Gone in a couple of weeks? And the article was published in mid-October? I just got off the phone with Digital Storm They have plenty of GTX 295s and 285s and it's almost mid-November. They're expectiing a "big shipment" of Radeon 5870s next week. They did acknowledge a shortage of 5870s but I could still order a PC from them and get a 5870, no problem.

The rumors have "converged" on limited availability of HD58xx at the end of November. It is rumored a little less than half the HD58xx cards go to OEMs for installation in new systems. That squares with Digital Storm's claim that a shipment is due next week.

It is rumored HD58xx shortages will be a dim memory in about 10 weeks. We'll see on that one -- as it is based on "spin" from TSMC.

I don't know which school of business you went to but higher manufacturing costs don't necessarily mean higher profit margins. Especially in a business as competitive as video cards. For example if something costs $100 to make and ship to final distribution and a similar quality (not the same) costs $85 to make and ship to final distribution but sells for $200. Then they have a 55-65% profit margin built into the MSRP...Is the other company going to sell for that same profit margin...heck no they are going to match the final MSRP just to make their product competitive.

In the beginning Nvidia had a lower cost of manufacturing for at least as good if not better product than ATI. Then they bought a few companies that were struggling in debt and AMD bought out ATI...nevermind you probably know the history.

Anyway back on track...high cost of manufacturing does not equal higher profit margins. I don't care what business you are in.

We actually agree totally.

I was indicating that Nvidia believes it has a "fan base" that will pay high prices for the "fastest". And, it probably does. Thing is, their cards do have to be the fastest, or they cannot make the money.

Right now, Nvidia is in a bind because the HD5870 is faster and cheaper to make than the G285 while being equal and cheaper to make than the two GPU G295. Thus, Nvidia cannot lower prices enough on those expensive cards to be competitive -- and still profit.

Things will be much worse for Nvidia with the G300 if it is not faster than the HD5870. So, Nvidia probably will not release it until it is faster.

As you indicate, high manufacturing cost will "limit" profit in "normal" competitive situations.