Micro Center sells GPUs at MSRP if you buy a complete system

[Misanthrope]

28 minutes ago, Derangel said:

They can't ban bulk sales. The most they can do is ask and asking is useless. No one is going to listen or care, especially not retailers. They can't threaten to cut retailers out because they need the retailers more than the retailers need them and retailers know it, especially the big retailers. There is nothing Nvidia, AMD, or AIBs can do. Nvidia and AMD can't really boost production. Well, they could but it would be stupid to do so. Not only would it likely require paying millions more than they are now but the lead time for that stuff is measured in terms of months. Even if AMD and Nvidia told their suppliers to increase chip production (assuming they can both get a hold of enough memory to supply their cards) we wouldn't see the results until mid to late Spring. What if the demand has died down by then? AMD and Nvidia would flood AIBs and retail channels with cards that they couldn't sell, wasting those millions they invested to increase production.

"Nobody can do anything, just give up and don't play games everybody!"

 

Nvida and AMD could sell direct if they really fucking wanted to.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

18 hours ago, MoonSpot said:

Sorry I didn't put more effort into the other post, you deserved more(I'm sick and tired, literally not a euphemism for the GPU topic.  though that is also true).

I did hyperbole PC gaming, that wasn't quite my intent.  Think more along the lines of a hypothetical Witcher 4.  We're in a situation where JQ Public really hasn't been able to get a good GPU for 2 years now unless they've been obsessed with searching for sales.  So if you're going to sell a game in the coming years, what bar should the devs aim for.  A pretty low one by the looks of it.

Sounds good to me - look at how good current games look like. i have no problems with developers doing polished, optimized versions of what we have instead of cutting-edge, broken animated hairs and what not for a couple of years. My point was that the current base of PC gamers, without any upgrades, is an attractive consumer base. Look at consoles: they lagged behind PCs in capabilities for a long time, but games never stopped being released.

 

18 hours ago, MoonSpot said:

  rx470/80s & 570/80s didn't really get into peoples hands, and now 1060s and 1070s are out now to boot.

Not the end of the world my previous post made, just a crap world that could have been better.

*Note: view is from a Canadian where tech prices have been garbage for...  -.-; always?

 

"High part of the stack", I think we may disagree with what is high. 

Most likely, I think 95% of this forum would  Things like R7 260x, GTX 950, etc, are all gaming cards to me. EUR 150-200 for a GPU (pre-mining prices) is already mid-range and up. 980, 1070, etc are all up the luxury ladder. If people can afford 560s and 1050s, they can afford "gaming" cards in my view (and notice that the whole idea of my post is that affordable gaming performance would only stagnate temporarily, as GPU progress continues).

18 hours ago, MoonSpot said:

I do think its fair to say that most people buying a graphics card will try to get the best one they can responsibly afford and justify.  And thats whats been perverted by these prices.  People who would say, "$220USD on a 480 I'm cool with" probably won't feel the same about a $350USD 480 let alone

Yes. But, then again, something like an HD 7950 launched at $450. In the short run it's true, the GPU market is on an upward trend. The broader picture, though, only shows a dampening in the overall downward trend of dollars per "unit of performance" (whatever that may be ). And then there's the used market and all the not-good-for-mining cards. It´s less than ideal, and it's far from the days of RX and 10-series launch. But those days were extremely good, we have to admit. We don't need things to be that good for PC gaming to survive and thrive.

 

18 hours ago, MoonSpot said:

As for moving product stack up in a big way and R&D from your original post; I don't know how to approach any of that. 

Well, that was the point: providing GPU makers with the right incentives, a.k.a., piles of money to be made  

18 hours ago, MoonSpot said:

It strikes me as largely wishful and whimsical.  Performance and particularly perf/$ increases of the order required/desired, doesn't just happen. 

It's not magic, it's what they've been doing all along. Firms invest in what is profitable, and firms choose when and how to introduce new technologies to the market in order to maximize their profits. Not so long ago, we heard Nvidia saying Pascal is just too good for gaming, so no need to bring new stuff in the near future. Well, maybe if they profited more from mining they could go "f*** gaming, we need to release these new, more powerful cards asap to steal all the mining market".

 

In any case, it's not like I have this fully laid-out plan, the idea of my post was rather to spark discussion and thought in a different direction. Price-fixing attempts have failed throughout economic history even when enforced by governments, let alone individual retailers with mixed incentives. So, maybe it's better to think less in terms of leaning against the wind, and more in terms of how to channel it  

[billstelling]

To nutshell this whole thing, it boils down to greed. The manufacturers did not increase prices, their agreed pricing did not change for the companies buying in mass and selling to the consumer. THEY increased the price because they saw an opportunity to double and in some cases, triple their profits at the expense of everyone.

It was flawed logic due to those who do not understand the free market system. It does eb and flow but at times you see this sort of price gouging. Keep in mind, the manufactures did not raise prices as it would be with normal price adjusting due to the market. It was one tier down were all the misdeeds have occurred and they used second hand reselling as the reasoning behind it all... Had they not gotten greedy then this could have been avoided and not snowballed into the mess it is today. The re-sellers would also be selling at a lower price as well had they not jumped on the bandwagon.

I have been buying from Newegg for years and have purchased hundreds of items.. I am rethinking my relationship with them because of this as well. They should have been honorable and not turned a blind eye to all of this. As it is, I think limits need to be set on sites like that, that do allow re-sellers on their platform, No 100% markups or some such. that's what eBay is for...

[Scruffy90]

21 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

"Nobody can do anything, just give up and don't play games everybody!"

 

Nvida and AMD could sell direct if they really fucking wanted to.

They do iirc. The link is buried on their site and the cards sell out fairly quickly.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/10series/geforce-store/

[Scruffy90]

Is microcenter letting people return the other components without issue? If so, this wont solve a thing

[Misanthrope]

Just now, Scruffy90 said:

They do iirc. The link is buried on their site and the cards sell out fairly quickly.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/10series/geforce-store/

The titans are direct from them only for a while now. Not the most efficient system but it's not fully out of the realm of possibilities from them to cut all of them off and go direct.

[Derangel]

23 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

"Nobody can do anything, just give up and don't play games everybody!"

 

Nvida and AMD could sell direct if they really fucking wanted to.

Yes and no. Nvidia does do direct sales of FE cards, but generally in low quantities. They can't just horde all of the chips for themselves. They have to meet the demands of their AIB partners as well. AIBs are far more important to Nvidia than direct sales. AMD hasn't sold branded cards since the ATI days. AMD simply isn't set up to do so anymore. We would, again, be talking about months to get things set up. And, like Nvidia, AMD also has to meet the AIBs demands before their own. Stop pretending things are simple and that there are any easy solutions.

[Misanthrope]

1 minute ago, Derangel said:

Yes and no. Nvidia does do direct sales of FE cards, but generally in low quantities. They can't just horde all of the chips for themselves. They have to meet the demands of their AIB partners as well. AIBs are far more important to Nvidia than direct sales. AMD hasn't sold branded cards since the ATI days. AMD simply isn't set up to do so anymore. We would, again, be talking about months to get things set up. And, like Nvidia, AMD also has to meet the AIBs demands before their own. Stop pretending things are simple and that there are any easy solutions.

I'm not pretending it's simple: you're prentending there's no solution at all.

[Derangel]

3 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

I'm not pretending it's simple: you're prentending there's no solution at all.

Because there isn't. You can either wait until things calm down or buy a console. Those are the options open to gamers right now. That is the reality of the situation. Not liking reality does not make it any less true.

[Misanthrope]

10 minutes ago, Derangel said:

Because there isn't.

Well then you've said that much. We don't need you to keep commenting there is nothing to be done your opinion is clear, have a good one.

[bcredeur97]

*buys cpu, mining motherboard, a little ram, and a huge power supply

 

"where the 6 GPU's for MSRP at bruh?"

[Rune]

3 hours ago, Scruffy90 said:

Is microcenter letting people return the other components without issue? If so, this wont solve a thing

No. Bundle pricing is subtracted or the return would be denied by management discretion.

 

42 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

*buys cpu, mining motherboard, a little ram, and a huge power supply

 

"where the 6 GPU's for MSRP at bruh?"

Also no

[billstelling]

To bad it's all based on speculation and mass buying by the retailers. The runs they do are based on the projections and preorders from them. When the dust settles and new cards come out they are going to be paying a price as a good bit of new sales will be eaten up by the used market. They are hoping prices don't return to normal...

[foamygopher]

Something else to keep in mind. BYOPC time is coming up along with tax returns. This is usually the time Micro Center starts running huge ads for PC components. If they weren't flush with GPUs Who would bother. I agree it sucks for those looking for an upgrade. But, at least people building new systems have a chance..........

[aliasdred]

On 27/01/2018 at 9:10 AM, Shaggy25 said:

Sources: 

https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/26/16936984/graphics-card-gpu-prices-nvidia-amd-cryptocurrency-mining-stores

http://www.pcgamer.com/micro-center-will-sell-you-a-graphics-card-at-msrp-if-its-for-gaming-instead-of-mining/

Micro Center message: http://www.microcenter.com/site/customer-support/VideoCardMessage.aspx

 

 

This is an interesting move, we'll see if other retailers take similar approaches.

 

The way I see it this is a win-win, they get to sell more systems (probably) and customers get a fair price on GPUs, given you want a new system and not just an upgrade.

 

Edit: sorry for the misleading original title, I just kinda copied the title from PCGamer, fixed it.

Honestly sayin, it'd be the best time for me to upgrade my pc and prolly get some discounts.... 

I'd buy a 1070/1080 and just sell off that on ebay or Craigslist for maybe 50-80$ profit

[thorhammerz]

9 hours ago, Derangel said:

Because there isn't. You can either wait until things calm down or buy a console. Those are the options open to gamers right now. That is the reality of the situation. Not liking reality does not make it any less true.

Shhhh, one should not discourage others from sticking their heads into the sand and dreaming up fantasies .