Wednesday, June 20th 2018

Graphics Card Shipments Fall On Weak Mining Demand in 2H18; Prices to Remain Hiked

According to DigiTimes, the entire AIB partner and graphics card supply channel is gearing up to an expected demand decrease for graphics cards in the second half of 2018. This marks an expectation on the continuation of the downward trend since December 2017, a time where Bitcoin (and as such, alternate cryptocurrencies) were at all-time highs. As profits decrease, difficulty increases, and mining players offload their graphics cards to still-interested buyers of their hardware, the market's ability to trade existing graphics cards and absorb new inventory is dwindling. Naturally, this reduced demand means that prices for new graphics cards have also been decreasing and somewhat stabilizing towards pre-mining boom prices.

However, producers of graphics cards obviously don't want to give away their record-high profits in their entirety; and they're showing some reluctance, some "pricing memory" on their graphics cards, maintaining gross margins in the 20% area, double that of pre-mining pricing. As such, graphics card makers are again abandoning the mining boom as a source of stable revenue, looking to other solutions (such as servers, datacenter acceleration and such, DigiTimes reports in the case of TUL). Another thing that would certainly help graphics card manufacturers in keeping up high demand and profits, of course, would be the impending release of a new NVIDIA architecture... At least for those that have AIB status with the company.
Source: DigiTimes
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67 Comments on Graphics Card Shipments Fall On Weak Mining Demand in 2H18; Prices to Remain Hiked

#26
Th3pwn3r
Divide OverflowDemand is down, supply is up and prices remain high. :banghead:
High is correct but they have fallen from their peak which is good.
Posted on Reply
#27
Casecutter
Divide OverflowDemand is down, supply is up and prices remain high. :banghead:
And why I'm saying there sure feels like the fix is in.
Posted on Reply
#28
Vayra86
CasecutterAnd why I'm saying there sure feels like the fix is in.
These things always take time. The 8700k is a good example of that as well. It remained pricy even when supplies were up for a number of weeks.
Posted on Reply
#29
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Divide OverflowDemand is down, supply is up and prices remain high. :banghead:
Which makes no sense. They could take a smaller cut on each individual card and sell two of them making up the difference. They should be selling at MSRP despite the spike in GDDR5 costs because there's a lot of demand when the price is right (MSRP is fair). If they start raising prices again to compensate for GDDR5 fluctuations, they're going to get stuck with inventory.
Posted on Reply
#30
TheMailMan78
Big Member
Or maybe demand isn't as high as yall think.
Posted on Reply
#31
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
There's only two Vega 64 cards in stock at Amazon. Both are at MSRP. Most of the AIBs are out of stock.
Posted on Reply
#32
Casecutter
TheMailMan78Or maybe demand isn't as high as yall think.
Not from where I sit.. I have two third year college boy's and asked them to check what several friends they know and play with on-line are using several month ago. 5-Tahiti, 3-Maxwell's, and 1-Hawaii, the newest is a GTX1050Ti as that was all he could afford when his GTX 770 took a dive. All are looking to upgrade once prices get back to real. Most are college though two are now graduating HS, and had hoped to get something for graduating.
FordGT90ConceptThere's only two Vega 64 cards in stock at Amazon. Both are at MSRP. Most of the AIBs are out of stock.
And, it's weird when I see Vega 64 they're price almost better compared to RX 580 8Gb. At $600 while not close to what was slightly bogus MSRP @ $500 is 20% above, 580's are running 25-30% above.
Posted on Reply
#33
TheMailMan78
Big Member
The reason there are hardly any in stock is because minors are replacing cards. Not because of gaming if anything.

www.investopedia.com/tech/gpu-industry-booming-thanks-blockchain/

Like I said the nail is in the PC coffin for gaming.

www.techpowerup.com/244502/gpu-market-miner-interest-waning-gamer-interest-increasing-jon-peddie-research

And thats WITH a slight increase in desktops after almost a decade of double digit drops in usage.

Even Apple is getting out of the desktop game. These are nothing but Ham Radios.
Posted on Reply
#34
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
CasecutterAnd, it's weird when I see Vega 64 they're price almost better compared to RX 580 8Gb. At $600 while not close to what was slightly bogus MSRP @ $500 is 20% above, 580's are running 25-30% above.
Oh, you're right. Air-cooled Vega 64 MSRP is $500. :( Vega 56 is going for $520.
Posted on Reply
#35
Vya Domus
TheMailMan78Even Apple is getting out of the desktop game. These are nothing but Ham Radios.
Ever since early 2000s Apple because primarily a mobile products company.
Posted on Reply
#36
R-T-B
TheMailMan78The reason there are hardly any in stock is because minors are replacing cards.
Given the present state, I have a very very hard time believing that.
TheMailMan78Like I said the nail is in the PC coffin for gaming.
You now too? Have fun with your console.
Posted on Reply
#37
medi01
Divide OverflowDemand is down, supply is up and prices remain high. :banghead:
I think reality is a bit more nuanced than that:

1) Rumors about a new nVidia card are out, people don't want to buy old stuff at around MSRP
2) Huang doesn't want to drop price on the last gen, cause more monez, sweet monez, love monez
3) Mining craze isn't over yet, actually, just slowed down a bit and AMD cards (superior at mining) still sell well

So, "nvidia's inventory is full" news is what we are actually getting.
Posted on Reply
#38
Casecutter
TheMailMan78These are nothing but Ham Radios.
You will hope you have a Ham Radio some day... when cell towers and land-lines and a lot of other the sensitive electric equipment will be useless after Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) aka Solar Flare. The HAM enthusiast will be the only folks who might be able to communicate, especially as many diehard aren't always hard wired to the grid and take precaution so that equipment is isolated from just such events. Don't sell them short.
Posted on Reply
#39
TheMailMan78
Big Member
CasecutterYou will hope you have a Ham Radio some day... when cell towers and land-lines and a lot of other the sensitive electric equipment will be useless after Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) aka Solar Flare. The HAM enthusiast will be the only folks who might be able to communicate, especially as many diehard aren't always hard wired to the grid and take precaution so that equipment is isolated from just such events. Don't sell them short.
lol Im not saying its a bad thing. Im just saying building your desktop is the same thing as building a HAM radio. Its become more niche than ever! Also when the new GPU's come out dont expect to buy the first wave. Miners will have them before anyone. IF they are no good at mining than you MIGHT see one for sale at a decent price. If they are great for mining well. Enjoy keeping your 980ti or whatever you have. (Not you personally. Just in general).

Also a 30% drop in growth in the 5 years kinda proves my point. I would say the only thing keeping the GPU market going (dedicated) is the mining market. Consoles take care of whoever has the contract. PC gaming is going buh bye.
Posted on Reply
#40
Casecutter
medi01I think reality is a bit more nuanced than that:

1) Rumors about a new nVidia card are out, people don't want to buy old stuff at around MSRP
2) Huang doesn't want to drop price on the last gen, cause more monez, sweet monez, love monez
3) Mining craze isn't over yet, actually, just slowed down a bit and AMD cards (superior at mining) still sell well

So, "nvidia's inventory is full" news is what we are actually getting.
1) Not so sure that the rumors are doing that as Jen Huang said next gaming GPU announcement won’t be for ‘a long time’ so either that's Lie, or that 3-4 months at minimum. Who knows :confused:
2) What's new on that... we've known a GTX 1060 6Gb MSRP for 25% higher price than a RX480 8Gb but faithful jump on the band-wagon anyway.
3) Yes, that's a fairly accurate understand of GPU crypto currency right today.

This might have this TPU article being seen in a different light.
wccftech.com/nvidia-oem-partner-300k-gpu-inventory-issues-next-gen-geforce-delay/
www.digitimes.com/news/a20180619PD205.html
Posted on Reply
#41
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
TheMailMan78lol Im not saying its a bad thing. Im just saying building your desktop is the same thing as building a HAM radio. Its become more niche than ever! Also when the new GPU's come out dont expect to buy the first wave. Miners will have them before anyone. IF they are no good at mining than you MIGHT see one for sale at a decent price. If they are great for mining well. Enjoy keeping your 980ti or whatever you have. (Not you personally. Just in general).

Also a 30% drop in growth in the 5 years kinda proves my point. I would say the only thing keeping the GPU market going (dedicated) is the mining market. Consoles take care of whoever has the contract. PC gaming is going buh bye.
Cards need only match their displays. 60% are playing on 1920x1080. 7870 debuted in 2012. It's still more than adequate to drive the latest games at that resolution. Until there's a big push to higher resolution displays, sales will slack off because there isn't a pressing need to upgrade.
Posted on Reply
#42
Nephilim666
For the first time in a long time we might see consoles truly leapfrog PC since development in PC gaming GPUs has stagnated since 2016.

The console gaming public at large doesn't care about gpu pricing and will just be looking for a big visual upgrade when the next gen hits.
Posted on Reply
#43
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
4K has proliferated the TV market. They haven't proliferated the monitor (especially game) market. AMD maybe right to focus on 4K console Navi. It should get PC gamers a more capable GPU for cheaper and that trend will probably hold until gaming PCs get caught up to 4K. Then we'll see PC gaming's desire for more frames catapult past consoles again.
Posted on Reply
#44
TheGuruStud
Fx"However, producers of graphics cards obviously don't want to give away their record-high profits in their entirety; and they're showing some reluctance, some "pricing memory" on their graphics cards, maintaining gross margins in the 20% area, double that of pre-mining pricing."

They can keep that memory longer for all I care. I can continue to get by on my 980Ti for much longer until they align their pricing closer to the market demand.
Overclocked it makes an OCed 1080 sweat. Smooth 4K is pretty much a pipe dream for any setup when maxed. I guess 1440 on 980ti it still is FOR THE THIRD YEAR.
Posted on Reply
#45
Jism
ParnDespite the cool down for mining, the price of graphics cards is still at its all-time high because of manufacturers' greed. Well, f*ck this shit. I won't be upgrading until the price is back to how it was before the mining boom.
Have you paid any attention at school? The high price is caused by webshops / vendors in between manufactururs and client(s). If the need for a graphics card is high enough and the supply is low prices will go up.
Posted on Reply
#47
TheGuruStud
eidairaman1This is bs
Resellers got a taste of what the memory manuf are getting and they don't wanna go back.
Posted on Reply
#48
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Vega 64 is still going for $600 USD'ish when MSRP is $500. Yeah, third party cards may be a lil more expensive because of better cooling solutions but $100 more, no. RX 580s are still $50-80 over MSRP too. Article suggests that these inflated prices are here to stay because AIBs are pricing in the extra memory cost that AMD didn't account for when announcing MSRPs (because the memory shortage occurred after the fact).

NVIDIA might be back to normal but that's because NVIDIA overstocked cards and there's no backlogs of potential buyers. NVIDIA has more cards than they know what to do with now which is why mainstream Volta launch got pushed back.
Posted on Reply
#49
stimpy88
Poor nVidia, my heart bleeds for you...

I always thought that the higher the prices, and the emptier the shelves, the more people bought. I just wish I could think of a way to get rid of all that overstock...
Posted on Reply
#50
R-T-B
MrGeniusSo much fucking FUD. Prices are as low as they were at launch for ALL recently released cards(some lower now than EVER). Haven't seen such a full on crock of shit news piece around here for a while. :shadedshu:
Uh... name one example? I'm having a hard time ascertaining if this is sarcasm or not. Most cards are still above MSRP, and that is not normal.
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