[evilsofa]

ATi's 2400 Pro, 2400 XT, 2600 Pro and 2600 XT are hitting the review sites, and seem slated for an early to mid July release.

PcPerspective
Neoseeker
Hothardware
guru3d

Universal verdict seems to be that the 2600XT underperforms the 8600GT.

The 2600XT is targeted for the $150 pricepoint, even though the 8600GT owns it for $120. The 2900XT is selling for $380 or more, even though the 8800GTS 640MB at least ties it for $340. ATi has nothing between $150 and $380, where the 8800GTS 320MB sells for $260 (and no, DX9 cards do not count anymore).

At this point, I truly do not understand what ATi thinks they're doing. This is a complete systematic failure.

[Fozzik]

Sounds kind of like they know they are behind from a performance standpoint, and so they are banking on two of the oldest, most faithful forces in the technology market to keep them afloat until they can get their feet back under them:

1. The vast majority of people don't understand what they are buying.
2. The vast majority of people could care less what hardware they have.

With those two things in mind, you can pretty much price your products however you want. Sadly, ATI is basically surrendering the fight in the enthusiast market for the time being...but that isn't where the money is made anyway. I'm guessing AMD is banking on the fact that the mainstream market will be moving towards integration of CPU/GPU in the future and they will be positioned well for that.

Of course, it's also probably a heavy dose of confusion and disorganization from the buyout, and the fact that AMD is probably sticking their fingers (managers) into lots of places in ATI where they really don't belong. Hopefully AMD comes out the other side of this intact...they really are fighting an up-hill two-front war at the moment. They've survived with brains and good design decisions in the past... I hope they can get back on the horse that brought 'em.