ATI has really been pushing the envelope lately with the release of the HD 4870, 4850 and 4870 X2 video cards redefining the price/performance leadership for the high-end and enthusiast video card markets respectively. They have, in fact forced NVIDIA to lower their prices for their high-end GTX 280/260 cards to compete better with their ATI counterparts. Competition is a good thing as it leads to better prices and better performance from those prices. But the vast majority of video card sales is not in the $200-500 price range.
Video cards like the GeForce 9600GT and the HD 3650 sell far more cards than the high end cards as people buy far more mid-range cards than the high end. 2/3s of the cards sold in the retail sector are priced under $100 according to Mercury Research. The trend on video cards has been for the chip makers to release a high-end card then a mainstream card. ATI's most recent high-end release was the HD4870 which retails under $300. The mainstream version of this card is the HD 4670 card which is on the test bench today and the basis for today's review.
