Nvidia's dreams of Christmas sales begin to fade

Culver City (CA) - On October 29th Nvidia introduced its GeForce 8800GT targeting the mid-range enthusiast segment. Demand has been high and within days the shelves of retailers were emptied of the cards. Two weeks later we are still in the same situation. Although a new shipment hit the stores last night, this supply appears to be limited. After our initial probe into the premium on the new product we unearthed more information regarding supplies.

In conversations with industry sources, 40,000 units of the GeForce 8800GT have shipped worldwide. To put these volume numbers into perspective, other sources have stated that AMD has already fulfilled orders for 250,000 of its Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 models for its launch later this week. It was stated that an additional 150,000 will ship before year end. Prices for 3800 series cards should ship between $180-220.

Sources told TG Daily that performance difference between AMD and Nvidia’s newest cards are within 10% in some cases and on par in other metrics. If AMD can deliver a high performance part for 2/3 the cost in volume, it could mean the graphics pendulum is about to swing the other direction. With holiday shopping ramping up, a lack of supply and new competition, Nvidia might be getting a lump of coal in its stocking this year.