graphics card prices aren't going to drop below what the typical gamer market price is..
billion dollar chip fabs didnt run production lines basing demand for their products on a couple thousand bitcoin miners.
so u can drop the fantasy that cards are going to go for 'half price'.
all bitcoin mining did was increase demand for a market that already had a large existing demand to begin with.. when it disappears the world doesnt explode and amd doesnt shut down their factories..
the total number of 5830's in existence today is the same as it was before, and the total number of gamers buying them today is the same as it was before.
Whether newegg is selling them or some guy on ebay, it doesnt matter.. the supply is the same and the demand is the same.. people far more informed with the market data figured out those performance/price points long ago
Well, let's do some calculations...
The network currently consists of 14 TH/s.
A 5850 will do 325MH/s with a light overclock.
That'd be 43,076 5850's to match the current network speed.
Or 53,846 5830's.
Or 37,333 5870's.
These are not insignificant numbers.
Now I know, not everyone who is mining bought new hardware to mine with. But really, you only have to look at ebay to see proof that mining really IS having a big effect on ATI video card prices. There are far better gaming cards than the 5870 out there, and yet, the 5870 is selling for much more than them on ebay. What other explanation could there be other than miners are buying them up so fast as to actually affect the price point (which you claim isn't possible)?
And yes, if bitcoin does suddenly drop in value, permanently, and 43000 video cards have to be unloaded, they probably will be going for half of what they are going for today.