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

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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NVIDIA Enters Retail with Direct Sales at Best Buy - Is NVIDIA looking to make add-in-board partners a thing of the past? Or is NVIDIA looking to supplement its already long list of North American partners' stock on Best Buy's shelves. No matter how you look at it, the move is surprising to say the least.
 
They may just be filling the gap left by BFG/XFX or just trying to get their name more visible at the retail level. Are these showing up on Newegg?

Until they actually start replacing EVGA/MSI/ASUS/PNY etc. I think it's a mountain out of a mole hill at this point.
 
Cost
The cards that we bought today here in North Texas were priced fairly high compared to some others on the shelf. The GTX 460 was $299, the same price as PNY, but $100 higher than Galaxy. The GTX 450 $199, which was $5 higher than Galaxy (but it seems the Galaxy card was mismarked by +$20) and the same price as the PNY card.

$299 for a GTX 460? Holy shit! That's why they are doing this, to rip off a certain group of buyers who are not informed. Only at Best Buy.
 
$299 for a GTX 460? Holy shit! That's why they are doing this, to rip off a certain group of buyers who are not informed.

Hahaha, that sounds about right for a best buy. Generally the only time you can get a good deal on a video card from best buy is when they go on clearance.
 
after reading the article, i still don't get y they did it. It really does sound like they want to get rid of AIB so they get the benefits themselves but i really think that will blow up in their face. I agree with kyle too that there will be backlash from their partners too. It almost seems like they r doing it to spite their partners...
 
They may just be filling the gap left by BFG/XFX or just trying to get their name more visible at the retail level. Are these showing up on Newegg?

Until they actually start replacing EVGA/MSI/ASUS/PNY etc. I think it's a mountain out of a mole hill at this point.

There is no gap left by BFG. That was filled instantly by PNY and Galaxy on the shelf and buy ASUS, Galaxy, and PNY online for Best Buy.
 
Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

Now I'm curious as to what NVIDIA has to say about this next week.
 
I could care less i hate nvidia and best buy . I shop at Frys and buy ATI ...:D
 
The 'Designed and built by NVIDIA' part kinda reminds me of AMG saying 'hand built by (some german guy)' as mentioned on Top Gear.. :p

I forgot which episode that was...
 
Maybe BFG placed an order with nVidia then said to hell with it. Now nVidia is left with a large order that they already placed. So maybe this was BFG's last order that didn't come to fruition? Now nVidia is just trying to move the product themselves?
 
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.
 
I believe that they are doing this because they just had excess stock of their cards and can't get rid of them. So how do you get rid of them, you sell them yourself.

This is most likely a test, if it goes well for them I foresee this continuing with more retailers. Most likely partners will start getting pissed off, due to the fact Nvidia is directly competing with them. In the article you stated that AIB's have to give Nvidia sell thru data, marketing plans, costs, and forecast plans to continue to be an approved partner, and with this information Nvidia can use it to market and strategize their own product to sell and be marketed better. We will see what happens though.
 
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.

^^ This is where I think things really get dicey with this "experiment."

Folks ran down in the headline thread for this how BFG's faults were their own and that's well documented.


If I'm an AIB for Nvidia I'm really watching this and thinking: "Do I need to cover my ass and have a back door ready?"
 
I just see this as being dishonest. Maybe I am splitting hairs here, but AIBs such as EVGA do not state on its boxes "Built by EVGA," because it does not build its own cards. ASUS, Galaxy, Gigabyte, MSI, and Palit to name a few do build its own video cards, but NVIDIA does not.

This is no different than many companies that put "Made in the USA" on their packages when those items are only "assembled" in the USA, and the parts are actually made in China before being shipped here for assembly. (Assembly can be as simple as putting it in a box and sealing it shut as far as the legality of it goes I was told by a former boss).

Growing up I worked in 2 separate industries like that, and it's more prevalent than some might think.

NVidia designed/created the GPU on the board and it's being made/assembled "elsewhere" to be certain, and they are using that same sort of marketing trick because it works.

BestBuy on the other hand is pure evil incarnate and not someone I'd want to associate my brand name with. The amount of lying they get away with both in store and in printed ads is jaw dropping. Sales people outright lie to customers and it's considered "business as usual". The Consumerist has endless pages about it.

Then again, if NV wants to play in the gray area of where it's "made", maybe working with another company with shady tactics is the way to go.

I just don't see this working out long term, esp when BB dumps all the problems back on NV, (and you can bet they will), who are nowhere near ready for the possible CS nightmare it could turn into.
 
Oh, this should get good. I can't wait to see what the AIB's are gonna come back with.


*runs and gets popcorn* =0.0=
 
Maybe BFG placed an order with nVidia then said to hell with it. Now nVidia is left with a large order that they already placed. So maybe this was BFG's last order that didn't come to fruition? Now nVidia is just trying to move the product themselves?

No, that did not happen.
 
I believe that they are doing this because they just had excess stock of their cards and can't get rid of them. So how do you get rid of them, you sell them yourself.

This is most likely a test, if it goes well for them I foresee this continuing with more retailers. Most likely partners will start getting pissed off, due to the fact Nvidia is directly competing with them. In the article you stated that AIB's have to give Nvidia sell thru data, marketing plans, costs, and forecast plans to continue to be an approved partner, and with this information Nvidia can use it to market and strategize their own product to sell and be marketed better. We will see what happens though.

No, this is not to dump excess stock. The is not excess stock on these GPUs.
 
Remember when I told you guys in January that XFX was going to be cut loose as an NVIDIA partner? That coincided with its possible entry into retail sales. I think now we will see XFX loose all NVIDIA support.
 
Badass we need a modern day 3DFX now! Lets manufacture our own product and see what happens! Oh wait..
 
Still trying to think of how this is a positive move by Nvidia. Can't come up with anything.
 
§kynet;1036260307 said:
Still trying to think of how this is a positive move by Nvidia. Can't come up with anything.

Me either.
 
I have a friend who works in the video card industry. He says this is just due to excessive stock.
 
Notice there it is a "provider of visual computing technologies." It is not a discreet graphics card builder. This is because NVIDIA does not build graphics cards. To my knowledge NVIDIA does not own facilities that can mass produce graphics cards for retail sale. This would be highlighted by the fact that NVIDIA did not build the graphics cards that we bought Monday labeled "Designed and Built by NVIDIA." Foxconn built these graphics cards. This was confirmed by NVIDIA directly. I am unsure how it can state that it built these cards as NVIDIA did not build these cards, Foxconn did.

I just see this as being dishonest. Maybe I am splitting hairs here, but AIBs such as EVGA do not state on its boxes "Built by EVGA," because it does not build its own cards. ASUS, Galaxy, Gigabyte, MSI, and Palit to name a few do build its own video cards, but NVIDIA does not.

Technically not nvidia, nor ATI, nor most of their partners actually build cards. Even more so, the iphone, ipad, ipod, imacs etc are not built by Apple. Now AMD doesn't build its own processors. Add to the list the X-box and the Wii, and pretty much every gadget you may own.

Who gives a damn who actually builds the thing?
 
I never understood how someone could drop $300 on a GPU or any other DIY PC component at Best Buy and not do any research beforehand. You can literally pick up two GTX 460 768mb cards for less than the price you'd pay for the single 460 at Best Buy.
 
I have a friend who works in the video card industry. He says this is just due to excessive stock.

That is a tremendously uninformed opinion. If you have excessive stock, do you compete with the people currently selling your stock?
 
I have a friend who works in the video card industry. He says this is just due to excessive stock.
If that were true, it raises the question --how consistent would customer support be once said stock is gone?

As others have also said, I just can't see how this can be a good move by nVidia. Tick off your partners, you have to add your own technical support for end-users, and if you screw that up, you earn a black mark as a company. The very brief responses given in the article by nVidia seem to be deer-in-the-headlights ones that just scream "unprepared".

This just doesn't seem like a smart move to me. If it isn't excess stock, it's the kind of thing I'd see only a financially-desperate company doing, and if it is, why not fire-sale stock to your partners and get chummy with them?
 
latest update: peeling back the NVidia sticker off one of the cards revealed a BFG sticker. ;)
 
§kynet;1036260378 said:
Nvidia seems to think it is very important to people, why else would they print on the box, "Designed and Built by NVIDIA"?

NVIDIA wants to be Apple.
 
I buy my video cards are Fry's or Newegg, the video card selection not to mention the prices at my local BestBuy are woefully lack-luster.
 
Well, nVidia's partners are just gonna love this.
 
Clarification please :) Are you talking about Best Buys next product refresh cycle or can we expect some Fermi refreshes the 10th?

Last week we found out through several good sources that NVIDIA is supposed to launch direct sale video cards with Best Buy on its next product refresh cycle which is October 10th
 
Clarification please :) Are you talking about Best Buys next product refresh cycle or can we expect some Fermi refreshes the 10th?

Best Buy's refresh has nothing to do with GPU product cycles directly.
 
I am not sure what got me more, the tech support in India, not knowing that they had Nvidia cards, 30 dollars in packaging, or the slap in the face that was "direct from the source support" (from India of course).

I haven't liked a lot of things that Nvidia has done in the last couple of years. add this to the list I guess.
 
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