NVIDIA Asks Partners to lower cost of 8800 GT
 

Nvidia recently contacted its graphics card partners asking them to reduce the number PCB board layers used in GeForce 8800 GT-based graphics cards from ten to six in order to reduce manufacturing costs and so lower the card's ASP (average selling price) in the market. The redesign would allow the Nvidia cards to compete in terms of pricing with AMD's Radeon HD 3800 series products, according to sources at graphics card makers.

http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20071228PD207.html

So what does that mean?
Will the cards be of reduced quality?

most likely less higher overclocks, but cheaper cards to make:)

That's also what I see happening once the price cut happens, but...

with manufacturers saving $10 per card, will the drop in performance be noticeable for average consumers?

there will be no drop in performance for 8800 GT reference card:)

i've been wanting one
 

i take this as a good thing... all nvidia's partners do is bump up the clock speed say 50mhz and say ok... $50 more. this way you can get a GOOD evga card that's not "superclocked" for less and just do it yourself.

Actually, that is my plan exactly.

I'm also hoping that if the card gets delivered, let's say Jan 2nd, I will manage to step it up within 90 days to a GeForce9 series :super: