We expect that ATI will drop the price of the Radeon HD 4870 X2 cards soon, as NVIDIA will launch the GeForce GTX 295. Until it releases a chip that will replace their RV770 they just don't really have any products to fight NVIDIA's latest update. The 40nm chips are going to launch toward the middle of the year, at least the performance part will and you do know that the R700, well the Radeon HD 4870 X2 actually has two of these RV770 chips. Once ATI releases a 40nm successor to the chip, you can expect a newer dual chip card. The price drop is imminent they simply have to do it and this will put some additional pressure on the already shaken NVIDIA, although they lack the performance edge. - FudZilla

ATI Just Doesn't Have GeForce GTX 295 Dual Answer

Now 2009 is expected to be a rough year and ATI will certainly not give out without a decent fight, it just doesn't have the right chips to fight back. The 55nm GT200b has just started shipping and things are starting to look good for NVIDIA partners. Since the release of the RV770 chips and the Radeon HD 4870 series, NVIDIA partners had a really rough ride. Some NVIDIA only partners, such as XFX and Gainward, went to ATI in order to save some sales figures, and EVGA remains the only NVIDIA exclusive partner, with just the rather weak BFG as an exception. Though it is certainly not as NVIDIA planned their future.

The ones that want to make more money on NVIDIA sales things based upon the GT200b and the newer 55nm based GeForce GTX 260, the upcoming GeForce GTX 285 relaunch and the GeForce GTX 295 will make things better, and they all expect the sales to pick up. The last quarter of the year was probably the worst quarter for NVIDIA sales since we can remember and partners simply hope that the start of 2009 will put their minds at ease.