Maximum PC

We were thinking about finally going SLI. To match our 8800 GTS-640, the lowest price was $200! I can buy 2, 9500 GT-1GB or 2, 9800 GT-512MB DDR3 cards, either way, for half the cost. What makes this card so expensive, compared to later generations?

It's because suckers still try to get one to SLi with. This is why getting one card now and then a second down the road doesn't work. You go SLi right away or not at all in general.

Supply & Demand

They haven't been manufactured in quite some time so the basic economic theory applies. There aren't many to be bought as new retail products so the price stays high.

You can also chalk it up to retailers not monitoring products that are phasing out which they should lower in price to get rid of their inventory.

It's cause you're buying from a retail outlet - ebay has it for much cheaper. You'll have to bid on those cards though, unless you're willing to go Buy-It-Now for a last-gen card. You could also check Craigslist or similar sites.

They are trying to get rid of old stock. If you were to look at a card vendors website like EVGA for instance the "worst" card you can buy for $200 is a GTX260