03-19-2015, 05:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-19-2015, 05:34 PM by RolloTheGreat.)
(03-19-2015, 08:25 AM)SickBeast Wrote: It will be interesting to see what nVidia does without AMD. If Captain Jack bombs (which it very much could), nVidia is going to find itself in a situation where they really don't have any competition in terms of midrange and high end cards. We will see what they do with their pricing on their future cards.
Their prices aren't bad right now but they are more expensive for similar performance compared to AMD. Most people are willing to pay the premium because the nVidia cards run cooler with far lower PSU requirements and less fan noise.
My guess is it will be a lot like it is now.
Nvidia "could" say the new price point for mid range cards is $500, but:
A. They risk pushing people out of computer gaming altogether and onto comparable goods. (consoles, tablets, phones, handhelds, intel based laptops)
B. They would sell far less of all products in the stack if they adjust prices upward by any significant amount.
It's true that some people would just pay the higher prices, but they are offset by those who would give up high end computer gaming altogether.
Nvidia can only survive selling people graphics cards every year or two at a price they want to pay. They've already lost a huge chunk of their business to consoles, and intel laptops. I guarantee you they don't want to lose more just to cash in temporarily. Consoles already have a slew of huge advantages: $400-$500 acquisition cost for whole unit and it's the only hardware you buy for 8 years, ease of use, huge installed user base that likely includes most of your gaming friends, more comfortable to sit in a recliner in your living room than in front of a pc, console game exclusives, etc..
If Nvidia attempts to pillage us, they will see very quickly how many think playing the same games at 720p or 1080p on a 50"+ screen is probably "good enough" in the face rising PC gaming costs. They would basically be ending their own business.