Self-harm or not, it is sad to see EVGA go:
Many tech fans and enthusiasts were shocked over the weekend by the news that EVGA, one of the more popular AIB manufacturers, would no longer produce graphics cards based on Nvidia GeForce GPUs. EVGA stated that their relationship with Nvidia was "abusive" and accused Nvidia of having a "severe lack of communication" when it came to pricing for graphics cards.
[...] However, a report from Igor's Lab claims that EVGA's issues with profits may have been somewhat self-inflicted. Igor notes that EVGA operates differently compared to other AIB producers like Asus, Gigabyte, and many others. Unlike those companies, EVGA outsources the circuit boards and coolers to third parties, which increases the overall cost of producing a card. Igor claims this outsourcing drops EVGA's profit margins to around 5%, as opposed to other manufacturers whose margins sit around 10%.
According to Igor, EVGA's generosity has also been one of their downfalls. EVGA's graphics cards have had significantly longer warranty periods than competitors, and EVGA has also offered a "step-up" program, allowing a consumer to upgrade their GPU should their current card be rendered "obsolete" by a new release.
Igor spoke to an anonymous competitor, who claimed that EVGA's strategy was "suicidal" and that "if it were profitable, we would have done it long ago."
It's fair to assume that EVGA is being truthful with their claims regarding Nvidia's abusive treatment of manufacturers. Nvidia has been known to set strict guidelines and deadlines for product releases. A report from JPR shows that Nvidia's guidelines have allowed Nvidia's profits to grow rapidly, while the AIB manufacturer's profit margins have fallen nearly 20% since 2000.
Is it not profitable to stand behind your product, or could it be just not profitable enough?
Previously: EVGA Exits the GPU Market, Blaming Nvidia
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GeForce GPUs are 80% of EVGA's revenue—but it's cutting ties with Nvidia anyway
Graphics card manufacturer EVGA has made a name for itself manufacturing and selling Nvidia's GeForce GPUs for two decades, including some of the more attractively priced options on the market. But according to the YouTubers at Gamers Nexus, analyst Jon Peddie, and an EVGA forum post, EVGA is officially terminating its relationship with Nvidia and will not be manufacturing cards based on the company's RTX 4000-series GPUs.
EVGA's graphics cards have exclusively used Nvidia GPUs since its founding in 1999, and according to Gamers Nexus, GeForce sales represent 80 percent of EVGA's revenue, making this a momentous and arguably company-endangering change. But EVGA CEO Andrew Han told Gamers Nexus that the decision was about "principle" rather than financials—Han complained about a lack of communication from Nvidia about new products, including information about pricing and availability.
Nvidia's pricing strategy was apparently another sore point for EVGA. Nvidia's first-party Founders Edition cards could often undercut the pricing of cards offered by EVGA and other vendors, forcing them to either lower prices or lose sales as a result.
Nvidia may not be entirely at fault here—the wider dynamics of the GPU market are also tough to navigate. As Peddie also points out, even as GPU costs have gone up, profit margins for the board partners that manufacture Nvidia GPUs have gone down. Modern high-end GPUs have massively higher power, cooling, and PCI Express signaling requirements than cards from just a few years ago, making them more expensive to design and manufacture, and reporting about the RTX 4000 series indicates that that trend is only going to continue.
EVGA also makes power supplies, motherboards, keyboards, mice, etc.
Also at Tom's Hardware, The Verge, and Notebookcheck.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday September 27 2022, @02:29PM (3 children)
Profitable enough? That's loser talk - you don't make it to a powerful, high-paying job like senior executive, politician, etc. by believing in things like "enough"
Wish I was being sarcastic, but it really seems like our society is designed to elevate to power those who are too emotionally damaged to ever be happy with what they have.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by rpnx on Tuesday September 27 2022, @02:34PM (1 child)
The issue is that society does not give the basics to people unless they work for a long time. By the time you get what you need, you are conditioned into consumerism.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday September 27 2022, @04:23PM
If only.
The vast majority of Americans spend the first two decades of their life as dependent minors who get virtually everything for free from their parents. They're typically indoctrinated into consumerism LONG before they ever work their first part time job. Quite possibly long before they can even count money. Advertising is the backbone of consumer indoctrination, and by and large we all willingly subject our children to huge doses without even drawing their attention to how destructive, self-serving, and manipulative it is.
I strongly believe that advertising is inherently evil. The *only* reason it exists to create a desire that didn't previously exist, so that you'll go and buy something to satisfy it.
It creates perceived poverty specifically for the purpose of exploiting it for profit - it has no redeeming qualities, and I can't believe it's permitted at all, much less allowed to target children with negligible intellectual defenses.
(Score: 2) by bussdriver on Tuesday September 27 2022, @04:27PM
I believe it's Little Eichmanns not considering the results of their work in socially engineering a society that worships the ruling classes while hating their own instruments of power (democracy) in addition to just keeping people so ignorant they vote for the same people who create the real problems they get upset over.
Take the inflation, economy, oil, etc. it's a global pandemic problem (or an excuse to jack up profits) and the people who CREATED the problems are railing against those who are legitimately trying to fix their mess!
(Score: 2) by Ken_g6 on Tuesday September 27 2022, @03:02PM (1 child)
Maybe it's not profitable when it's not your product.
I mean, aside from the chip, circuit boards, and coolers, what's left?
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday September 27 2022, @05:04PM
A cardboard box in pretty printed paper wrapper and shiny metallic stickers!
EVGA RTX 3090 XC3 Ultra stuff pricing on local market is still absurd, no buy...
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 2) by SomeRandomGeek on Tuesday September 27 2022, @09:35PM
Why does Nvidia sell GPU chips to AIB manufacturers, anyway? Why not just exclusively make and sell their own Nvidia branded graphics cards? There's probably some very good reason that never occurred to me, but it sure seems like it would be easy for Nvidia to squeeze the AIB manufacturers out without hurting their own sales one bit.
Whenever I hear about trouble between Nvidia and the AIB manufacturers, I always assume that Nvidia is in the process of squeezing the AIB manufacturers out, but they want a gradual transition. So, they are creating a few generations of cards where the Nvidia branded card is first to market and cheaper and works better than the third party card before cutting off the third party manufacturers entirely.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Tuesday September 27 2022, @11:15PM
Sounds like a good company. Hope EVGA work with AMD in future.