Overpriced pieces of hardware

So why are new Intel processors so expensive? After all, they have experience, formulas, test benches, right? So why aren't new processors just sold to us at cost?

I think you need to take a basic business course of some kind.

Researching and making a new CPU/GPU is a lot more complicated that making a water block, PC case, etc. It is not just throwing a few milion transistors and that is it :)
 
If it costs you 2k to design a waterblock and you expect to sell 2000, then its only 1 quid per unit extra to recover your costs.

If it costs you 2k and you only expect to sell 100, then its 20 quid extra per unit to recover your costs.

I completely agree with that. That is why I said that probably picking up this water block is not the best choice to start the topic. It is for TITAN, not for 7970/7950 or GTX670/680 for example. I need to check their prices also.

See this for example:
EK Water Blocks EK-FC7950 - £79.99.
EK Water Blocks EK-FC7850 Full Cover Waterblock - Nickel Plexi - £74.99
Hmmm, is looks like overpriced for me. And I do not blame overclockers.co.uk for that.

Still there are some overpriced stuff on the market, is not it?
 
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It's true with anything, take cars for example. You can pick up a mint Mk3 Mondeo diesel for less than a grand. It'll do essentially what a brand new Mondeo will do - at about 1/15 of the price.

Stuff is worth what people will pay, it happens that people who delve into watercooling usually have a fair amount of disposable income.
 
Still there are some overpriced stuff on the market, is not it?
Not really. Overpriced stuff doesn't sell. Expensive stuff does, to people who are willing to pay for it. Clearly you aren't - which is fine - but it wouldn't be on the market at that price level if there wasn't some demand.

Researching and making a new CPU/GPU is a lot more complicated that making a water block, PC case, etc. It is not just throwing a few milion transistors and that is it :)
Well neither is making a water cooling device just a matter of getting some metal and cutting grooves in it.
 
Women are overpriced.
Massive upkeep costs, heavy depreciation and almost no return on investment, performance is sometimes lacking dependant on the model type.
Although sometimes they reproduce so it's a two for one deal.

Overall, slavery is a much more justifiable economic model.
 
Women are overpriced.
Massive upkeep costs, heavy depreciation and almost no return on investment, performance is sometimes lacking dependant on the model type.
Although sometimes they reproduce so it's a two for one deal.

Overall, slavery is a much more justifiable economic model.

Sig-worthy :D
 
Women are overpriced.
Massive upkeep costs, heavy depreciation and almost no return on investment, performance is sometimes lacking dependant on the model type.
Although sometimes they reproduce so it's a two for one deal.

Overall, slavery is a much more justifiable economic model.

But you don't get to benchmark the reproduction :(
 
1) learn to spell

2) basic economics: products are priced at what the market will bear, not what they cost to manufacture

3) basic economics: the cost to design, manufacture, package and market an item is far more than the cost of the materials used.
 
I think rice is overpriced! It only costs them 30p per kilo, but I pay at least £1 for the same! How dare they!

A product can only really be overpriced based on a comparison with other similar products in the same market. So, compared to other blocks of similar quality and function, how is it priced?
 
1) learn to spell

2) basic economics: products are priced at what the market will bear, not what they cost to manufacture

3) basic economics: the cost to design, manufacture, package and market an item is far more than the cost of the materials used.

1 - agree :)
2 - there should be some sense of what it actually cost to make it. What will happend if all gas providers decide to increase the prices with 200% because the market can bear it.
3 - it depends, but you are correct about many of the products on the market. My idea was that adding to the cost all design, manufacture, package, material it still sound too costly to me. Maybe I am wrong about it.
 
2 - there should be some sense of what it actually cost to make it. What will happend if all gas providers decide to increase the prices with 200% because the market can bear it.

This is an extremely naive suggestion.
What do you suggest? Govenment agencies to decide the price of what everything costs?

If a Rolls-Royce actually costs 30,000pounds to make do you suggest that they should be forced to sell them for a fixed profit margin? They would quickly have huge waiting lists and the factory would be overwhelmed, the second hand prices would rise to the actual percieved value (much higher) and Rolls-Royce would have to either build a new factory (unlikely), or put up with the second hand market taking all their profit. Meanwhile maybe they should stop the second hand market profiteering, for example by having a govenment agency setting second hand prices? Then the market would be driven underground.

This is why your suggestion is idiotic.
 
Would you be happy if you spent 6 years designing and producing an amazing product that only cost £20 to make, but you knew people would pay £100 for, only to be told "you're not allowed to charge that much for it"?

Like other people have said - if you don't like it, don't buy it. If it's that easy, make your own.
 
Come on guys, this is EK. They know what they are doing. They have the TPD of the chip, they have done water blocks before. How much time do they need to make a water block for a new GPU? Months?

If that were the case then you'd be paying for the expertise required to have R&D down to a bare minimum. Those salaries don't come cheap.
 
1 - agree :)
2 - there should be some sense of what it actually cost to make it. What will happend if all gas providers decide to increase the prices with 200% because the market can bear it.
3 - it depends, but you are correct about many of the products on the market. My idea was that adding to the cost all design, manufacture, package, material it still sound too costly to me. Maybe I am wrong about it.

Fixed natural products like gas aside since the are limited.

For items such as your waterblock supply is practially unlimited within reason.

If you charge too much someone will enter the market place as they are no barriers to entry. You could quickly setup a business manufacturing copies of their blocks, but run the risk of a lawsuit. Say you come up with your own new design thats better than theirs, you have sub contract manufacturing so no massive initial outlay, what would you charge?
They will react to you, either lowering price, maybe creating a better product at the same price etc.
Practically everything evolves, long terms players will typically stay, new upstarts will join and either go ultra niche or try to develop into a larger long term player. If the new upstarts are rocking the status quo too much they may well be bought out, or their business model atacked (think loss leaders etc)
People go into business to make money, most do, some dont and will disappear. Typically if your relatively mainstream and you make good profits sooner or later someone will come and challenge your position. If there is genuine customer demand for a product multiple people will always try to supply it.

Think of tablets, if tomorrow demand was only 1% of what it is today do you think there would be such effort my most tech companies to make marketable products (by marketable I mean on quality, price etc)

The key is perceived value, if you are happy to pay £100 for something but its £200 then you coul dbe annoyed that in theory its only worth £75 of materials and they are "overcharging". If you would be happy to pay £500 and its cost was £200 you wouldn't even think, you would just buy and move on.
One of the best examples is cars, I haven't seen any details for sometime, but the bottom spec models were often breakeven/loss leaders, as you went up the range the differentiation (bigger engines etc) often came at a much higher premium (sometimes as much as 10 times over) than the actual added costs. Take optional extras, they are well well out of balance compared to the car in the first place.
How much do you think it would cost to design a new car, yet the actual value of the parts when broken back down to their "raw" materials is probably 2-10% of the price you would pay new for the main consumer vehicles on the forecourt.
 
Hello all

/derp

Am I the only one to think like that?

1: £79.99 is £66 before tax.
2: That "piece of metal" is called copper, it is not a cheap metal.
3: Depending on the block chosen it also has acetyl or perspex on it.
4: A lot of research and development have gone into it.
5: The CAM/CNC equipment that makes them was/is not cheap to buy/maintain.
6: The blocks are tested before being packaged/shipped to ensure they work properly.
7: They come from Slovenia, that's over 1000 miles away.

All in all I think £66 before tax is fantastic for what you get, but then I'm not an idiot so I looked at all the facts before forming my opinion.
 
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No it won't - it'll be a second hand car that for all you know might be covered in tramps semen.

Why on earth would it be covered in tramp semen? And what makes tramp semen worse than it being covered in the semen of a person with a fixed abode? And who ejaculates enough to cover a Mk3 Mondeo in their spooge??
 
Why on earth would it be covered in tramp semen? And what makes tramp semen worse than it being covered in the semen of a person with a fixed abode? And who ejaculates enough to cover a Mk3 Mondeo in their spooge??

A very sexually frustrated tramp?
 
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