In a bid to not let ATI, graphics products group of Advanced Micro Devices, to gain market share in performance-mainstream market segment, Nvidia Corp. has reduced the recommended pricing of its GeForce GTX 260 core 216 to $199 in order to compete against ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB at the same price-point.

Last week ATI reduced the recommended price of its Radeon HD 4870 512MB and 4870 1GB graphics cards to $149 and $199, respectively, in order to respond to the formal launch of Nvidia GeForce GTS 250, which is a re-branded GeForce 9800 GTX+. Nvidia is not standing still and lowers the price-tag of its GeForce GTX 260 core 216 to $199 level.

At press time several online stores in the U.S., including Newegg.com, offered a number of GeForce GTX 260-branded graphics cards for about $200. Some graphics cards came with 192 activated stream processors and the more expensive models sported 216 functional stream processors.

It is hardly easy for Nvidia to sell the GeForce GTX 260 core 216 at $199 price-point since ATI’s Radeon HD 4870 features smaller graphics core, which means it should be cheaper to make, and utilizes less complex print circuit board, which should also be more affordable. Therefore, Nvidia must ensure that it still makes money on its product at relatively low price-point.

Nvidia did not comment on the news-story.

Tags: Nvidia, Geforce, G200b, 55nm