Retailers are robbing us blind. They got a 50€ rebate from AMD to sell at MSRP and still gouge us...
Also seems like AMD only cares about the US again. Everywhere else just gets the crumbs, availability seemingly only a bit better than NVIDIA.
Mindfactory never had them available (they don't ship international anymore anyway), and the other stores that had them (and ship intl) you couldn't even add them to cart. Same in NL and FR (Rue du commerce et al) Joke's on them, it just made me decide to keep my money and buy them second hand in 1y when the new shiny thing is on the market.
I would enjoy catfishing a couple of scalpers to give them a stern talking to with a baseball bat. Fucking parasites.
Waiting a year seems the best way to buy anything these days. Skip the hype, save money.
You'd think, but some of these cards actually went up in price over time. In many cases you have to wait a whole generation, and even then with the insane scarcity it doesn't help that much. Especially since Nvidia started loudly announcing they'd stop production on 40 series cards way ahead of their 50 series paper launch.
Looking at European retailers, a 4090 still runs for the same insane 2500€ tag it launched with, and when it was the top of the line it could routinely be found listed for well over 3K.
Honestly, it's to the point where the way pricing is handled needs regulatory intervention. In the time the 50 series has been live I've seen cards repriced hundreds of euros higher, then presented as launch day prices on "sale". It's FOMO central, nobody has stock, no prices are real, there's zero real competition and it really feels like regulators have gotten involved for way less egregious stuff in the past.
Yo why tf can't they just sale directly to their customers? These 3rd part retailers are robbing us blind at this point and they're making it early obvious. And if they do already sell directly to customers keep up with the demand or force your suppliers with a contract to limit upcharging.
Existing contracts, a lack of infrastructure, and the cost of shipping and insurance would be my guess. Or simply just the economies of scale making it impossible for anyone other than a major retailer to do it.
Retailers can afford to lose a card or two to damage out of each large order (and usually make it back through upselling warranties that customers rarely use); the many individual packages with direct selling would make it far more likely some of them would end up damaged during shipping at AMD's expense, and would be more expensive to ship than large bulk orders to boot. It's far more economical to bulk ship to a distributor and let them do all the work.
Besides, would you trust GPU vendors with your deliveries? The "bad drivers" jokes write themselves!
I'd also give GameStop as an example. Even years after digital media took over, they still had significant influence over publishers, up to dictating advertising and release schedules. Partly due to contracts preventing publishers from pulling away, but largely because a lot of people only buy in stores - most significantly, gift-givers and others who don't know anything about what they're buying and need an employee to guide them. Holidays alone kept GameStop in the black for years after Steam/Live/PSN dominated the marketplace.
With graphics cards, I'd be willing to bet most people buying them know very little about their choices and need someone to guide them. Enthusiasts are the minority.
I will pass on any card over the 599 Msrp.
Yep, guess I'll be upgrading in a few months. I suppose it could be weeks if we're really lucky.
Priced at MSRP + like 100-200 extra for the more premium cards in Europe. Just a clickbait article.
Launch availability sucks as usual, too. Thought I had an XFX from NewEgg until I got the "voided due to insufficient stock" email. Thanks for wasting my morning, NewEgg.
Edit: Also, opting me in to an email newsletter on the occasion of me placing an order that was subsequently voided due to lack of stock is a next level dick move.
Today, launch day, in Spain the available models range from €800 to €1000+
Yeah, EU prices seem nuts. A glance at Romania's biggest retailer shows them at the equivalent of 750 to 900 across the 9070 and XT variants. Unlike the prices you report in Spain that's still less than the 5070 Ti on the same outlet (somehow), but it still fundamentally changes the value proposition here.
I haven't checked France and Germany, but I expect it'll be a similar story.
Just saw one retailer in Germany (nbb) still with one 9070 XT for 689€ (MSRP I guess), but when you click the listing, you get an error. The rest are 800€+
Other retailers I checked are all sold out, even at 900€, if they even have the 9000-series.
On geizhals (website to check and compare prices for tons of different shops) is only one single 9070 XT listing, a 900€ model directly from the ASUS store and even there you get a 404.
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