Nvidia's new flagship video cards is the RTX 20xx series. However, unlike previous generations of cards, these are significantly more expensive, with the enthusiast-level cards (the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti) breaking MSRP records for video cards of this target demographic. We are talking about prices of over 1000 US dollars for the high-end cards (and that's without VAT, which in many countries adds 20% and even more to that price).
Needless to say, the reception by the larger public has been so far quite lukewarm, mainly due to the pricing of the cards, and the poor value in relation to the price, in terms of performance. It's yet to be seen how well these cards will sell, but early indications aren't very good.
But why are they so expensive? A very easy conclusion one could jump to is that they contain new technology, in the form of raytracing and tensor cores, and new technology is expensive.
However, some have presented an alternative hypothesis.
In 2017 and the first half of 2018 there was this phenomenon where the price of Bitcoin raised through the roof, and everybody and their grandmother was cryptomining for profit, and high end graphics cards were selling like hotcakes because they are perfect for this purpose. Many sellers were running out of cards, and supply and demand was increasing the price of cards. There was a shortage of cards, and whatever little was available was expensive.
Any economist would tell you that such a boom cannot last, and will eventually come crashing down (which is what did indeed happen). Apparently Nvidia, or retail chains, didn't get that memo, though. They manufactured tons of new cards in the hopes of profiting from the cryptomining craze... only to get caught in the eventual crash that happened.
Reportedly one retail chain recently returned over 300 thousand unsold GTX 10xx series cards to Nvidia. Likewise reportedly Nvidia has a stockpile of over a million of such cards.
What some people are hypothesizing is that Nvidia is deliberately over-pricing their next-gen cards, ie. the RTX 20xx series, in order to make the GTX 10xx series more enticing to the average consumer. After all, the GTX 10xx has currently by far the best value for the money.
Needless to say, the reception by the larger public has been so far quite lukewarm, mainly due to the pricing of the cards, and the poor value in relation to the price, in terms of performance. It's yet to be seen how well these cards will sell, but early indications aren't very good.
But why are they so expensive? A very easy conclusion one could jump to is that they contain new technology, in the form of raytracing and tensor cores, and new technology is expensive.
However, some have presented an alternative hypothesis.
In 2017 and the first half of 2018 there was this phenomenon where the price of Bitcoin raised through the roof, and everybody and their grandmother was cryptomining for profit, and high end graphics cards were selling like hotcakes because they are perfect for this purpose. Many sellers were running out of cards, and supply and demand was increasing the price of cards. There was a shortage of cards, and whatever little was available was expensive.
Any economist would tell you that such a boom cannot last, and will eventually come crashing down (which is what did indeed happen). Apparently Nvidia, or retail chains, didn't get that memo, though. They manufactured tons of new cards in the hopes of profiting from the cryptomining craze... only to get caught in the eventual crash that happened.
Reportedly one retail chain recently returned over 300 thousand unsold GTX 10xx series cards to Nvidia. Likewise reportedly Nvidia has a stockpile of over a million of such cards.
What some people are hypothesizing is that Nvidia is deliberately over-pricing their next-gen cards, ie. the RTX 20xx series, in order to make the GTX 10xx series more enticing to the average consumer. After all, the GTX 10xx has currently by far the best value for the money.
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