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Sure, NVIDIA sets an MSRP, but that MSRP is a sticker price given to consumers and not representative of what the manufacturers pay for the chips themselves. Ma

Sure, NVIDIA sets an MSRP, but that MSRP is a sticker price given to consumers and not representative of what the manufacturers pay for the chips themselves. Manufacturers need to make somewhat of a profit, but NVIDIA has encroached on this profit from its manufacturers since the 10-series came out. JayzTwoCents on YouTube recently discussed this while reporting on a meeting he had with EVGA's CEO about EVGA's recent break with NVIDIA [1]. When the 10-series came about, NVIDIA launched the a limited run of the founder's edition graphics cards at $100 above MSRP. Before the 10-series graphics cards, NVIDIA didn't sell cards themselves and went out of its way to make this seem as if this was a limited edition sort of product. Then the 20-series came out with a continuous run of founder's edition cards which were priced at MSRP, directly competing with their previous board partners. Tie this along with the previous attempts to strongarm manufacturers via GPP and chip supply allocations, and I tend to give the gift of charity to the manufacturers and not NVIDIA. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Hcbx33Rb4&t=61s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Hcbx33Rb4&t=61s

paulmd 4y ago
I love this alt-history, because the contemporary view at the time was that the 10-series MSRP was "fake", that it was impossible to find cards under the $700 MSRP, and that the whole thing was a scheme from NVIDIA to market a lower number than you could pay in practice and upcharge for the blower cooler. Partner cards were stacking up in the $725-800 range for 6 months after launch, so they came in above the MSRP, which people justified because they were "premium cards". Very few vendors offered any products at the actual MSRP, EVGA had one that was "only" $20 above MSRP and Zotac had something similar and those two low-cost models were impossible to find for a long time. Now it has gone from "NVIDIA wants to upcharge you for a blower cooler" and it's a dastardly plan from NVIDIA to undercut partners. everyone is real riled up by that EVGA ceo's tantrum but even GN told you to take it with a grain of salt, and other board partners have confirmed that in the last 2 years they've been running 10x their usual profits due to mining. The EVGA ceo spinning it like partners been losing hundreds of dollars per card for years now is false and untrue. Being a partner is generally around 10% margin and even a smaller partner like EVGA should be able to get around 5%. Losing hundreds of dollars per card is something that happened in like, the last month, partners made very healthy margins selling into the mining boom, and the CEO is being disingenuous by pretending that they've lost a bunch of money on it/are running super low margins. Mining was great for margins. https://www.igorslab.de/en/evga-pulls-the-plug-with-loud-bang-yet-it-has-long-been-editorial/ https://www.igorslab.de/en/evga-pulls-the-plug-with-loud-ban...

paulmd 4y ago

I love this alt-history, because the contemporary view at the time was that the 10-series MSRP was "fake", that it was impossible to find cards under the $700 MSRP, and that the whole thing was a scheme from NVIDIA to market a lower number than you could pay in practice and upcharge for the blower cooler. Partner cards were stacking up in the $725-800 range for 6 months after launch, so they came in above the MSRP, which people justified because they were "premium cards". Very few vendors offered any products at the actual MSRP, EVGA had one that was "only" $20 above MSRP and Zotac had something similar and those two low-cost models were impossible to find for a long time. Now it has gone from "NVIDIA wants to upcharge you for a blower cooler" and it's a dastardly plan from NVIDIA to undercut partners. everyone is real riled up by that EVGA ceo's tantrum but even GN told you to take it with a grain of salt, and other board partners have confirmed that in the last 2 years they've been running 10x their usual profits due to mining. The EVGA ceo spinning it like partners been losing hundreds of dollars per card for years now is false and untrue. Being a partner is generally around 10% margin and even a smaller partner like EVGA should be able to get around 5%. Losing hundreds of dollars per card is something that happened in like, the last month, partners made very healthy margins selling into the mining boom, and the CEO is being disingenuous by pretending that they've lost a bunch of money on it/are running super low margins. Mining was great for margins. https://www.igorslab.de/en/evga-pulls-the-plug-with-loud-bang-yet-it-has-long-been-editorial/ https://www.igorslab.de/en/evga-pulls-the-plug-with-loud-ban...