Manufacturers often decide to release low memory versions of high end graphic cards simply in order to reduce costs. This is the case for the Radeon HD 3850 and GeForce 8800 GT which are offered in 256 MB versions. So are these good deals for gamers?
Simulating a position on the market
If for AMD launching a 256 MB version of its Radeon HD 3850 is somewhat logical because it is both a high performance yet economical card, it’s a different story for the GeForce 8800 GT which is more in the high end. In addition, the 512 MB GeForce 8800 GT is already in a more aggressive market position than what Nvidia would have hoped for and so launching a less expensive 256 MB version isn’t too interesting from an economical point of view.
Why release such a product? Quite simply to keep AMD from having an advantage (especially on paper) in this market segment. In other words, by offering a GeForce 8800 GT 256 MB Nvidia can at least pretend being there with a comparable competitive product. The only thing is that the GeForce 8800 GT 256 MB is actually found for a little more than 200€, or a little more expensive than a Radeon HD 3850 512 MB, and much more expensive than the 170€ of the Radeon HD 3850 256 MB.
Always trying to rival AMD’s solutions, Nvidia has pushed its partners to reduce production costs, suggesting that they use slower and therefore less expensive memory. This is a tactic that we find more and more bothersome and which can actually be called misleading because some GeForce 8800 GTs actually shouldn't be sold under the same name. These “illegitimate” cards are thus equipped with 700 MHz memory instead of the announced 900 MHz in official specifications. Note that AMD also sometimes takes this liberty, for example, announcing at the product launch a Radeon HD 3650 that will have 800 MHz or 500 MHz memory while both cards are sold under the same name.
A little more seriousness in this area on the part of AMD and Nvidia would be appreciated. Now that this is said, let’s move on to the tests.
