NVIDIA Enters Retail with Direct Sales at Best Buy @ [H]

So we've got this. XFX gets the boot. WTF is going on? What does it all mean?
 
Wow XFX is booted? nVidia is ****ing up. They just lost a good major partner.

Intel buys nVidia next year when every other partner packs up and leaves. You saw it here before anyone else!
 
i hope this doesnt lead to nvidia selling these only and no AIB's. I think it would hurt more than do any good. Besides I wont buy from worst buy because of the jacked price at the B&M store. If i cant get it online for $XX(X) cheaper then im not buying it. Why would I pay $299 when it can be had for say $229 online from another retailer? Im not one of those people that have to have it right now. I can wait for a few days shipping to receive it to save those hard earned bucks.
 
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One thing to point out, I don't own any credit cards. But when my Ti4400 bit the dust I needed to get my MoH:AA addiction fed. I applied for a Circuit City card and bought a 9800 Pro. Then I bought a 7600GT from Circuit City and a 8800GTS after that. It wasn't that I wanted to pay more but I could afford the monthly payments on my CC card. Probably holds true for some of the Best Buy video card buyers.

I also think this is a moot point with their AIB. They aren't selling a "better" version of what they are selling to their partners. Hell they are charging more for an inferior product. This probably has more to do with stocking the selves with nVidia products and nothing more. If 50% of the self space is nVidia cards and nVidia's brand occupies 5% there is still a 50% chance that someone will buy a nVidia product.
 
Did the the box come with woodscrews and bacon vouchers inside? Didn't see that mentioned in the write up.

I agree with someone who commented on the article from yesterday, it does remind me of how 3dfx handled things. Maybe NV should bring back the crazy ass faces on the box art instead of using a huge render of their logo. For the Fermi generation I suggest they use different variations of this.
 
NVIDIA goes on to fill rest of the space on box with mostly marketing speak. A couple more "Designed and Built by NVIDIA" statements, then a "Direct from the Source Support."
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http://hardocp.com/article/2010/10/0..._at_best_buy/1

That alone right there nails the idea that NVidia just fired one of their first shot against AIBs.

Posted this in what I guess is the older thread. This line alone shifted this whole thing for me from minor to "now this is definitely interesting."
 
Stoly said:
Well, that didn't stop you from buying the card now did it?
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Uh, Kyle is hardly the average consumer. Did you happen to notice he runs a hardware site?
So if a "false statement" didn't stop you from buying the card, why should it stop the Average Joe.
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Counting on the average Joe to be too dumb to notice or care about misleading advertising is not an excuse or justification for doing it.
 
Stoly said:
Well, that didn't stop you from buying the card now did it?

I think the average consumer assumes that the product they buy, say a Nintendo Wii is built by Nintendo, the i-phone made by apple, etc.

You feed deceived, because you know who builds it. Average Joe doesn't know and doesn't care.

So if a "false statement" didn't stop you from buying the card, why should it stop the Average Joe.
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Thanks for the brilliant insight. I am not going to engage your discussion further.
 
I can't help but think that this is nothing but a posturing on Nvidias side.

A bargaining tool - if you will.

They are firing a shot across their board partners bows saying, " you do it our way, or we'll do it ourselves without you".

it may not be in Nvidia's interest to build boards themselves, but as a bargaining chip/bluff it might be effective.

I'm sure XFX being axed did not go unnoticed by any of the remaining board partners...
 
§kynet;1036260594 said:
Uh, Kyle is hardly the average consumer. Did you happen to notice he runs a hardware site?
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Exactly my point, Kyle is not an average consumer, yet he got the card inspite of the "false statement". Now if it bothers him so much, why not return the card?
 
I think the "build by nVidia" thing is just more effort to get Joe Average to pay extra for the same thing that he could get from somewhere (and someone) else for much cheaper. It's all fluff.


Stoly said:
Exactly my point, Kyle is not an average consumer, yet he got the card inspite of the "false statement". Now if it bothers him so much, why not return the card?
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To put it here on [H] and investigate/report on it? Really, this seems like a silly yet obvious question. How else would Kyle have been able to write a credible, detailed article on it? He went through the same process that anyone else would go through, broke it down, and reported on it.
 
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Zarathustra[H];1036260614 said:
They are firing a shot across their board partners bows saying, " you do it our way, or we'll do it ourselves without you".
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What are the chances that at least some partners will chose what's behind door #2, CYA Nvidia.

BTW, what exactly have some partners done that does not meet with Nvidia approval?
 
Stoly said:
You're welcome.
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you know when you find yourself in a hole you should stop digging. stating that reporter (that is the role Kyle was acting in here) should not have bought a misleading labeled products to investigate them was asinine. To investigate the story was the reason for the purchase. of course it didn't stop him from buying the cards.
 
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Great article, just one nit to pick.
The shear logistics of supporting Best Buy customer returns and exchanges will be huge if NVIDIA sees any sort of volume of sales.
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It is "sheer", not "shear".
 
So the cool thing is I went to BestBuy.ca to see if they were selling NVidia cards. Nope.

But look what they are selling? ATI cards.

I checked the US site, and it does not look like they sell any there.

So, is ATI f*$#ing their AIBs too?

Why do I get the sense that all this is a shell game, and means dick.

For all I care, maybe these are EVGA cards that have a NVIDIA sticker on them for marketing reasons.

Maybe NVIDIA is getting ready to be put on the sell block to Intel.

Maybe NVIDIA is going to buy [H]ardocp and this is all a trick to confuse us. This might be cheaper way to #1 than waisting all those evga bucks ;-)

My guess, is that NVIDIA is trying to get more consumer brand awareness.

I used to work for IBM, they had like 7 routes to market.

This is complex stuff, and can be combination of corporate strategy, insider fighting, power struggles. Basically your guess is as good as mine.

EDIT: When I say "your" guess, that does not include Kyle. His guess I am sure is better than my guess :)
 
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Stoly said:
Well, that didn't stop you from buying the card now did it?

I think the average consumer assumes that the product they buy, say a Nintendo Wii is built by Nintendo, the i-phone made by apple, etc.

You feed deceived, because you know who builds it. Average Joe doesn't know and doesn't care.

So if a "false statement" didn't stop you from buying the card, why should it stop the Average Joe.
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Kyle runs a tech site dedicated to reviewing hardware and letting users know whats in the box. What part of that concept isn't landing in your brain pan as to why he bought them?

The "average joe" on the other hand is a typically misinformed/ignorant consumer often raped by stores like BB due to shady practices.

Kyle does NOT fit that description at all.

News of this is spreading rapidly now thanks to [H], and I'm sure by the weekend it's going to be pure fireworks all around.
 
Stoly said:
Exactly my point, Kyle is not an average consumer, yet he got the card inspite of the "false statement". Now if it bothers him so much, why not return the card?
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Do you really need it spelled out for you? Have you ever run a business?
 
fightingfi said:
I could care less i hate nvidia and best buy . I shop at Frys and buy ATI ...:D
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I Love ATI but Fry's flat out sucks compared to NewEgg. Do a search for an Intel 1000Mbps NIC. You find one enterprise level NIC. Now go to NewEgg. Fry's site is so slow I usually don't stay long enough to find anything. The only time I use Fry's is when I need to demo a product and then return it when I am done.
 
I hope any remaining Nvidia only parteners *cough* EVGA (is there any others left?) get tied of this BS and carry both team red and team green for their own sake
 
PRIME1 said:
Well given the price premium (it seems they are charging) they are filling the "enthusiast" gap left by BFG. As that was kind of the enthusiast brand at Best Buy. I don't consider Galaxy or PNY as enthusiast brands.

I just did a search at Amazon and Newegg and did not see NVIDIA branded cards there.

I guess I fail to see what the big deal is?

ATI did this for years and nobody crapped their pants over it. :confused:
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Right now its exclusive with Best Buy to sell their cards.
 
§kynet;1036260679 said:
What are the chances that at least some partners will chose what's behind door #2, CYA Nvidia.

BTW, what exactly have some partners done that does not meet with Nvidia approval?
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Not sure, but there are certain to be disagreements like this, especially with a company like Nvidia that like to have control of their product.

Maybe Nvidia doesn't like the concept of factory overclocked video cards, for example?

Were there ever any public spats between XFX and Nvidia?
 
SpeedyVV said:
So the cool thing is I went to BestBuy.ca to see if they were selling NVidia cards. Nope
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They sell a few, like this one. They also have more in store than they show on the web AFAIK. Best Buy's site pretty much blows, if you do a search for "Nvidia" it shows no results.
 
Zarathustra[H];1036260722 said:
Maybe Nvidia doesn't like the concept of factory overclocked video cards, for example?
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Why would Nvidia care? Overclocked cards can make you more competitive vs. AMD.
Were there ever any public spats between XFX and Nvidia?
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Not that I remember.
 
§kynet;1036260728 said:
They sell a few, like this one. They also have more in store than they show on the web AFAIK. Best Buy's site pretty much blows, if you do a search for "Nvidia" it shows no results.
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Sorry, that is a PNY card. Not a NVIDIA.
 
§kynet;1036260735 said:
Why would Nvidia care? Overclocked cards can make you more competitive vs. AMD.
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They could care if a factory overclocked lower end Nvidia GPU is competing with a higher end Nvidia GPU...

Another thought is that they saw what happened to BFG (and to a lesser extent ABIT, and realized that it could happen to other board partners as well.

Someone high up in the company may have ordered Nvidia to develop a contingency plan and a test run to ensure that Nvidia is able to remain on the market, even if a few of their other board manufacturers disappear.
 
> but at the same time there is absolutely nothing original about these cards.

I don't want my video card to be original. I want reliability and quietness. Once it goes into the case, it isn't seen again for 18-24 months.

I assume that BB price gouging will keep the nVidia partners alive and well ...
 
Interesting....Imagine for a second if ALL the aftermarket (Asus, Galaxy, etc.) left ATI and NVIDIA and started their own R&D and put even MORE competition out there to try and bring down the green and red giants...
 
I am thinking of a different spin on this...
I wonder if this will be like the car industry consolidation we have seen in recent years?
The consumer generally doesn't need 4 different variations and sub variations of the same thing (8800,9800,240) or (gm, Saturn, Chevy, Cadillac) and all its under and overclocked brothers and step sisters. It causes confusion (not to hardocp'ers) to most consumers to the point they don't even know what the hell they are buying half the time. It also adds more inventory and choices than there are consumers. Being stuck with old inventory and managing the costs of holding old and new inventory and RMA's has been a big problem for AIBs. Consolidation of sku's and vendors, even though it sucks for people we all like in those AIB companies, maybe is a good deal in long run.
Companies need to make money, and I know that the margins are not as good as people think for this business. So if the product lines can be made simpler figure out for joe average, yet still be able to be tweaked by guys like us, and profit can be made by Nvidia, then maybe you have a company that can stick around and keep AMD on its toes.
 
dandapice said:
Interesting....Imagine for a second if ALL the aftermarket (Asus, Galaxy, etc.) left ATI and NVIDIA and started their own R&D and put even MORE competition out there to try and bring down the green and red giants...
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Chip design and board manufacturing are two VERY different things.

Heck, many of the board manufacturers don't even design their own boards, and just use the Nvidia reference design. They are essentially manufacturing houses, with rather little in the way of engineering and R&D.

In a way, this would be similar to saying, what if all the winshield wiper and lightbulb manufacturers band together and design a car that competes with GM....

...except designing a high end chip is even more complex than designing a car. Starting a chip design from scratch and entering the market is a near impossibility.
 
s[H]aqFU;1036260854 said:
I am thinking of a different spin on this...
I wonder if this will be like the car industry consolidation we have seen in recent years?
The consumer generally doesn't need 4 different variations and sub variations of the same thing (8800,9800,240) or (gm, Saturn, Chevy, Cadillac) and all its under and overclocked brothers and step sisters. It causes confusion (not to hardocp'ers) to most consumers to the point they don't even know what the hell they are buying half the time. It also adds more inventory and choices than there are consumers. Being stuck with old inventory and managing the costs of holding old and new inventory and RMA's has been a big problem for AIBs. Consolidation of sku's and vendors, even though it sucks for people we all like in those AIB companies, maybe is a good deal in long run.
Companies need to make money, and I know that the margins are not as good as people think for this business. So if the product lines can be made simpler figure out for joe average, yet still be able to be tweaked by guys like us, and profit can be made by Nvidia, then maybe you have a company that can stick around and keep AMD on its toes.
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Agreed.
 
SpeedyVV said:
So the cool thing is I went to BestBuy.ca to see if they were selling NVidia cards. Nope.

But look what they are selling? ATI cards.

I checked the US site, and it does not look like they sell any there.

So, is ATI f*$#ing their AIBs too?

Why do I get the sense that all this is a shell game, and means dick.

For all I care, maybe these are EVGA cards that have a NVIDIA sticker on them for marketing reasons.

Maybe NVIDIA is getting ready to be put on the sell block to Intel.

Maybe NVIDIA is going to buy [H]ardocp and this is all a trick to confuse us. This might be cheaper way to #1 than waisting all those evga bucks ;-)

My guess, is that NVIDIA is trying to get more consumer brand awareness.

I used to work for IBM, they had like 7 routes to market.

This is complex stuff, and can be combination of corporate strategy, insider fighting, power struggles. Basically your guess is as good as mine.

EDIT: When I say "your" guess, that does not include Kyle. His guess I am sure is better than my guess :)
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Those are all Diamond cards.
 
michael.pa2 said:
Sounds like Nvidia screwing over it's partners to me. By directly selling it's cards,it's taking business away from them. Guess loyalty takes a back seat to greed with them,which doesn't surprise me a bit. If I were a Nvidia only seller like EVGA,I'd be on the phone with AMD right now. Look what happened to BFG,they should have jumped the Nvidia ship long ago.
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Agreed 100%. I would LOVE EVGA Radeon Cards. I'm already loving having my XFX 5870.
 
Nvidia will probably keep supply limited and keep the price high. Nvidia does't want to compete against their own manufacturing customers. This way, other venders don't feel threatened and their sales may actually increase. An expensive Nvidia card next to a Galaxy card makes the Galaxy card look like a real bargain, which may draw business away from AMD.

Another reason for Nvidia to do this, they may fear the end of the graphics card market (the market will eventually all but die within the next few years). Their dabbling may be to get experience in the retail business so that as the business shrinks, they can take it all to themselves.
 
Interesting.
But nvidia selling a couple of mid-range GPUs at BB isn't really that earth shattering.
Now if I was a partner I might ask why, but lately (BFG and XFX) questioning nvidia isn't a good idea.

I bought an nvidia "Dual-TV" tuner card a couple years ago, it still works very well and the packaging was as Kyle put it, pretty well done.
Can nvidia be a retail supplier? Who knows, but I doubt it.....too complex, they are a much better designer.

I like nvidia GPUs, always have, but buying one at BB is not on my list of things to do unless it's dire.
 
Nvidia has been selling cards at the best buy in tyler texas for at least a month now.Seen them when I was buying a laptop.
 
There's a number of reasons that Nvidia could be doing this.

#1 They're cutting out the middle man. Hopefully, this should lower prices, but I think it'll just be more profit for Nvidia.

#2 A lot of problems with AIBs, and quality. Video cards have high failure rates, mostly due to the cooling fans dying. That's a AIB problem.

#3 AIBs cause customer confusion with labeling, not that it isn't Nvidia's fault either. Some consumers can end up buying an overpriced product, and find it to underperformed. Remember Geforce 4 MX doesn't equal Geforce 4 Ti?

#4 The market for gaming on PC is dwindling, due to the horrible mess that Xbox 360 and PS3 made. Sub par games are not going to give people incentive to buy new hardware. Nvidia could be trying to give consumers a better gaming experience. Something AIBs weren't trying to do.

#5 AIBs cause customer service mess, along with problems with drivers. Notice there isn't an auto update feature in Steam for Nvidia drivers?

#6 AIBs are slow to change. Sometimes small features can be big problems, if they aren't included. Like HDCP support, and other features that can sometimes not be included.
 
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