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The GTX 1070 launched in June 2016 with an MSRP of $379. Typical prices at the end of 2018 for that same product are above $400 even after the newer RTX 2000 se

The GTX 1070 launched in June 2016 with an MSRP of $379. Typical prices at the end of 2018 for that same product are above $400 even after the newer RTX 2000 series has launched. I and pretty much every other PC gamer I know have been holding off buying upgrades until prices come back to some level of sanity. I don't understand how Nvidia (and EVGA, XFX, MSI, Zotac, Gigabyte, etc) can keep trying to sell at these absurd prices then turn around and complain about how not enough people are buying them or they don't make enough money. Have their costs unexpectedly shot up on their two-year-old manufacturing processes? Or did they just bank on the crypto bubble to prop up inflating GPU prices forever and were surprised when it didn't happen? Going forward they've doubled down on even higher prices for next generation, with versions of the RTX 2070 currently at $500 to $600. https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/video-card/#gpu.chipset.geforce-gtx-1070 https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/video-card/#gpu.chipse... EDIT - I should add, my first thought on this was that gamers are no longer a market that Nvidia cares about, and they're hoping that high prices will still sell to the machine learning (where people are frequently spending someone else's money on a large quantity of cards) and cryptocurrency markets. Then crypto dropped out, and ML are considering other options even if Nvidia are the top performers. But the RTX series is pitched for realtime raytracing effects in upcoming games, which sends the message that they do take gaming seriously. But I think they're out of touch with how much people are willing to spend on it.

km3k 8y ago
Agreed. I'm sticking with my GTX 960 that I got for under $200 new three years ago. I haven't seen anything with a better performance per dollar ratio than I got at that time. Anything I buy would be a downgrade by that metric.
- algon33 8y ago
  What? You can get GTX 1070's for $200-$250 right now off ebay. Admittedly used, but crypto mining doesn't harm a card that much. If you want new, GTX 1060s are going for under $200$. Then again, AMD's making pretty bold claims about their pricing for next year, so you could hang on.
  - wlesieutre 8y ago
    Is that really a good idea? A miner's incentive is to overclock the cards and run them as hard as they can before dumping the nearly fried hardware on some unsuspecting sucker. No way to check whether they've been run in reasonable temperature and voltage ranges, and no warranty either. That seems like a gamble, but I suppose that's why they're cheaper. Definitely planning to see what AMD has coming. I'd like to have the Mac + eGPU option open when my Wintendo kicks the bucket, and AMD are the only ones supporting that right now.
    - Slartie 8y ago
      Actually most miners have tried to get the best possible hash per kilowatt ratio out of their cards, which makes sense given that electricity cost is basically the main cost of their business. And the best ratio isn't achieved by overclocking and -volting, but by undervolting and underclocking. Very constant workload, way below peak capacity - I bet that crypto usage does put much less wear and tear on the chips than heavy gaming use.
      - ansible 8y ago
        Even so, it may be a good idea to take the heatsink off a former GPU mining card, and clean and replace the thermal paste.
      - wlesieutre 8y ago
        Good point, I'm not used to thinking about GPU purchases in terms of electricity cost
  - kod 8y ago
    Where are you finding new 1060s for under 200? https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=373&sort=price&page=1 https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=373&sort=pri...
    - JudasGoat 8y ago
      https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=+GTX+1060&_sacat=0&LH_ItemCondition=3000&Memory%2520Size=6GB&_dcat=27386&_sop=15&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=+GTX+1060&_sa...
suresk 8y ago
I think a lasting effect of the crypto craze is that it showed enough gamers were willing to pay higher prices that nvidia shifted the prices of its card up by a few hundred bucks. The RTX 2xxx series has been really disappointing from a price/performance aspect.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  I'm looking forward to seeing what AMD has up their sleeves for their next generation. I don't expect it to compete at the very top end performance, but I'm betting the performance per dollar will be more in my ballpark.
gnode 8y ago
> Have their costs unexpectedly shot up on their two-year-old manufacturing processes? The price doesn't reflect what it costs them, it reflects what they believe they'll make the largest profit margin on. > Or did they just bank on the crypto bubble... It's investors that were banking on that. Share price doesn't say anything about the success of a company (except for ability to raise money), it's just a consensus of estimates about future value. NVidia are still very successful in their original niche of making graphics cards, and haven't sacrificed this in favour of crypto.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  Nvidia was banking on the crypto bubble too, they overproduced graphics cards and then took 300,000 of them back from an OEM partner because the market was saturated. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4182662-nvidia-appears-gpu-inventory-problem https://seekingalpha.com/article/4182662-nvidia-appears-gpu-... To me, that says "priced too high," they might be making great margins but they couldn't sell all of them. I probably would've bought one if the price were more in line with the GTX 900 series. At this point I'm hanging on to see how AMD looks, either for getting one of their new cards or hoping they can put some pricing pressure on Nvidia.

km3k 8y ago

Agreed. I'm sticking with my GTX 960 that I got for under $200 new three years ago. I haven't seen anything with a better performance per dollar ratio than I got at that time. Anything I buy would be a downgrade by that metric.

algon33 8y ago
What? You can get GTX 1070's for $200-$250 right now off ebay. Admittedly used, but crypto mining doesn't harm a card that much. If you want new, GTX 1060s are going for under $200$. Then again, AMD's making pretty bold claims about their pricing for next year, so you could hang on.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  Is that really a good idea? A miner's incentive is to overclock the cards and run them as hard as they can before dumping the nearly fried hardware on some unsuspecting sucker. No way to check whether they've been run in reasonable temperature and voltage ranges, and no warranty either. That seems like a gamble, but I suppose that's why they're cheaper. Definitely planning to see what AMD has coming. I'd like to have the Mac + eGPU option open when my Wintendo kicks the bucket, and AMD are the only ones supporting that right now.
  - Slartie 8y ago
    Actually most miners have tried to get the best possible hash per kilowatt ratio out of their cards, which makes sense given that electricity cost is basically the main cost of their business. And the best ratio isn't achieved by overclocking and -volting, but by undervolting and underclocking. Very constant workload, way below peak capacity - I bet that crypto usage does put much less wear and tear on the chips than heavy gaming use.
    - ansible 8y ago
      Even so, it may be a good idea to take the heatsink off a former GPU mining card, and clean and replace the thermal paste.
    - wlesieutre 8y ago
      Good point, I'm not used to thinking about GPU purchases in terms of electricity cost
- kod 8y ago
  Where are you finding new 1060s for under 200? https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=373&sort=price&page=1 https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=373&sort=pri...
  - JudasGoat 8y ago
    https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=+GTX+1060&_sacat=0&LH_ItemCondition=3000&Memory%2520Size=6GB&_dcat=27386&_sop=15&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=+GTX+1060&_sa...

suresk 8y ago

I think a lasting effect of the crypto craze is that it showed enough gamers were willing to pay higher prices that nvidia shifted the prices of its card up by a few hundred bucks. The RTX 2xxx series has been really disappointing from a price/performance aspect.

wlesieutre 8y ago
I'm looking forward to seeing what AMD has up their sleeves for their next generation. I don't expect it to compete at the very top end performance, but I'm betting the performance per dollar will be more in my ballpark.

gnode 8y ago

> Have their costs unexpectedly shot up on their two-year-old manufacturing processes? The price doesn't reflect what it costs them, it reflects what they believe they'll make the largest profit margin on. > Or did they just bank on the crypto bubble... It's investors that were banking on that. Share price doesn't say anything about the success of a company (except for ability to raise money), it's just a consensus of estimates about future value. NVidia are still very successful in their original niche of making graphics cards, and haven't sacrificed this in favour of crypto.

wlesieutre 8y ago
Nvidia was banking on the crypto bubble too, they overproduced graphics cards and then took 300,000 of them back from an OEM partner because the market was saturated. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4182662-nvidia-appears-gpu-inventory-problem https://seekingalpha.com/article/4182662-nvidia-appears-gpu-... To me, that says "priced too high," they might be making great margins but they couldn't sell all of them. I probably would've bought one if the price were more in line with the GTX 900 series. At this point I'm hanging on to see how AMD looks, either for getting one of their new cards or hoping they can put some pricing pressure on Nvidia.