GPU MSRP is Not Meaningless @ HardOCP.com

There's also the super cool RGB Experience package to consider, which at some point may no longer be optional .🔴🟢🔵 I don't know whether the chip manufacturers impose any restrictions on AIBs that limit what they're allowed to charge for non-reference designs, or if that's mostly left to competition.
That would be illegal. They cannot impose restrictions on what someone charges for the end device.
 
I bought my Radeon VII used for $550 in November 2019. And at the time I thought I was a bit crazy spending that much money on a card that didn't even have the best tech (the compute/GPGPU performance was/is relevant though for my use case vs the 2080Ti). Now it feels like I was a genius. Still wouldn't mind having a 6900XT instead, but yeah, fat chance that will happen anytime soon.

I just don't see a way out of these problems until the silicon shortage flips. May there be such a glut of silicon that every business is tripping over the stuff.
I keep seeing/hearing people making the same statement about used cars. e.g. I bought a 2013 Forerunner for x amount in 2018 and now it's worth 50% more used! Great, good for you! You're not going to profit from it, because, alas, if you sold it now, you'd need to buy another overpriced car. That said, it's better to have a 9 year-old Forerunner than no car at all.

The only people who profit from this situation are scalpers and people who can sell and wait out the market until it stabilizes (if that ever happens). And the AIBs/dealerships who can charge anything they want apparently.

Oh, and you can bet your sweet patootie nV and AMD are going to increase their BOMs next gen.

Edit: There is one other way to take advantage of this situation... if you own a non-LHR card. I had an non-LHR 3080, sold it, then bought an LHR 3080 ti for a near 1:1 trade.
 
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Large multinational Corps never break the law either.
Illegal in the “SEC says hello, you’re paying our salaries!” Sense. This is mucho bad idea. It’s price fixing and they really slam you on that
 
Illegal in the “SEC says hello, you’re paying our salaries!” Sense. This is mucho bad idea. It’s price fixing and they really slam you on that
Prove it! And would you prefer cocaine or Hooker's? Both?
 
That would be illegal. They cannot impose restrictions on what someone charges for the end device.
They wouldn't in that sense. We don't know what the contracts and agreements between the chip manufacturers and their partners look like. They (NVIDIA, AMD) aren't obligated to continue doing business with a partner if they felt it wasn't in their interest. I'm not, however, suggesting that they're actually doing anything of the sort, or that it would be in their best interest.
 
Illegal in the “SEC says hello, you’re paying our salaries!” Sense. This is mucho bad idea. It’s price fixing and they really slam you on that
They do, but it winds up going to court and taking a LONG time and eventually winds up settling out of court for less than the company gained from the practice turning it into a "cost of doing business" type of decision.

I'd like to see reform to this. The minimum SEC fine should be the amount the business gained from the practice. Then there should be a multiplier for damages in order to dissuade others, like there is in most other civil cases.

Additionally there should be a requirement that the company turn over all records (emails memos etc) regarding the decision and turn states witness in prosecuting the individual employees who made the decisions to violate the law with criminal charges.

THAT ought to change a thing or to.

But until that happens, most SEC fines are just a cost of doing business.
 
Prove it! And would you prefer cocaine or Hooker's? Both?
Uh. History. Google. And: MBA, expert in this field, work for vendors in question, have to fill out ethics docs on it regularly.
They wouldn't in that sense. We don't know what the contracts and agreements between the chip manufacturers and their partners look like. They (NVIDIA, AMD) aren't obligated to continue doing business with a partner if they felt it wasn't in their interest. I'm not, however, suggesting that they're actually doing anything of the sort, or that it would be in their best interest.
You cannot tell someone what to charge for their product using your parts.
They do, but it winds up going to court and taking a LONG time and eventually winds up settling out of court for less than the company gained from the practice turning it into a "cost of doing business" type of decision.

I'd like to see reform to this. The minimum SEC fine should be the amount the business gained from the practice. Then there should be a multiplier for damages in order to dissuade others, like there is in most other civil cases.

Additionally there should be a requirement that the company turn over all records (emails memos etc) regarding the decision and turn states witness in prosecuting the individual employees who made the decisions to violate the law with criminal charges.

THAT ought to change a thing or to.

But until that happens, most SEC fines are just a cost of doing business.
Look up the DRAM fines. Or any of the others. And execs can see jail time on it too. It’s a BIG deal. This is one of the “oh fuck no” rules. No one gets close. Not anymore. Once the industry got slapped they stay away.
 
As long as I can turn RBG off doesn't bother me - when I see RGB on it actually acts as an indicator something is wrong lol
Sure 10-15 years ago, now a days if you want the best product with the best performance it comes with RGB.

Best Motherboards, decked out in RGB. Best GPU, same. Heck even most of the best RAM are also RGB models.

RGB used to be a gimick to help push up margins on low quality components, not anymore.
 
Uh. History. Google. And: MBA, expert in this field, work for vendors in question, have to fill out ethics docs on it regularly.

You cannot tell someone what to charge for their product using your parts.

Look up the DRAM fines. Or any of the others. And execs can see jail time on it too. It’s a BIG deal. This is one of the “oh fuck no” rules. No one gets close. Not anymore. Once the industry got slapped they stay away.
If you think price fixing isn't rampant, you're lying to yourself. Hell just a couple years ago a grocery store chain here in Canada was fined for fixing prices on bread FFS. Holding your MBA up as proof serves the opposite FYI.
 
Sure 10-15 years ago, now a days if you want the best product with the best performance it comes with RGB.

Best Motherboards, decked out in RGB. Best GPU, same. Heck even most of the best RAM are also RGB models.

RGB used to be a gimick to help push up margins on low quality components, not anymore.

I have RGB on my GPU and MoBo - it's all pitch black cause you can turn it all off

It will fuck with my Philips Hue Play Lights setup when gaming get out of here with your scrub RBG lol 💅 j/k but also not? I just find RBG tacky and unappealing, as I light up my room with Hue...
 
If you think price fixing isn't rampant, you're lying to yourself. Hell just a couple years ago a grocery store chain here in Canada was fined for fixing prices on bread FFS. Holding your MBA up as proof serves the opposite FYI.
Because Canada isn’t the us. Different countries, different rules. I’m only paying attention to the US in that discussion. And yeah, it happens, but something this obvious would get you slapped hard- especially given the focus on it right now. Nvidia and AMD aren’t going there- that’s jail time for serious execs if they did. This is a really big deal after what happened through the 2000s.
 
The best part for me in all this is I sold my 2070 for $400 before prices went through the roof and I couldn't get a 3070 anyway to replace it like I was planning.... we get what we deserve. By the time I can buy a GPU again RTX xx6x series is gonna start at $1299
 
The best part for me in all this is I sold my 2070 for $400 before prices went through the roof and I couldn't get a 3070 anyway to replace it like I was planning.... we get what we deserve. By the time I can buy a GPU again RTX xx6x series is gonna start at $1299
bruh.
That freaking sucks. $400 will get you a slower card than a 2070, IF you can even find one. This market is broken...
 
I keep seeing/hearing people making the same statement about used cars. e.g. I bought a 2013 Forerunner for x amount in 2018 and now it's worth 50% more used! Great, good for you! You're not going to profit from it, because, alas, if you sold it now, you'd need to buy another overpriced car. That said, it's better to have a 9 year-old Forerunner than no car at all.

The only people who profit from this situation are scalpers and people who can sell and wait out the market until it stabilizes (if that ever happens). And the AIBs/dealerships who can charge anything they want apparently.

Oh, and you can bet your sweet patootie nV and AMD are going to increase their BOMs next gen.

Edit: There is one other way to take advantage of this situation... if you own a non-LHR card. I had an non-LHR 3080, sold it, then bought an LHR 3080 ti for a near 1:1 trade.
The way around this is a car collection, harmattan. This way you can sell those that you don't like as much as the rest and use the money later to buy what you want when the used car market is not at historic highs.
 
Uh. History. Google. And: MBA, expert in this field, work for vendors in question, have to fill out ethics docs on it regularly.
An MBA doesn't come with special hand-waving privileges — a fact often overlooked by its recipient. So far, you've summarily dismissed everyone's comments. Perhaps instead of clumsily asserting your expertise, you could demonstrate it by providing some insight into the subject. No one cares how you decorate your letterhead.

You cannot tell someone what to charge for their product using your parts.
I thought my reply was vague enough so as not to imply any sort of illegal price-fixing behavior, and to leave the solution (whatever that may be) open to possibility. I guess not.

Your analysis doesn't quite capture the nuances of our antitrust laws, especially how they might apply to our global economy. And it would be remiss not to point out that your statement, which you've repeated twice, is false as an absolute.

The Supreme Court rulings in 1997 and 2007 on resale price maintenance agreements are important counterexamples. A result of those decisions is that vertical price arrangements that were once "per se illegal" are now subject to the rule of reason under federal antitrust law, though several states have their own laws. Whether they're ultimately legal depends on the circumstances. The literature isn't terribly consistent in its terminology describing these vertical-resale-price-maintainence-agreement-restraint thingies. As far as I can tell, the only defining characteristic that distinguishes resale price maintenance agreements from the other versions is that the former implies either an upper- or lower-bound on price. In any event, vertical price arrangements are not uncommon the U.S., regardless of the jargon chosen to describe them.

Horizontal price-fixing is another matter entirely, which makes the DRAM scandal a poor comparison. That was an act of collusion among manufacturers and a straightforward per se violation of the Sherman Act. The intent was clearly anti-competitive and hostile to consumers.

The above does not account for the numerous other legal, quasi-legal, and illegal practices used to manipulate prices.
Look up the DRAM fines. Or any of the others. And execs can see jail time on it too. It’s a BIG deal. This is one of the “oh fuck no” rules. No one gets close. Not anymore. Once the industry got slapped they stay away.
The problem with that statement is that all of this is a matter of public record. I can easily find all manner of antitrust cases, including ones that involve price-fixing. Unless that's meant to apply only to DRAM manufacturers, it's certainly not true.
They do, but it winds up going to court and taking a LONG time and eventually winds up settling out of court for less than the company gained from the practice turning it into a "cost of doing business" type of decision.

I'd like to see reform to this. The minimum SEC fine should be the amount the business gained from the practice. Then there should be a multiplier for damages in order to dissuade others, like there is in most other civil cases.

Additionally there should be a requirement that the company turn over all records (emails memos etc) regarding the decision and turn states witness in prosecuting the individual employees who made the decisions to violate the law with criminal charges.

THAT ought to change a thing or to.

But until that happens, most SEC fines are just a cost of doing business.
I absolutely agree that our current system is broken, but I've lost any hope that it can be fixed — not without a major shift in cultural values, which I don't see happening anytime soon. :(

Do we even have antitrust laws in the U.S.? It seems to me that corporate lawyers treat them more as "guidelines" or "gentle suggestions".

Related: I recently dug up this blast from the past:
https://web.archive.org/web/2019100...force_partner_program_impacts_consumer_choice
Should be mandatory reading for new accounts. :)

As a side note, our legal system as a whole hasn't kept pace with technology, let alone the impact of "globalization". It's no longer possible to survive a day without implicitly agreeing to dozens of contracts (e.g., ToS, privacy policies) that rival the OED in length, each one of them outlining in detail the myriad of ways in which whatever remaining civil liberties that persist in our imaginations will be violated to the maximum extent of our anemic protection laws. These terms are then updated on a regular basis, which everyone of course reads. Sometimes they're kind enough to remind us with an e-mail when they're updated. :unsure:

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, nor do I claim any particular legal expertise. I do, however, have a sister (with whom I haven't spoken in ages) who is a lawyer. And at some point in the future, I may consider becoming an armchair legal scholar.

If you think price fixing isn't rampant, you're lying to yourself. Hell just a couple years ago a grocery store chain here in Canada was fined for fixing prices on bread FFS.
Yeah, I don't know how anyone could get the idea that price-fixing is a thing of the past, especially in the U.S.

Holding your MBA up as proof serves the opposite FYI.

Can you imagine a world without MBAs?

🎈 🎆 🎇 🎉 🎊 🥳

The horror!
 
Can you imagine a world without MBAs?

🎈 🎆 🎇 🎉 🎊 🥳

The horror!
There would be considerably fewer dumbasses that think they're smarter than me because they have a fancy title and write more letters after their names...

The problem with that statement is that all of this is a matter of public record. I can easily find all manner of antitrust cases, including ones that involve price-fixing. Unless that's meant to apply only to DRAM manufacturers, it's certainly not true.
Unless you have 2 MBA's or a PHD, you cannot possibly be correct.
 
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