Galaxy Abandons North American GPU Market @ [H]

madmat said:
I've always thought that Galaxy was pretty sketchy as a company in regards to the U.S.. Initially when they entered the market they were pretty much grey market hardware with little to no warranty. Their one draw has always been that they were cheaper than everyone else. Not better, more robust or cutting edge, just cheap. Screw 'em.
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Not exactly sure what you are basing those statements on. They innovate on cooling more than just about anyone else.
 
I guess the Galaxy rep left the office early or is swamped by pms and emails ;o I really cannot wait for a response on this issue -_-
 
Insomniak said:
They innovate on cooling more than just about anyone else.
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I always thought their fan design on the 470 gc was a REALLY slick idea. Cleaning dust out of my GPUs, fan grills, and radiator is the bane of my existence.

Here are some pics of the fan design I'm talking about (from a [H] review no less).

http://www.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTI3MzQ0MDEwMWh0SGNIbnFhTEdfMV8xM19sLmpwZw==

http://www.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTI3MzQ0MDEwMWh0SGNIbnFhTEdfMV8xNF9sLmpwZw==
 
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Fixall said:
I always thought their fan design on the 470 gc was a REALLY slick idea. Cleaning dust out of my GPUs, fan grills, and radiator is the bane of my existence.
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I have those on my old 460's, really cool design.

As far as dust is concerned...I got tired of dealing with it and got me an ED500 on sale. Awesome.
 
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babochee said:
I guess the Galaxy rep left the office early or is swamped by pms and emails ;o I really cannot wait for a response on this issue -_-
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Galaxy's RMA facility has been shut down for two weeks and likely will not be opened again to till next week.....if that happens. It currently has not done any RMA for weeks unless those are being handled out of their techs living room. Inventory has already been liquidated as well. So I doubt we will get any answers to my questions immediately. I was told that its tech support line was operating through February.
 
Victor Mizer said:
Two weeks is how long I have been waiting for my RMA. They finally e-mailed me back last night and said the following,

"Galaxy RMA Department is in a holding pattern. They are in the midst of a warehouse move and program change. Weather has hampered the transfer of stock and delayed move in and carrier activity in the area. Sorry for the delay but we are expecting RMA service to resume by end of this week or early next week."
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Ouch. Thanks for posting this. Sounds like buying Galaxy at this point is a no-go, to be honest. At least, if one cares about long term warranty and peace of mind.

I am sad to see them go, but the mixed messages on the part of Galaxy leaves a sour taste. If they're going under, why be dishonest about it and such. If i'm wrong on that count, please let me know, but it sure does seem that way. (i'm not trying to be inflammatory or anything. Just how I see it :( )
 
qdemn7 said:
Odd that BFG should come up. I am running my backup GPU, a BFGTech GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE because my XFX 7850 failed. I bought that BFG largely on the strength of the [H] review. Got a BFG GT8800 that still works, too.

Too bad about Galaxy, but after BFG I have to wonder if Nvidia has something to do with these graphics card companies Folding (couldn't resist the pun).

The only Nvidia cards I would buy today would be from EVGA or Asus.
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A bit of history.

BFG actually grew out of another company, VisionTek.
VisionTek started out as a memory reseller back in the 80's.
In the mid-90's, based on an influx of new talent, they started dipping into building their own components.
Unfortunately, some of the people at the top were seriously mismanaging the company. Also, their physical security was never what it should be. So they'd have an inventory book up front, and an inventory book back in their component vault. And they never matched.
About the time they started hitting in the graphics space, they wanted to expand rapidly.

One of their funding sources insisted on bringing in their OWN financial guys to oversee everything. And that's pretty much when the company went to pot. These guys were basically doing his level best to crash the company. Doubling component orders, spending money on side projects that never (and could never) pan out, and basically doing everything in his power to weaken the company's position so the bank could take it over (and he'd get a fat bonus for doing so).

Finally, VisionTek was in such dire straights, due to poor cash and inventory management that they came up with the BRILLIANT idea to outsource all their manufacturing overseas. But, at that point, it was WAYYYY too late. The company was done. They'd laid off all but a couple of their US employees. The bank was calling in the money. And someone (who shall remain nameless) had pulled a MASSIVE component order from nVidia, essentially nuking any cash reserves.

Needless to say, VisionTek folded.

Up pops BFG! Just down the road from VisionTek. Made up of old VisionTek employees, and financed by the same bank that crashed VisionTek. So when nVidia collected all their components from VisionTek, take a wild guess where they went.

If you said "Uh. BFG?" you just won a cookie!

Unfortunately BFG also carried other things forward from VisionTek.
Poor cash and inventory control being chiefest among them. That and the fact was, the same shysters who'd crashed an IDENTICAL multi-million dollar company were holding the purse strings and calling the shots here too. They tried to diversify their offerings WAY too fast, got hit by a LOT of returns, and basically folded like a house of cards.
 
Damn...hopefully both of the stock-clocked Galaxy GTX 680 4GB video cards I've sold keep rock-solid operation for at least the next two years.
 
Crixus said:
It's funny you should mention BFG. At the [H] get together at Tiger Direct last year (GTX780 unveiling) I immediately recognized the Galaxy reps to be from BFG..... Now I've got dual Galaxy GTX780s on water, and yet, another company with BFG leadership is down the tubes...
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Before I read your post, I was wondering if that was a possibility.

It is giving me the impression that something like this is going down (Kyle would love your input on my take) :

Company X makes a splash, great products, and amazing support and warranty (lifetime). They ride it out for 3 to 5 years. Then, to get out of having to provide the "lifetime" support on older obsolete products that they have likely run out of stock on, the company just closes, only to reform, reopen with a different name and none of their old liabilities.

Which really pisses me off. I've owned both BFG and Galaxy cards. I still have a BFG 6800 as well as 2 Galaxy GTX 680's... MSI, ASUS, and EVGA are looking better and better. I've also owned EVGA and ZOTAC cards, both factory overclocked, and both seemed to have issues about a year in and needed RMA'd. (I suspect high heat coupled with the new lead-free solder, which can crack, to be the causes. And why the oven-reflow works most of the time).

Now, I will be on the lookout for a new manufacturer entering the market.. and be very suspicious when they materialize.
 
Bad start to the year for our hobby. AMD makes it official they're out of the performance CPU market and now Galaxy out of North America.
 
The tough part about BFG was that I saw them everywhere. They were the flashiest cards at Compusa and they seemed to have them models that were just out of reach in terms of what I could afford as a teenager.
 
xoleras said:
Ouch. Thanks for posting this. Sounds like buying Galaxy at this point is a no-go, to be honest. At least, if one cares about long term warranty and peace of mind.

I am sad to see them go, but the mixed messages on the part of Galaxy leaves a sour taste. If they're going under, why be dishonest about it and such. If i'm wrong on that count, please let me know, but it sure does seem that way. (i'm not trying to be inflammatory or anything. Just how I see it :( )
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If you're liquidating stock and real estate to shutdown operations, you don't advertise it to consumers as it will affect your card sales. These are faceless corporations; not Mother Theresa, operating well within the letter of the law. Bankruptcy court is probably next for them. Kyle alerted everyone here at least so they can't be taken by surprise.

With the loss of their cards in the market someone else will step up to fill the need. That's why capitalism works. Glad my buddy got a refund for his 670 4GB a few weeks ago that I recommended he get. It died within the first few weeks of him receiving it and I would have felt bad if he had to go through this.
 
Chas said:
A bit of history.

BFG actually grew out of another company, VisionTek.
VisionTek started out as a memory reseller back in the 80's.
In the mid-90's, based on an influx of new talent, they started dipping into building their own components.
Unfortunately, some of the people at the top were seriously mismanaging the company. Also, their physical security was never what it should be. So they'd have an inventory book up front, and an inventory book back in their component vault. And they never matched.
About the time they started hitting in the graphics space, they wanted to expand rapidly.

One of their funding sources insisted on bringing in their OWN financial guys to oversee everything. And that's pretty much when the company went to pot. These guys were basically doing his level best to crash the company. Doubling component orders, spending money on side projects that never (and could never) pan out, and basically doing everything in his power to weaken the company's position so the bank could take it over (and he'd get a fat bonus for doing so).

Finally, VisionTek was in such dire straights, due to poor cash and inventory management that they came up with the BRILLIANT idea to outsource all their manufacturing overseas. But, at that point, it was WAYYYY too late. The company was done. They'd laid off all but a couple of their US employees. The bank was calling in the money. And someone (who shall remain nameless) had pulled a MASSIVE component order from nVidia, essentially nuking any cash reserves.

Needless to say, VisionTek folded.

Up pops BFG! Just down the road from VisionTek. Made up of old VisionTek employees, and financed by the same bank that crashed VisionTek. So when nVidia collected all their components from VisionTek, take a wild guess where they went.

If you said "Uh. BFG?" you just won a cookie!

Unfortunately BFG also carried other things forward from VisionTek.
Poor cash and inventory control being chiefest among them. That and the fact was, the same shysters who'd crashed an IDENTICAL multi-million dollar company were holding the purse strings and calling the shots here too. They tried to diversify their offerings WAY too fast, got hit by a LOT of returns, and basically folded like a house of cards.
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Your overview is SOMEWHAT correct, but you are missing a LOT of the picture here. Quite frankly you are more wrong than right. I would suggest that your synopsis of BFG is way off.
 
cageymaru said:
Bankruptcy court is probably next for them. Kyle alerted everyone here at least so they can't be taken by surprise.
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From what I can tell, Galaxy US does not even have a actually business corporation in the US currently. So I do not see it having any access to US bankruptcy law. Considering it has broken ties with its US representative, I am not sure it can go forward, unless they convince one of the poor bastards working for them to put it in his personal name.
 
I love my HOF GTX 780, hope it lasts as long as possible.

Would love to get another one for SLI or a HOF GTX 780TI at a nice "firesale" price. :eek:
 
So this explains the brief fire sale Newegg had on Galaxy parts last year, and why I couldn't find a HOF after that.
 
Chas said:
Seeing as I'm actually getting this from multiple former VisionTek employees (as well as a couple of former BFG employees)...

I'll leave it there.
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I found your story interesting, although lower level employees won't always have the full picture. So it could well be a situation of where lower level guys have one perspective, while reality at the top is slightly different. I dunno. ;) Nonetheless, thanks for sharing. I found the story interesting, as mentioned.

I do have to ask, though, did Visiontek go under and then come back? Because they're still around obviously, I haven't really kept a tab on visiontek at all. I do remember BFG going under quite well, their products were quite literally everywhere. Even on Best Buy shelves. Really is too bad they're gone, I did like BFG a lot!
 
xoleras said:
I do have to ask, though, did Visiontek go under and then come back? Because they're still around obviously, I haven't really kept a tab on visiontek at all. I do remember BFG going under quite well, their products were quite literally everywhere. Even on Best Buy shelves. Really is too bad they're gone, I did like BFG a lot!
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The Visiontek name was sold. The brand is all that existed from the former company that you will find in the cards today. There were a lot of dicey things going on at Visiontek in the upper echelon towards the end financially.

Three guys that were mid-level at Visitontek, went on to put together BFG.

BFG was destroyed by a power grab, by one of the founders, that ended up with the firing of the "COO" that literally ran production near singlehandedly, and the person that sold all those products quit after the firing. They left and BFG had nothing in terms of operations or a sales team qualified to move the company forward.

The two guys that left BFG, well before its implosion, are the two guys that built the Galaxy brand in the USA, and subsequently got hung out to dry by Galaxy. I think one is done with the GPU world, the other may put his talents to use in it elsewhere, but that is yet to be seen.
 
I got a gtx 660 for $179 with NO REBATES the month of release when the lowest you could find them was $220 (usually with rebates). The card was reference and really no frills at all, but I had a really good first impression with the price and the representitive here on the forum. I guess it just makes me sad that they had such a good thing going, and dumped it all in the trash. I know that they replied to Kyle on their facebook page, but who knows whats really going to happen. That might just be them trying to save face on their way down to keep current customers from storming their office with pitchforks and torches.
 
I truly miss BFG.
Still have a 6800GT AGP by BFG that is in a SFF PC at my office. Runs like a champ.

I liked how BFG went toe to toe with EVGA, even had the trade-in program, which I used a couple of times.

As I've said, I was very impressed with my Galaxy 780s and Galaxy's customer service.

Too bad. Good luck to those caught in the shuffle.
 
Thankfully I had the intuition to go with an EVGA instead of Galaxy when I bought my GTX 780. I owned several BFG cards and learned my lesson when they went belly up. I actually ordered a Galaxy GTX 780 card and refused the delivery when UPS showed up at my house. The BFG debacle taught me not to take any chances when it comes to buying high end graphic cards or any other expensive electronics. Only well known brand names with a proven track record for me.
 
Overall, I have discussed RMA rates with Galaxy in the past and recently. RMA cards for Galaxy in etail are almost nonexistent. Galaxy builds great cards that are quality products. So while if you have one, losing support certainly would suck, but honestly, these Galaxy cards are overall bulletproof. Great products.
 
I always bought BFG cards until they went under,my present card is a Galaxy and it's worked very well under heavy gaming. Guess I'll have to find another brand again,what is it with Nvidia suppliers?
 
Damn it, this is terrible.
I was planing on adding another 670GTX here. Now they will only be found on ebay....
Might as well just make a new system in a few months.....
 
Sodapopjones said:
Not all of them..
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Yes, I do realize that some cards have problems. Specifically what I was referring to (sorry I was not clear), was that the RMA rates for etailers for Galaxy cards is NEARLY nonexistent. My point is that the enthusiast is the one that is least likely to NEED support for a video card. On that same point, the enthusiast is the guy dropping hundreds on a card and wants to know it is there. Retail customers with product, that is likely to not have any issues besides the user, come back in FAR greater percentages.
 
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https://www.facebook.com/GalaxyUS

In response to reports of an alleged end to Galaxy’s business in North America, we would like to make clear that Galaxy is not pulling out from the North American market. We have recently had some changes in our structure and discontinued working with our current sales rep in North America but have no intention of ceasing business and operations in the region.

Galaxy will continue all support and service as usual. We have a full team of staff servicing users’ RMAs and our support hotline is still operating. Our service email is still working as usual, we will continue replacing cards for end users, and our warranties will be honored and valid.
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Keep in mind that things take time. If the sale force here was dumped, Galaxy will probably need to get new contracts in place for dealers, facilities etc. They are still taking support calls, still honoring RMAs, and I'm sure they will start selling again in the market shortly. Lets be honest, a dog with a note can sell video cards at this point. Reviewers like Kyle and Ryan (PCPer) do most of the work in explaining to the masses what the new stuff is.

Part of the issue here is the channel. Most people have no clue what it takes/costs to sell into a Best Buy or other major retailer/etailer. Unless you are one of the 5-10 brands that they HAVE to carry (Bose, etc), they are in charge. If they want to return crap 9 months after it was out of warranty, they will. If you say no, they just deduct it from the next invoice. Walmart, Sams, Newegg, Tiger, they are all the same. What value do they really provide anymore? If you can order it direct, do you care?

As for this industry, Lifetime warranties are directly to blame. There is no way a business can sustain a lifetime warranty where customers can basically get a free upgrade every year. Too many people took advantage of the system. No one wants to pay for stuff anymore. Expecting companies to survive on slim to no margin and hope NVIDIA bails you out with a back end rebate... If you can control the cost of the product, you can build in the cost to support that warranty but when NVIDIA controls the purse strings, you are screwed. Its just that simple.

As for NVIDIA dealing with support/RMA whatever, it will never happen except for their branded product. Unless they start socketing the GPU and people start building their own cards...
 
I have to admit this is becoming a bit confusing, as the story presented here and the one presented by Galaxy on Facebook, etc seem to continue drifting apart. It's difficult to tell the difference between reality and PR BS just based on a facebook post or two.

I would definitely like some clear-cut answers to simple questions, like:

Are they or are they not going to continue selling cards here in the US?
 
Here's hoping Galaxy doesn't abandon the N.A. market. The 780 HoF is a sexy beast.
 
GotNoRice said:
I have to admit this is becoming a bit confusing, as the story presented here and the one presented by Galaxy on Facebook, etc seem to continue drifting apart. It's difficult to tell the difference between reality and PR BS just based on a facebook post or two.

I would definitely like some clear-cut answers to simple questions, like:

Are they or are they not going to continue selling cards here in the US?
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I'd give them a few weeks... I'm sure you'll hear more details... Maybe not on [H] but it will come out...
 
GotNoRice said:
I have to admit this is becoming a bit confusing, as the story presented here and the one presented by Galaxy on Facebook, etc seem to continue drifting apart. It's difficult to tell the difference between reality and PR BS just based on a facebook post or two.

I would definitely like some clear-cut answers to simple questions, like:

Are they or are they not going to continue selling cards here in the US?
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Someone asked on the Facebook post and the Galazy rep said yes.
 
Modred189 said:
Someone asked on the Facebook post and the Galazy rep said yes.
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PR guy doing the PR thing isn't very meaningful. They have no reason to admit they were closing down even if it's true, in fact they would have much more to gain by stringing everyone along until the very end.
 
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