I mean, it is technically better than the Nvidia implementation, but it's very much a case of tallest dwarf or prettiest hippo.
Over on ocuk somebody posted this. At about 5 minutes plus he says the 9070 is just shy of an XT after upping the power limit. So, like you say, if you're lucky with the silicon...
I’ve no doubt that there’s all sorts of pricing shenanigans going on after the silicon has been fabbed and the cards have been manufactured. But unfortunately when it comes to production of the actual silicon it isn’t quite as simple as “smaller die area means more dies from the same wafer, meaning each die should cost less to produce, meaning product should be cheaper”. It hasn’t been that way for a while, I don’t think the supply chain has really recovered after COVID put a massive strain on it. It’s costing more and more for fabs like TSMC to make this stuff, and production capacity has to be booked well in advance. In some cases it might well be that AMD/Nvidia deliberately don’t book sufficient fab time in order to make their products rarer and more desirable, but in some cases it might just be that they can’t get enough time on TSMC’s bleeding-edge fab technology to meet demand. Nvidia, AMD, and Intel all have their GPU silicon made by TSMC. Shortages wouldn’t be such a dick-punch if the base pricing was sensible in the first place, or MSRP actually represented a realistic price you’d be paying. One company they can all learn from is Apple. Whatever you think of their products, Apple has their logistics nailed. Tim Apple stands up on stage to brag about the latest iShiny or ExpensiveBook Pro and says “it launches in 1 week and you can pre-order it 6pm today”. So their customers order it and 1 week later they have it in their hands. There might be the odd issue here and there, maybe there’s a delay in one particular country/region/etc for a few days; but there’s none of this nonsense with not being able to buy an announced product until months after its “release” and paying vastly higher prices than the announced MSRP. Admittedly the products announced by Apple are Apple end-to-end - Apple doesn’t sell M4 CPU dies to the likes of Samsung or HMD for those companies to use in their own phones. But Apple Silicon is also fabbed by TSMC, and they need TSMC’s latest and greatest process nodes just as much as - maybe even more than - AMD, Nvidia, and Intel.
You try pricing these things factoring in increases in prices for everything on the BOM, your R&D and external things like tariffs while still trying to make a profit, all these things governments introduce to protect their industries just mean higher prices for everybody, a company is not soaking that up for you. The extra 10% for Chinese stuff this month on top of the already existing 10% is just going to add more to the MSRP, the tariffs likely did not exist when these things shipped from China and is probably why the prices will be going up after this bunch of cards is sold out.
I built the other half a 7800X3D rig back in Nov 2023 and we kept the 1080Ti she had. I think it's finally time to retire it and grab a 9700 XT
lol, the AMD card price hike hours after launch gets even weirder: Hardware Unboxed got a statement out of some AMD higher up: https://x.com/HardwareUnboxed/status/1897770675945062520
It's definitely their fault, because they obviously had a higher price set prior to chickening out at CES, which is why they're now doing "limited time only" rebates.
Anyone seen the bit about Ebuyer cancelling confirmed orders to sell 9070 XTs at a higher price? Just scummy behaviour or some kind of price tiering shenanigans from AMD/AIBs? Or both?
Seen reports/screenshots of ebuyer here and newegg in the US apparently cancelling ppls msrp card orders... so it could just be ***** being *****
If they sold through their stock at an initial price point and then continued to sell and confirm orders at that price, they ought to be on the hook for it, instead of crapping on customers. The bad press will likely cost them more than the stock shortfall.
OCUK were pretty up front about only limited numbers of stock going for RRP and the price hiking thereafter, it was in that massive thread they did about how to navigate launch day for the 9070s. So not isolated to Ebuyer. Hence there is probably some basis from AIBs/AMD, though the exact nature of that is unclear. I will say that Scans ability to price the 50 series consistently (and very significantly) lower than OCUK, AWD-IT and the rest suggests retailers are scalping just because they can. If those scalpy prices are from the AIB then why is Scan so much cheaper? Examples that come to mind: MSI 5080 suprim liquid SOC £1424 from Scan yet £1800 from OCUK. And the basic 5090s going for £3k+ from Novatech and other retailers.
Possibly because Scan are Nvidia’s retail partner for FE cards. You’ll go though Nvidia’s storefront to start with, but when it comes time to fork over the cash you’re redirected to Scan. At least… I think it still works that way…
I think so for the FE, but would that affect AIB models? Those are priced very keenly at Scan compared to anywhere else.
And this just popped up: https://www.kitguru.net/components/...x5090-be-aware-of-etailer-price-hiking-scams/ Evidence to suggest a retailer recalling cards to sell them at a higher price
If Nvidia got wind that Scan were screwing people by inflating AIB pricing then I imagine they wouldn't be an FE retail partner for much longer .
