GeForce GTX 295 a PR Stunt?

[btarunr]

On January the 8th, NVIDIA reclaimed the title of the manufacturer of the world's fastest consumer graphics accelerator, with the launch of the GeForce GTX 295. It was received adequately well by the press, for two factors: its performance, and its competitive pricing. NVIDIA, for the first time in generations of graphics technologies, chose to price its high-end offering competitively, and hasn't used its industry-leading position to warrant a high price. Unfortunately, the company seems to be in no mood to hand over the benefit the consumers, not by stepping up its prices, but by not keeping up to its demand.

NVIDIA, which believes in the concept that selling a GeForce GTX 260 for a price well within US $200, at the expense of profits, relies on sales volumes to do the job of making up for its losses, and/or reduced margins. To an extent, the company's moves to redesign the reference PCB for the GTX 260, and subsequently letting partners have a common design kit to come up with their own PCB designs, seems to have helped the cause. That isn't the case with GTX 295. Its power design and the requirement of two sets of high-grade components seems to have hit the company's plans of letting it sell for its competitive price, which it would rather channelize in subsidizing the GTX 260.



Popular tech commentator Theo Valich in his blog writes:

NVIDIA's partners sold thousands of GTX 295 boards, and at the price of 520-550 bucks [USD] per card (or Euro), we're talking about millions of USD/EUR. One can only wonder what is going on in NVIDIA's head… there is an alleged recession going on, their quarterly results dropped by 50% to less than 500M USD a quarter, and they fail to deliver already sold boards - backorders.

So what did NVIDIA gain out of GTX 295? The bragging rights of having made the fastest graphics accelerator, which in turn the company hopes to impact the sales of its other, more popular, accelerators such as GeForce GTX 260, and the new GTS 250. Inquiries on inventories of GTX 295, have been made by Theo Valich, to popular retailers the world over. Several retailers have replied saying their inventories of the GTX 295 were on a decline, and that the manufacturers (NVIDIA partners) were not keeping up with the demand. Popular American retailer Newegg.com currently has five brands of GTX 295 in stock, with that of one brand already out of stock. If you have plans of buying a GTX 295, it would be a good idea to materialize them now, not that you will be left with no alternatives later on.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[h3llb3nd4]

Yeah I suppose it is a PR stunt... but anyway it is still a good board!

 

[lemonadesoda]

Whoosh! Strong words! Poor show by nVidia

 

[my_name_is_earl]

I have ATI when gaming but I love Nvidia card for playing back movies. It gave me the deeper black that ATI fail to do. No doubt that Nvidia has the edge with this card although it's GDDR3. I saw open box gtx295 for $360 but I always a min two late. I tend to skip this generation of hd4870x2 and gtx295 because I heard DX11 is near and I want a card that can handle that. With my system specs there's no need to upgrade to play anything, it can handle all game with descent high framerate.

_______________________________
- Intel q9650 @3.6ghz (water cooled)
- Sapphire HD3870x2 (1920x1200)
- OCZ DDR2 1250
- Gigabyte DQ6 x48
- WD Raptor 200gb
- ABS 850w PSU
- LG BlueRay

 

[h3llb3nd4]

LOL, for me it's the other way round ati for movies and nvidia for gaming...

 

[mdm-adph]

Eh -- no more of a PR stunt than the 4870x2.

And this is coming from an ATI fan.

To be honest, I don't know why we're even having this conversation. All companies do this.

 

[phanbuey]

Its absolutely a PR stunt... that same 240 SP chip that is on the $500 295, and nets about $250 w/PCB can sell for $320 w/PCB on the 285... its not a direct profit because the cooler and additional ram cost money, but in general the 285 makes more money for NV.

So 285 = more money, and 260 = more market share... so this does make a lot of sense.

 

[KainXS]

ati cards are better for movies undoubtedly, but nvidia cards are a little better for gaming in the high end(EG. GT200)

 

[aCid888*]

Every dual-gpu card is about PR...people will buy your $200~ card if they see you have the fastest card out there, even if it does cost twice as much.

 

[phanbuey]

Every dual-gpu card is about PR...people will buy your $200~ card if they see you have the fastest card out there, even if it does cost twice as much.

So true...

 

[wolf]

Stunt or not it IS the fastest single card on the planet, and the core is still the focus of their drivers, who's complaining?

 

[Binge]

295 and the economy... nVidia is being competitive. Why the hell would this person question a company's desire to compete? It's fucking capitalism! This sort of shit pisses me off because it's so close to mud slinging and gossip, but it holds enough fact to be considered ranting.

Excuse me, the writer of this tech blog is floppy headed moron. As far as him being pissed off that he can't get a 295.... why blog about that?

 

[renozi]

295 and the economy... nVidia is being competitive. Why the hell would this person question a company's desire to compete? It's fucking capitalism! This sort of shit pisses me off because it's so close to mud slinging and gossip, but it holds enough fact to be considered ranting.

Excuse me, the writer of this tech blog is floppy headed moron. As far as him being pissed off that he can't get a 295.... why blog about that?

yea I don't know what the writer is on about...my GTX 295 is coming this Thursday...

 

[3870x2]

Eh -- no more of a PR stunt than the 4870x2.

And this is coming from an ATI fan.

To be honest, I don't know why we're even having this conversation. All companies do this.

Owning a low end ATI card doesnt make you an ATI fan. From what I remember, ATI actually made profit from the 4870x2, and also from what I can remember, they are currently in stock, everywhere.

 

[LifeOnMars]

You sure about that governor?

I have ATI when gaming but I love Nvidia card for playing back movies. It gave me the deeper black that ATI fail to do. No doubt that Nvidia has the edge with this card although it's GDDR3. I saw open box gtx295 for $360 but I always a min two late. I tend to skip this generation of hd4870x2 and gtx295 because I heard DX11 is near and I want a card that can handle that. With my system specs there's no need to upgrade to play anything, it can handle all game with descent high framerate.

_______________________________
- Intel q9650 @3.6ghz (water cooled)
- Sapphire HD3870x2 (1920x1200)
- OCZ DDR2 1250
- Gigabyte DQ6 x48
- WD Raptor 200gb
- ABS 850w PSU
- LG BlueRay

 

[Binge]

Owning a low end ATI card doesnt make you an ATI fan. From what I remember, ATI actually made profit from the 4870x2, and also from what I can remember, they are currently in stock, everywhere.

And they aren't selling well.

 

[TreadR]

295 and the economy... nVidia is being competitive. Why the hell would this person question a company's desire to compete? It's fucking capitalism! This sort of shit pisses me off because it's so close to mud slinging and gossip, but it holds enough fact to be considered ranting.

Excuse me, the writer of this tech blog is floppy headed moron. As far as him being pissed off that he can't get a 295.... why blog about that?

It's a half-lie-half-truth story... so they build x numbers of 295... sell them until stock runs out and then say to the customer: sorry, we're out of stock... but you can buy this wonderful 260 instead.

Why would a client consider alternatives when nvidia is the "king"?... with a mostly nonexistent card.

For newtekie1 below: newegg isn't the only company on this planet that has to sell them, you know?

 

[newtekie1]

I haven't had a problem finding GTX295's, I don't think there has been a day where they have been out of stock at newegg. So I can't see this being an accurate assumption of what is going on.

I think the better explanation is that the manufacturers aren't producing a huge over volume of the cards. They took a look at the current economy and cut back on production of the high end cards, and put those resources into producing the lower end cards that are actually selling.

 

[ArmoredCavalry]

This thread degraded pretty quickly.

Anyhow, as somone said early, both sides are guilty of this (Nvidia/ATI...), however, it is not so much a PR stunt as it is creating something you know for a fact will sell, but only too a small(er) number of users (alright maybe it is a PR stunt....)

If I had unlimited funds, sure I'd buy the fastest video card, and not care about brand at all... I don't know many people who are so loyal to either ATI/Nvidia that they would get a slower card if they could afford the fastest one. (ok maybe a few... )

 

[my_name_is_earl]

And they aren't selling well.

According to ATI, they are selling well. According to Nvidia, they are selling well too. According to you, someone is not selling well. Both ATI and Nvidia loose share over the past few months. Base on this article, Nvidia gtx295 doesn't meet supply & demand so their stock isn't going well either even if the are king. They need to produce more. The point is Nvidia need to meet all the demand and when they ran out of stock, people is going to turn to the other guy because they still have steady product flow. Oh well, I like either company and don't want neither going down. It's going to be interesting upcoming month to see their sale chart first quarter of 09.

 

[DaMulta]

I want 3 of them

 

[PCpraiser100]

I always wanted to say this, DUH!

 

[wolf]

they are currently in stock, everywhere.

given this, demand MUST be dwindling, unless of course you got the word everywhere from nowhere.

I haven't had a problem finding GTX295's, I don't think there has been a day where they have been out of stock at newegg. So I can't see this being an accurate assumption of what is going on.

I think the better explanation is that the manufacturers aren't producing a huge over volume of the cards. They took a look at the current economy and cut back on production of the high end cards, and put those resources into producing the lower end cards that are actually selling.

i didn't have a problem getting one in Perth Australia about a week after international release, and Here there's always been at least one retailer that does a competitive walk in price and has GTX295's on hand.

if there IS a shortage im sure not feeling the brunt of it. I tend to agree that manufacturing is probably held back, with the recession and the small market of high end buyers, its highly possible nvidia really didn't plan for this amount of orders.

They mayhave designed the card as a stunt, but when it landed it kicked serious ass and every (nvidian) high end gamer wants one.

 

[3870x2]

given this, demand MUST be dwindling, unless of course you got the word everywhere from nowhere.



i didn't have a problem getting one in Perth Australia about a week after international release, and Here there's always been at least one retailer that does a competitive walk in price and has GTX295's on hand.

if there IS a shortage im sure not feeling the brunt of it. I tend to agree that manufacturing is probably held back, with the recession and the small market of high end buyers, its highly possible nvidia really didn't plan for this amount of orders.

They mayhave designed the card as a stunt, but when it landed it kicked serious ass and every (nvidian) high end gamer wants one.

I got the word everywhere from common sense, something you seem to lack. It is simply available, with no lack of supply.

 

[GPUCafe]

Eh -- no more of a PR stunt than the 4870x2.

And this is coming from an ATI fan.

To be honest, I don't know why we're even having this conversation. All companies do this.

How so?

Stunt or not it IS the fastest single card on the planet, and the core is still the focus of their drivers, who's complaining?

People who want to buy one or may be the media who doesnt want to give Nvidia a free ride for the bait and switch tactic.

And they aren't selling well.

Do you have some numbers to back that up?