4 ms·

It's quite frustrating that this is becoming the norm, whether it be the 3XXX Nvidia cards, Playstation 5s, Ryzen CPUs, why is it that no hardware company can k

by enlyth 6y ago

It's quite frustrating that this is becoming the norm, whether it be the 3XXX Nvidia cards, Playstation 5s, Ryzen CPUs, why is it that no hardware company can keep up with demand these days?

MivLives 6y ago
Scalpers aren't helping. I'd be super curious how many they've gotten vs normal customers.
- recursive 6y ago
  Scalpers don't keep them. They redistribute them to normal customers.
  - jjoonathan 6y ago
    ...at elevated prices. "How much blood did the leech suck?" is a valid question. Dollars would be better units than number of video cards, but the number of video cards passing through the leeches correlates and is still meaningful.
    - recursive 6y ago
      ...at elevated prices ...that the buyers were willing to pay. All non-zero prices are elevated compared to zero. All parties are consenting here.
    - noir_lord 6y ago
      Same with the Series X, I want one of the boy for Xmas, co-worker of my missus managed to get 5 of them, he wanted 650 for a console he paid 450 for. I told her to tell him where to shove it. It's not that I can't afford it, it's that scalpers can go fuck themselves, the boy will be more than happy with Quest 2 and my current gaming PC in the new year when I can build another.
      - recursive 6y ago
        And whoever ends up with the one you didn't buy will be happy too. I see this as a win/win/win.
robert_foss 6y ago
They're all bottle-necked by availability at TSMC.
- xxpor 6y ago
  What's bottlenecking TSMC? The availability of more ASML equipment? The production of silicon? Literal floor space in the foundries? The ability to get stuff in or out of Taiwan?
garaetjjte 6y ago
Probably limited capacity of state-of-the-art foundries.
NikolaeVarius 6y ago
So remember the pandemic
Nullabillity 6y ago
COVID means spiked demand (people are bored) while reducing the supply cap (lockdown, broadened sick leaves, etc). Combine that with the separate spike caused by a solid HW generation all-around and the result shouldn't be too surprising.
drewg123 6y ago
What ever happened to the laws of supply and demand? If the demand is high, and the supply is limited, they should be raising their prices. Stockx says an xbox series X is worth $750, a PS5 is worth $950, and a Ryzen 5900X worth $800. Why can't vendors just raise their prices, so I can buy from a retail outlet I trust, rather than a scalper.
- leetcrew 6y ago
  honestly I wonder the same thing, but I think the average consumer views this as something like "first-party scalping". large price movements (in either direction) immediately after release make people dislike the brand. still doesn't make sense to me. these are computer parts, not insulin; set the price as high as is necessary to keep units in stock.
- gameswithgo 6y ago
  I know some of them worry about angering customers by "price gouging", but customers get mad when they can't get the product too. Might as well make money on the anger.
  - CameronNemo 6y ago
    In a way people are getting gouged regardless by competing for a limited quanto. Whoever gets lucky and gets their hands on a unit can just go and upsell it at a higher price By not increasing their prices AMD is letting the after market have that surplus. Sure they don't need to get their hands dirty (and risk negative PR), but also it means they can't ship as many units or profit as much as they could have.
- chungus_khan 6y ago
  A lot of it is because eventually production will catch up, and in the meantime companies want to catch consumer attention with the actual intended retail price while still big in the news rather than scaring them away with a higher launch price and then dropping it later and risk not catching the attention of uninvested customers. There is also some marketing value in having a product sell out quickly.
bcrosby95 6y ago
This happened with the Nvidia 2xxx cards too. I think it's less that they can't keep up with demand, and more that they're "launching" earlier in the production process. In the past they would have just launched later.
- oblio 6y ago
  It's also a marketing ploy. It sounds much, much better when all you keep hearing is "out of stock", "sold out". It creates "fear of missing out" (FOMO). You know, like in real life when you see a long queue in front of a shop.
  - ginko 6y ago
    But then by the time they are in stock a successor is already around the corner.
Bayart 6y ago
For starters all the Xbox, PS5, Ryzen and RX chips come from the exact same production line. And the Samsung N8 yield doesn't seem to be anything special regarding Nvidia. Add that repeated waves of Covid lock-downs have made demand explode and that we're in the busiest period of the year anyway...

by enlyth 6y ago

It's quite frustrating that this is becoming the norm, whether it be the 3XXX Nvidia cards, Playstation 5s, Ryzen CPUs, why is it that no hardware company can keep up with demand these days?

MivLives 6y ago

Scalpers aren't helping. I'd be super curious how many they've gotten vs normal customers.

recursive 6y ago
Scalpers don't keep them. They redistribute them to normal customers.
- jjoonathan 6y ago
  ...at elevated prices. "How much blood did the leech suck?" is a valid question. Dollars would be better units than number of video cards, but the number of video cards passing through the leeches correlates and is still meaningful.
  - recursive 6y ago
    ...at elevated prices ...that the buyers were willing to pay. All non-zero prices are elevated compared to zero. All parties are consenting here.
  - noir_lord 6y ago
    Same with the Series X, I want one of the boy for Xmas, co-worker of my missus managed to get 5 of them, he wanted 650 for a console he paid 450 for. I told her to tell him where to shove it. It's not that I can't afford it, it's that scalpers can go fuck themselves, the boy will be more than happy with Quest 2 and my current gaming PC in the new year when I can build another.
    - recursive 6y ago
      And whoever ends up with the one you didn't buy will be happy too. I see this as a win/win/win.

robert_foss 6y ago

They're all bottle-necked by availability at TSMC.

xxpor 6y ago
What's bottlenecking TSMC? The availability of more ASML equipment? The production of silicon? Literal floor space in the foundries? The ability to get stuff in or out of Taiwan?

garaetjjte 6y ago

Probably limited capacity of state-of-the-art foundries.

NikolaeVarius 6y ago

So remember the pandemic

Nullabillity 6y ago

COVID means spiked demand (people are bored) while reducing the supply cap (lockdown, broadened sick leaves, etc). Combine that with the separate spike caused by a solid HW generation all-around and the result shouldn't be too surprising.

drewg123 6y ago

What ever happened to the laws of supply and demand? If the demand is high, and the supply is limited, they should be raising their prices. Stockx says an xbox series X is worth $750, a PS5 is worth $950, and a Ryzen 5900X worth $800. Why can't vendors just raise their prices, so I can buy from a retail outlet I trust, rather than a scalper.

leetcrew 6y ago
honestly I wonder the same thing, but I think the average consumer views this as something like "first-party scalping". large price movements (in either direction) immediately after release make people dislike the brand. still doesn't make sense to me. these are computer parts, not insulin; set the price as high as is necessary to keep units in stock.
gameswithgo 6y ago
I know some of them worry about angering customers by "price gouging", but customers get mad when they can't get the product too. Might as well make money on the anger.
- CameronNemo 6y ago
  In a way people are getting gouged regardless by competing for a limited quanto. Whoever gets lucky and gets their hands on a unit can just go and upsell it at a higher price By not increasing their prices AMD is letting the after market have that surplus. Sure they don't need to get their hands dirty (and risk negative PR), but also it means they can't ship as many units or profit as much as they could have.
chungus_khan 6y ago
A lot of it is because eventually production will catch up, and in the meantime companies want to catch consumer attention with the actual intended retail price while still big in the news rather than scaring them away with a higher launch price and then dropping it later and risk not catching the attention of uninvested customers. There is also some marketing value in having a product sell out quickly.

bcrosby95 6y ago

This happened with the Nvidia 2xxx cards too. I think it's less that they can't keep up with demand, and more that they're "launching" earlier in the production process. In the past they would have just launched later.

oblio 6y ago
It's also a marketing ploy. It sounds much, much better when all you keep hearing is "out of stock", "sold out". It creates "fear of missing out" (FOMO). You know, like in real life when you see a long queue in front of a shop.
- ginko 6y ago
  But then by the time they are in stock a successor is already around the corner.

Bayart 6y ago

For starters all the Xbox, PS5, Ryzen and RX chips come from the exact same production line. And the Samsung N8 yield doesn't seem to be anything special regarding Nvidia. Add that repeated waves of Covid lock-downs have made demand explode and that we're in the busiest period of the year anyway...