Founder's Edition (or, as I like to say, Fuck you Edition) pricing was exhaustively discussed and dissected back when Pascal was introduced. For quite some time after launch you were lucky to see any card in the lineups that went for under the FE price. I felt I was lucky to score a AIB card under the FE price a few months after the release of Pascal.
AIBs have no incentive to price below what nVidia itself sells for. If an AIB has a greater perceived value than nVidia's 'reference' card it's going to sell for more despite what the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price is set to.
Exactly. All I said was before founders edition. We used to have msrp. We would get AIB cards with better coolers. 50-100-150 or so above it, in this instance 1050, 1100, 1150 and so on. Now you have AIBs playing around the founders edition price. 1169-1300 or more. if an AIB thinks their cooler is better than founders edition no way they are pricing below 1199. Everyone dances around founders edition pricing now, then you see cheap blower cards come in months after.