Planned strategy

Unlike ATI, Nvidia wanted to get the faster GT200 available at launch, and has decided to deliberately push the availability of the slower one for a week.

The reason is simple, they want to force as many people as possible to spend €539 or $649 on Geforce GTX 280 rather than get them an immediate chance to buy €339 or $399 priced Geforce GTX 260.

IT companies are all about making money and we've learned that many partners and distributors have received GTX 260 cards last week, but they won't start selling them before Wednesday.

Since last week saw both ATI and Nvidia change their minds about launch dates; anything is possible, but if all goes according to the plan, GTX 260 should be available on Wednesday the 25th.