To give you a bit of background, AMD told us this past week that the Radeon HD 7950 would launch at £349.99 inc VAT. But a manufacturer's SRP doesn't always match up with retail pricing at launch - particularly when high-end graphics cards are concerned.
Is the 7950 going to be an exception? Here's a look at pricing and availability at 4pm on day one:
Radeon HD 7950 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| retailer | product | availability | price |
 |
ScanFX HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £364.55* |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £368.15* | |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB OC | In stock | £380.15* | |
| XFX HD 7950 3GB | Pre-order | £383.70* | |
| MSI HD 7950 3GB OC | Pre-order | £383.75* | |
| ASUS HD 7950 3GB DirectCU II | Pre-order | £384.95* | |
| Sapphire HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £388.55* | |
| XFX HD 7950 3GB DD Edition | Pre-order | £389.16* | |
| XFX HD 7950 3GB Black Edition | Pre-order | £392.10* | |
| Gigabyte HD 7950 3GB Windforce | In stock | £395.27* | |
| ASUS HD 7950 3GB DirectCU II TOP | Pre-order | £395.45* | |
| Sapphire HD 7950 3GB OC | Pre-order | £412.55* | |
| XFX HD 7950 3GB DD Black Edition | Pre-order | £419.70* | |
| ebuyer.com | VTX3D HD 7950 3GB | Pre-order | £349.98 |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £357.76 | |
| Sapphire HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £358.61 | |
| Sapphire HD 7950 3GB OC | In stock | £376.33 | |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB PCS+ | In stock | £379.98 | |
| Gigabyte HD 7950 3GB WindForce | In stock | £384.99 | |
| novatech.co.uk | Novatech HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £339.98 |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £349.99 | |
| Sapphire HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £359.99 | |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB PCS+ | In stock | £369.98 | |
| Gigabyte HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £379.99 | |
| overclockers.co.uk | Sapphire HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £347.99 |
| OcUK HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £349.99 | |
| VTX3D HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £353.99 | |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £354.95 | |
| HIS HD 7950 3GB | In stock | £359.99 | |
| PowerColor HD 7950 3GB PCS+ | In stock | £379.99 | |
| Gigabyte HD 7950 3GB WindForce | In stock | £389.99 | |
| XFX HD 7950 3GB DD Edition | Pre-order | £389.99 | |
| Sapphire HD 7950 3GB OC | In stock | £399.95 | |
| MSI HD 7950 3GB Twin Frozr III | Pre-order | £401.99 | |
*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum. |
|||
There's certainly no shortage of choice. The Radeon HD 7950 is available in a variety of reference and custom designs, and true to AMD's word, cards are available at £349.99. Shop around and you can quite easily shave a further £10 off that figure.
But it isn't all good news. With no next-gen competition from NVIDIA (at least not until late February or early March if you believe the rumours), AMD and its partners are seemingly happy to keep pricing in or around GTX 580 territory. And you can see the logic; the 7950 is a superior part, and it's available for the same money.
As a result, launch-day 7950 pricing ranges from around £340 for a standard card, up to £420 for overclocked models. There's clearly a lot of wiggle room, as Sapphire, one of AMD's premier partners, has told us that it's aiming for £359.99 with its pre-overclocked and custom-cooled HD 7950 OC. Sounds good, but that very card is available today priced between £376.33 and £412.55. Pricing should settle in the coming days, but keep an eye out for Kepler - if NVIDIA's next is competitive, AMD may feel the need to wield the price-cutting axe. Or vice versa.
