With AMD set to launch their new 1080p-focused Radeon RX 5600 XT next Tuesday, NVIDIA isn’t wasting any time in shifting their own position to prepare for AMD’s latest video card. Just in time for next week’s launch, the company and its partners have begun cutting the prices of their GeForce RTX 2060 cards. This includes NVIDIA’s own Founders Edition card as well, with the company cutting the price of that benchmark card to $299.

The timing, of course, is anything but coincidental. AMD’s Radeon RX 5600 XT announcement back at CES already revealed a significant portion of AMD’s hand, particularly that the card would launch at $279, and that the company is expecting the card to outperform NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, their own $279 card. Assuming AMD’s performance claims hold true, then NVIDIA would need to act; either the GTX 1660 Ti or RTX 2060 would need to come down in price for NVIDIA to maintain a competitive edge, and the latter is the direction NVIDIA has decided to take.

Even at $299, the RTX 2060 is not going to be a precise counter to the $279 RX 5600 XT. But the junior TU106 card packs more performance than the GTX 1660 Ti, as well as the complete Turing architecture feature set, making it the strongest hand NVIDIA can play. As always, we’ll see where things land on Tuesday for both AMD and NVIDIA, but it should make for an interesting fight.

On the whole, price adjustments for NVIDIA are quite rare. While prices of NVIDIA cards do tend to fall over time, the company seldom adjusts official pricing in any capacity. Even this week’s cuts aren’t wholly official; NVIDIA hasn’t announced a price cut so much as sent out a reminder that RTX 2060 cards can be found for $299. But regardless, where NVIDIA leads on pricing their board partners will follow, and EVGA, Gigabyte, and others have already begun releasing new cards and shifting the pricing of other cards to reach the new $299 level.

Q1 2020 GPU Pricing Comparison
AMD Price NVIDIA
Radeon RX 5700 $329  
  $299 GeForce RTX 2060
Radeon RX 5600 XT $279 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
  $229 GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB $199/$209 GeForce GTX 1660
Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB $169/$159 GeForce GTX 1650 Super
  $149 GeForce GTX 1650
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  • scineram - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link

    Maybe AMD keeps those around for the WSA?
  • Eliadbu - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link

    remember that 12nm process turing is manufactured is highly refined 16nm which by it self exits since 2014 meaning it an iteration of 6 yo process node and for companies like TSMC this mean ages so costs are down and yields are up, by now Turing sold enough to cover investment they can cut the prices even more. I don't think they are low-balling with this price drop but the margins are quite thin by now. overall I'm glad to see competition in price point where most gamers would probably spend, but for me I need the reduction in the high-end that where I've been buying cards in the last few years and that where competition is truly lacking.
  • Irata - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link

    nVidia might find themselves in the unfortunate position where their GPU are being replaced with Intel's XE on the OEM side.

    Just look at Intel powered laptops and even desktop / AIO systems from OEM. Most of those have an nVidia GPU and rarely on the higher end. If Intel's XE GPU is good enough to replace those and Intel makes the OEM a compelling bundle offer (which I am sure they will), then nVidia's air supply will dwindle.

    AMD does not really need to care since their GPU are usually not in any Intel based systems in the first place and if they continue to take market share away from Intel then they gain.

    For Intel this would also not be that bad even if they continue to lose market share on desktop and mobile because their part of each system's BOM would increase and that is actually their new strategy.
  • sullami - Friday, January 17, 2020 - link

    I don't see how AMD is forced to cut the price of the 5600 xt when it only sits a few dollars below the 5700, truth is Nvidia already got caught with their pants down on the 5700 prices changing at the last minute.
  • drexnx - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    meshes well with the rumor they restarted 2070 production - maybe a theoretical realignment to be 2060 - 299
    2060S - 369
    2070 - 399
    2070S - 469?
  • DanNeely - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    All super branding hype not withstanding, stopping the original 2070 was a bit of a surprise in the first place; since it left them without a product for 0 defect TU106 dies.
  • jabbadap - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    Laptop RTX 2070 and Quadro RTX 4000 have full die.
  • eek2121 - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    They may not have had any 0-defect dies. It depends on the complexity of the GPU and how it was manufactured. The 2070 series may have also had little demand due to price. As I stated above, If the rumors are true, then they are re-aligning the 2xxx series in preparation for the 1xxx series to be phased out and the next gen to be introduced.
  • Bulat Ziganshin - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    If the don't had undefective days, then 2070 were supplied for year by a miracle? )))
  • DanNeely - Thursday, January 16, 2020 - link

    The original 2070 was a zero defect model; every one of them came with all the cores activated.

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