Why Video Cards Price Getting So High?

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w00bi

[H]ard|Gawd
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Im sorry if this is a stupid topic or post, but I just wanted you guys to think about something.

Why Video Cards Price Getting So High?
Well The Obvious answer would be better technology. Anything and everything gets bumped up in price when it has better technology or something of that matter.
Example: CAR - If you by a "Chrome" part for a car, it will cost more then a "Plastic" part. Why? Because the Chrome costs more to make and produce then the plastic part.
This is the basic for mostly everything in the world, because it is more expensive to produce or create.

Now video cards, they get better in technology. BUT what about the car issue. When we buy cars, we buy the parts that are actually made, physical if you must. Video cards are all made of the same type of products. They are made out of metal, the board, the ram chips, the processor chips, etc etc. But when we buy something better, are we buying improved chips?

aa_1.JPG
Radeon 9800 XT


7e_1.JPG
Geforce 2 MX

To me, they look diffrent. Diffrent colors, diffrent fans, etc.
But is it those chips, and fans that is making the $300 diffrence? To me it should be.
Correct me If I am wrong, but the way you price something is based on how much it takes to produce it right? So if something cost $5, you would want to make it $10.

So what I am asking is, Are video cards made bassicly from the same parts. Except for diffrent chip types, sinks, fans, what is the big diffrence in the cost to produce it.

I am not saying video cards like the Radeon should cost $50, but it shouldnt be $400 if it isnt that much diffrent to produce then a $50 dollar.

Sorry If I am mistaken in this all, but I was just laying in my bed and thought of it. Any comments are welcome. Oh and I am 15, so I might be wrong on some parts. Please give me Opinions.
 
my computer looks like a dell! it performs twice as well, but ill sell it for 500 because it looks like it[sarcasm]


they are made more thoroughly and overall was more costly to make
 
i'd say it's more "why have video cards always cost so much?" there's always going to be the next latest and greatest. and there's always going to be 200 dollar and up cards.


that and inflation. :)
 
I once payed $600 (US) for 2 Voodoo2s SLI.

That's at least $100 more than a 9800XT !!!!!

That was in 1997 I think.


I got married a couple years after that and now the better half must aprove such purchases ;)

And whenever I do a video card upgrade, she says "It looks the same, you wasted your money!!" :mad:
 
It's called "research and development", or "R&D" for short.

And gfx cards are only more expensive today if you compare to the past few years. Before the time of 3d accelerators gfx cards were mad expensive (simply because you didn't need to upgrade all that often, supply and demand).
 
To me, this question is like, "Why is a Lamborghini Diablo so much more expensive than a Ford Focus?"
 
Originally posted by LordBritish
I once payed $600 (US) for 2 Voodoo2s SLI.

That's at least $100 more than a 9800XT !!!!!

That was in 1997 I think.


I got married a couple years after that and now the better half must aprove such purchases

And whenever I do a video card upgrade, she says "It looks the same, you wasted your money!!"
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LMAO..thats classic LordBritish. good stuff. :D
 
To me, this question is like, "Why is a Lamborghini Diablo so much more expensive than a Ford Focus?"
Click to expand...

Simple...
Its made with steel clad bullskin from the hide of mighty "Thunderbulls" of "Mount Italy" that are able to run at speeds of up to 200mph or more! duuuuuh :rolleyes:
 
Cards today have over 100 MILLION transistors in the core! That's about 2 times the amount of transistors in a Pentium 4 (non extreme edition).

It's very complicated to make a GPU with that many transistors and not have it be flawed.

It all boils down to supply and demand. I confess, I haven't been keeping up on the vid card market like I once did, but I believe ATI will take non perfect GPU's and disable parts of them and sell them as 9800SE's or something like that for less money. Kinda like the Radeon 9500's were the EXACT same card at the 9700's except half the pipelines were disabled if I remember correctly.

IF ATI sold their best product for $150 I'm sure they would not be able to keep up with demand.

So ANYWHO, I hope that answers your question.
 
I agree with the thread starter.... These prices are grossly overexpensive.... cards like 9600pro should be about 150 and 9800 pro's should be 250 and xts should be 300.... anything more is mad.... i know nothing will change but they are shredding our wallets up way too much
 
Thanks for all the replies. Im glad this isnt just a flame the stupid 15 year old :).
 
I have heard quite a bit on both sides of the vid card price argument over the years. It's true theat the majority of a vid cards cost in manufacturing is in the R&D. Perhaps some of you recall around this time last year when the "new" Geforce cards were slated and reslated to be released. You may also recall the multiple failures Nvidia had with getting the .13 micron process down to an economically feasable level and the resulting delays in production. They were not able to meet the X-mas deadline they had promised and they sunk TONS of money and resources into devolopment and lost even more to the 9700 Pro which had about a years head start. This should be a good indicator of why cards can get so expensive. Also worth taking into account is the fact that a 60% useable chip rate in GPU production is considered very good. Lets also look at the length of time a vid card stays at it's initial price. A year may seem like a long time to wait for prices to drop, but for any business, a year is a very short time. Especially for one that is hoping to recoupe hundreds of millions in investments in a product which will probably be outdated in a year and obsolete in two more. Its the same with CPU's, only the whole process happens a lot faster there. Where a vid card may retain its initial price for 6 months to a year, a CPU will drop in only months, sometimes weeks.
 
i agree with redshirt.

it's very simple why they cost so much... people are willing to pay that much for them. obvioulsy they're going to try to recover their R&D costs, but they would be less if people would refuse to pay so much for them. quite a simple concept if you ask me :)
 
Originally posted by berky
but they would be less if people would refuse to pay so much for them. quite a simple concept if you ask me :)
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So should we?
 
Originally posted by berky
i agree with redshirt.

it's very simple why they cost so much... people are willing to pay that much for them. obvioulsy they're going to try to recover their R&D costs, but they would be less if people would refuse to pay so much for them...
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No...not really.

The company would fold and then you would have fewer choices than you have now, no competition to drive the last remaining vendor and quality would suffer because of lack of competition.

Companies can only afford to take initial loses so far as they can eventually recoup the dollars.

Cutting edge costs...and you do pay apremium. Sure, these cards are hugely expensive... but don't be fooled into thinking 9800XTs and 5950s are paying the bills. The high volume OEM products (ATI 9ks anf GF4 families) are paying the bills for ATI and NV. What you pay for is brag rights and getting it first and bleeding edge technology (take DX9 and its massive usage by all of...1,2,3 titles as of now). Once a chipset, say the R300, goes mainstream... that is when ATI sees a profit. I doubt before in most cases.

More often than not, bleeding edge cards cost more because they simply cost more to make... new chipset, new fab-process, driver refinment, etc.

I choose to just not pay for the premium cards. Some do.

This seems to smack of an old GenMay conversation years ago... hmmmm.

Cheers!

Z
 
>Why Video Cards Price Getting So High?

Because people are willing to pay for them.

>When we buy cars, we buy the parts that are actually made, physical if you
>must.

A graphics card is not designed to absorb impact. This is not quite a parallel. You can't look at a card and tell how many transistors are in the chip or how much RAM it has.
Millions of dollars in research and development go into these things.


A thousand years ago, a fine sword could take months to make. You would need to forge the steel, laminate dozens of layers of metal, grind the edge by hand. A quality piece of work.
These days, you can press hundreds of them in an hour on a big machine.

It's the work, not the materials. Graphics cards aren't pretty on the outside.
 
coz morons like myself pay those prices...i am sure if enthusiasts stoped buying all the top end hardware the prices would drop
 
The prices has always been this high. The Geforce 2 or Geforce 3 or Geforce 4 wasn´t any cheaper when they was the best you can get. Actually it´s the opposite. If you look at the performance a 9800 NP or even 9800 PRO is very reasonable priced.
 
Originally posted by mcryptic
gee maybe its a little thing called 256BIT DDR!:rolleyes:
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Don't be an idiot. His point is that 256 bit DDR actually costs the same to produce as slower ram.

The price increase is created purely by demand. It isn't directly correlated with manufacturing expenses.

This is why 3200+'s will be repackaged as 2500+'s to meet demand.

In high technology like this, demand determines prices, not production costs. You honestly think that a 9800 XT costs 3 times as much to make as a 9600 pro? Think again.
 
256 bit DDR does not cost the same, where's the proof? Because a 15 year old says so it must be true?

what about when the next gen cards come out with DDR2 or 3 do you think that is going to cost the same? I don't think so.
 
Originally posted by quiksilverx181
i know nothing will change but they are shredding our wallets up way too much
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No one forces you to buy these toys. If the price of a 9600 shreds your wallet, then you need a new hobby or more disposable income.

Originally posted by oqvist
The prices has always been this high. The Geforce 2 or Geforce 3 or Geforce 4 wasn´t any cheaper when they was the best you can get. Actually it´s the opposite. If you look at the performance a 9800 NP or even 9800 PRO is very reasonable priced.
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I agree. The mainstream parts these days are incredible. I look at the performance of my 9800 NP flashed to a Pro and wonder when I'll ever need to get rid of it. I applaud all of the flagship parts because more and more features get pushed into the mainstream every year.
 
Originally posted by mcryptic
256 bit DDR does not cost the same, where's the proof? Because a 15 year old says so it must be true?

what about when the next gen cards come out with DDR2 or 3 do you think that is going to cost the same? I don't think so.
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Funny how despite the 5950 Ultra and the 9800 XT being completely different chipset designs, they cost roughly the same.
Amazing how those two cores conveniently cost the same to produce, let alone the ram, caps, and everything else...or perhaps there is some other force at play that determines the pricing for these cards...



































like the demand curve.

Also notice how the 5950 256mb on pricewatch is about 30 dollars less than the 9800 XT...is this because it is using Ram that is 30 dollars cheaper? or could it possibly be because there is less demand for a high-end card that has poorer directx 9 than the competition.

I opt for the second option. Funny how "all" high end cards cost the same at the time of their release.
 
so because they both have power caps they the must be the same? Your logic makes no sense, so i'm done with you.
 
Most of the money dumped into video cards is the research and development costs, not the productions costs. However, it can cost quite a bit when you first make the switch to a smaller manufacturing process as Intel and AMD are realizing currently.
 
plus they developers know that there is always the rich kid on the block that buys every new toy to brag about it(wish it were me:p )
 
Why there is no $2000,00 video cards?
Cuz no one would pay for it...

got it?
 
Originally posted by AMDoido
Why there is no $2000,00 video cards?
Cuz no one would pay for it...

got it?
Click to expand...

I say sometime in the future there will be on.. Maybe its when everyone is rich ;o
 
If your not willing to pay as much as everyone else you don't want the card that badly. That or your stuck making BigMacs and 1/4lb'ers and whos fault is that?
 
Originally posted by w00bi
So should we?
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if you can get the thousands upon thousands of people that buy these cards for so much to stop buying them, be my guest :)
 
Originally posted by berky
if you can get the thousands upon thousands of people that buy these cards for so much to stop buying them, be my guest :)
Click to expand...

hmmm maybe we should protest or something
 
High? Nah.....

The computing world for personal use isn't anywhere near as high as other purchasable things like cars (for da guys) and jewelry (for da gals)

Heck, I was surprised to hear that all of the $1million US Enzo Ferrari's were sold before they were even finished manufacture.

A single nice triple perfect diamond will set you back a pretty penny too, a necklace of them could buy you a small city.

The pricing between videocards is more like Honda Civic to BMW... There is no Enzo Ferrari yet.
 
this goes into economic theory, if youve been to high school or university and done ok, taken some economics subjects, I guess you'll know why they are expensive
 
Most things are simply supply and demand...One must consider that even the components are under high demand. Basically the highend parts are flagships...hoping to win the highend reviews to influence customers and get goodwill towards the brand.

Now to win this race they have to use exotic ram which is limited in supply as memory firms push the envelope. Almost every part is much higher quality on highend cards...layers on pcbs, larger sinks and the like.

So as it has been mentioned before it is simply a matter or supply and demand.
 
My question is why do people think that the video card prices are higher today than in the past??

I don´t think it´s hard to understand why. I mean newer video cards even got 256 mb of RAM and even if you buy 256 of separate RAM that isn´t for free. And that is at much larger size than those small ones fitted on video cards. And they aren´t even DDR 2 as many of the newer video card models have and don´t run at such high speeds.

Also on video cards you have a GPU which is a videocards CPU. Those aren´t for free either. And also these have to be made smaller than ordinary CPU:s.

So a video card company much be able to develop a much further extent of products than a CPU company or a memory brand company. And they have to make develop produce it all on themself. And fit it on a small AGP board. Not as easy as you might think. Look at how many transistors and such a video card have compared to a CPU?
 
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