How much does Nvidia sell gpus to board partners for?

[lexidobe]

The title says it all

[i_build_nanosuits]

nobody knows...

[lexidobe]

$20? $50? $200?

[Shakaza]

I have tried numerous times to find out, but my searches have returned nothing of value. It doesn't help given that for Google searches, GPU is synonymous with graphics card...

[XTankSlayerX]

No one knows, and no one will probably know...

If there are any prices it's probably under some type of NDA...

[don_svetlio]

Reverse math - take out the price of the cooler metal, the fan motors, the plastic for the shroud, the silicon for the PCB, the memory and you get a good estimate

[Shakaza]

$20? $50? $200?

Presumably, it depends on which GPU they're selling. I'd imagine a GTX 970's GPU is sold for around $200-$230. That's the one I searched specifically for, and that's the closest answer I could find.

[i_build_nanosuits]

Reverse math - take out the price of the cooler metal, the fan motors, the plastic for the shroud, the silicon for the PCB, the memory and you get a good estimate

i would think about 40% of the price you pay is the GPU die...30% is the cost of manufacturing and materials, and 30% is the profit margin...this is COMPLETELY numbers out of my ass though.

[Enderman]

That's confidential information. There is a reason you don't know.

[lexidobe]

That's confidential information. There is a reason you don't know.

What would us knowing hurt?

[TheRandomness]

What would us knowing hurt?

Customers arguing against prices. Not buying the card...etc

[vanished]

i would think about 40% of the price you pay is the GPU die...30% is the cost of manufacturing and materials, and 30% is the profit margin...this is COMPLETELY numbers out of my ass though.

 

I can't break it down that much (ie. I would say its X% actual cost and (100-X)% profit margin) but I bet the profit is more than that.  Probably like 50% (but hey I'm totally guessing too )

[don_svetlio]

i would think about 40% of the price you pay is the GPU die...40% is the cost of manufacturing and materials, and 20% is the profit margin...this is COMPLETELY numbers out of my ass though.

Aluminum Price 0.67 USD/lb (1,470.48 USD/t | 1,388.23 EUR/t) 26 Nov 2015 - 52 Week Low 0.65 USD/lb 52 Week High 0.95 USD/lb.

Copper Prices and Copper Price Charts. Copper Price 2.12 USD/lb (4,666.97 USD/t | 4,405.92 EUR/t) 26 Nov 2015 - 52 Week Low 2.05 USD/lb 52 Week High 3.02 USD/lb.

Virgin PET plastic prices averaged £989 per tonne in September 2014, a decrease of £24 per tonne since August, and a fall of £202 per tonne since a year ago in September.

Reference 980 weighs in at about 3 pounds. - most of that is the cooler so assume that 2$ are spent on the aluminum, 6$ on the copper and about 1.5$ for the for the plastic + 50$ for the fan motors and what not - you pay around 60-70$ for the cooler of a reference 980

[Enderman]

What would us knowing hurt?

Because you're not the one buying them...?

 

They dont give out unnecessary information that could potentially be used to target them.

 

Do you tell strangers how much money you have in your bank account? What would them knowing hurt?

[i_build_nanosuits]

Aluminum Price 0.67 USD/lb (1,470.48 USD/t | 1,388.23 EUR/t) 26 Nov 2015 - 52 Week Low 0.65 USD/lb 52 Week High 0.95 USD/lb.

Copper Prices and Copper Price Charts. Copper Price 2.12 USD/lb (4,666.97 USD/t | 4,405.92 EUR/t) 26 Nov 2015 - 52 Week Low 2.05 USD/lb 52 Week High 3.02 USD/lb.

Virgin PET plastic prices averaged £989 per tonne in September 2014, a decrease of £24 per tonne since August, and a fall of £202 per tonne since a year ago in September.

Reference 980 weighs in at about 3 pounds. - most of that is the cooler so assume that 2$ are spent on the aluminum, 6$ on the copper and about 1.5$ for the for the plastic + 50$ for the fan motors and what not - you pay around 60-70$ for the cooler of a reference 980

i was factoring in cost for actual MANUFACTURING and R&D and publicity...those cost a lot of money

aftermarket cooling solutions...you know...the good ones

For reference design they are built by nvidia themselves and then sent to OEM...

[don_svetlio]

i was factoring in cost for actual MANUFACTURING and R&D and publicity...those cost a lot of money

they mainly go into the GPU core though - the actual PCB has little complexity compared to the core

[vanished]

i was factoring in cost for actual MANUFACTURING and R&D and publicity...those cost a lot of money

yeah.  Again, can't give any real numbers but that cost is mostly R&D recovery, manufacturing, and profit.  Actual materials are probably in the <$20 region for even the best cards.

[AnonymousGuy]

I would estimate about 80% of retail price.  The actual cost of manufacturing is < $10 for the GPU and PCB, but they need to recover engineering expenses.

[i_build_nanosuits]

they mainly go into the GPU core though - the actual PCB has little complexity compared to the core

aftermarket cooling solutions...you know...the good ones

For reference design they are built by nvidia themselves and then sent to OEM...

[Deli]

Presumably, it depends on which GPU they're selling. I'd imagine a GTX 970's GPU is sold for around $200-$230. That's the one I searched specifically for, and that's the closest answer I could find.

I doubt it. Don't forget the retailer has to make profit and pay tax(unlike Amazon). The graphic card partners have to make profit after all the expenses of R&D, manufacturing and marketing things. A retail $350 graphic card with a $200 GPU from Nvidia is not going to happen.

[Exploded117]

they mainly go into the GPU core though - the actual PCB has little complexity compared to the core

 

Some companies even make custom PCBs....

[don_svetlio]

Some companies even make custom PCBs....

Again - not as complex as the core itself - the core houses billions of transistors whereas the PCB houses less I believe

[LinusTech]

NVIDIA is a public company. You can see their profit margins if you want.

As for the cost of the materials of a GPU, I can help with the reverse math somewhat.

 

At MSRP retailers are making something along the lines of 10% gross margin after marketing kickbacks from NVIDIA and the board partner (usually a passthrough from NVIDIA in many cases that they spend discretionally)

 

Regional branches of board partners are making in the neighborhood of the same amount - I suspect quite a bit less in some cases. 

 

Where my knowledge gets fuzzy is in how much the HQ is making on it when they sell to the regional branch - this is how the math works in order to reduce the profitability of regional branches and minimize taxes. I suspect it's in the neighborhood of 20%-30% because of how frequently I see regional branches barely making any money or even losing it and HQ doesn't seem to care and even has money to blow on huge tradeshow events (did anyone see MSI's booth at PAX Prime???)

 

As for how much it costs to build a GPU, that depends on your volume. The cost is in the equipment, and once you've done that, I suspect the capacitors and whatnot are a fairly small factor with premium card board cost (not including RAM) being in the neighborhood of 10s of dollars.

DRAM spot pricing is available online. You can assume big guys like ASUS or MSI are paying less than that on contract though.

 

I don't know how any of this stacks up for low end. I'm talking about gaming class cards.

[lexidobe]

NVIDIA is a public company. You can see their profit margins if you want.

As for the cost of the materials of a GPU, I can help with the reverse math somewhat.

 

At MSRP retailers are making something along the lines of 10% gross margin after marketing kickbacks from NVIDIA and the board partner (usually a passthrough from NVIDIA in many cases that they spend discretionally)

 

Regional branches of board partners are making in the neighborhood of the same amount - I suspect quite a bit less in some cases. 

 

Where my knowledge gets fuzzy is in how much the HQ is making on it when they sell to the regional branch - this is how the math works in order to reduce the profitability of regional branches and minimize taxes. I suspect it's in the neighborhood of 20%-30% because of how frequently I see regional branches barely making any money or even losing it and HQ doesn't seem to care and even has money to blow on huge tradeshow events (did anyone see MSI's booth at PAX Prime???)

 

As for how much it costs to build a GPU, that depends on your volume. The cost is in the equipment, and once you've done that, I suspect the capacitors and whatnot are a fairly small factor with premium card board cost (not including RAM) being in the neighborhood of 10s of dollars.

DRAM spot pricing is available online. You can assume big guys like ASUS or MSI are paying less than that on contract though.

 

I don't know how any of this stacks up for low end. I'm talking about gaming class cards.

Thank you for responding. Could we do a Hangout chat sometime? You are totally awesome.

[Exploded117]

Again - not as complex as the core itself - the core houses billions of transistors whereas the PCB houses less I believe

 

I was referring to how that would drop the price.