ATI has just launched its Radeon HD 4770 card, the first desktop 40nm card that should be available as of today. Our review should be up in the next few hours. Americans will have to pay about $110 with rebate and after they purchase the card they will get $10 back, while in Europe the card is listed from €85 to a more realistic €99 but still, hardly available.

Nvidia on the other hand realizes that its Geforce 9800GT is not enough to fight the Radeon HD 4770, but it is advising its partners to position the slightly more expensive Geforce GTS 250 against ATI’s new 40nm card.

You can buy GTS 250 for €114, which is not that far away from the HD 4770 price, and once it becomes necessary, we are sure that Nvidia can and will drop the GTS 250 price. 

Radeon HD 4770 primarily replaces the Radeon 4830 card, as the 40nm RV740 chip behind the HD 4770 makes more sense sell for under $100 market than an RV770 that is used in the HD 4830.