The Radeon HD 7970 arrived as the world's fastest single-GPU graphics cards early this year and the lack of competition from Nvidia at the time allowed AMD to have its way with the market, stamping it with an uncharacteristically high retail price of $549. The lower-specced Radeon HD 7950 offered an easier to swallow alternative but still left us waiting for some competitive pressure from Nvidia to force prices down.
Fortunately, that time has come. Starting today, not only is AMD cutting the suggested retail prices for its high-end Radeon HD 7900 series, but it is also throwing in a trio of games for a limited time to sweeten the deal. In a statement the company said that the HD 7970 will now go for as low as $479 and remains "the only enthusiast card available in volume" while the HD 7950 is now "an impulse buy away at $399". In addition, the less powerful AMD Radeon HD 7770 is also getting a cut from $160 to as low as $139.
The free game promotion is being dubbed 'Three for Free' and will include a full copy of Dirt Showdown, Nexuiz and Deus Ex: Human Revolution with each AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series graphics card.
Nvidia may have reclaimed the performance crown with the GeForce GTX 680, but AMD is offering a compelling argument with the Radeon HD 7970 by undercutting its rival by $30-$50 and including three free games. Furthremore, a quick search on Newegg shows GTX 680 products are still out of stock.
Update: AMD just sent us a quick note to clarify that etailers and retailers are just getting the 'Three for Free' promo in place now, so it may not be up and running just yet. It should be in full swing within a couple of weeks.