[H]ardOCP: GeForce Partner Program Impacts Consumer Choice

[humbug]

If NVidia were the only GPU maker, they would still want to sell GPUs, so they would still need to sell at the right prices and innovate to sell more. They would still want to make money.

Which is why prices will go up and innovation stops, more money.

They know you will always buy one, no matter what.

 

[Troezar]

Monopolies have never been good. Either prices go, who else are you going to buy from, or qualitty goes down, who else are going to buy from? Either way profits go up!

 

[Gregster]

Which is why prices will go up and innovation stops, more money.

They know you will always buy one, no matter what.

A 10/20% increase over the previous gen = a no sale from me and others like me. Not sure how many they would sell but they wouldn't sell anywhere near as many as they could with proper innovations and pricing.

Edit: Mind you, I am a docker for a living and have no idea about running a business, so I might well be wrong and people are happy to spend more money for small incremental gains but I am looking from a POV that a potential buyer (me) would spend.

 

[DragonQ]

A 10/20% increase over the previous gen = a no sale from me and others like me. Not sure how many they would sell but they wouldn't sell anywhere near as many as they could with proper innovations and pricing.

Edit: Mind you, I am a docker for a living and have no idea about running a business, so I might well be wrong and people are happy to spend more money for small incremental gains but I am looking from a POV that a potential buyer (me) would spend.

You'd think so but no. Look in the CPU section at how many people upgraded from Sandy Bridge to Haswell, or Haswell to Skylake for example. The next generation of nVidia GPUs could only offer 10% more performance per dollar and people would still jump all over it.

 

[Bazzards]

Well that’s down to them. I certainly wouldn’t entertain that increase and would hold on to my cards for longer. Also, if they became too expensive, I would switch to console or another hobby entirely.

Edit. To be clear a monopoly would not be good, but would not be the end of the world to me.

 

[Kelt]

I don't like Intel's practices over the years, but I'd like to see them enter into the discrete GPU marker in a big way.

We need the competition badly, and sadly, AMD don't seem to be up to the job at the moment.

 

[henson0115]

I don't like Intel's practices over the years, but I'd like to see them enter into the discrete GPU marker in a big way.

We need the competition badly, and sadly, AMD don't seem to be up to the job at the moment.

completely agree with the Intel part, if only to shake things up and try and get things moving forward a bit more.

 

[chrcoluk]

I wouldn't of said perfect products myself, but humbug is quite right, all the tech journalist's know why they get their samples from and they know that having to wait and buy the stuff retail isn't an option. Burning bridges with one of the two companies that provide GPU'S was possibly stupid, but HardOCP must have known that the original story could have backfired on them, but they went ahead anyway.

Yes all the tech sites have to get their income from somewhere, so we have to view it all with a certain slant.

on release day it is normally best to read reviews from several sites to get a better overall picture of things, doesn't help with this sort of news story, but hey Ho.

If a review site guaranteed they would buy retail, and not follow any review guides, I would donate to them on a monthly basis. I think others would do to.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

If AMD stops making new GPUs, you will say bye-bye to your hobby. There will be a monopoly and no technology progress.

At least it'll make the hobby cheaper. Little or no progression means less need to upgrade as often so you won't need to pay for an expensive GPU every generation.

Which is why prices will go up and innovation stops, more money.

They know you will always buy one, no matter what.

But you won't need to buy as often and so it'll last longer before becoming obsolete.

completely agree with the Intel part, if only to shake things up and try and get things moving forward a bit more.

We need Intel to get things moving forward a bit? We're doomed!

 

[chrcoluk]

Tbh I have not trusted any of the review sites for a long time. I also don't tend to purchase hardware on day of release so it gives me time to see what actual users have to say. I'm much the same with games, wait for the dust to settle before making a decision on purchasing.

agreed, I await for end user feedback also.

 

[henson0115]

At least it'll make the hobby cheaper. Little or no progression means less need to upgrade as often so you won't need to pay for an expensive GPU every generation.

But you won't need to buy as often and so it'll last longer before becoming obsolete.


We need Intel to get things moving forward a bit? We're doomed!

competition is better than no competition or little competition in terms or progression surely. intel arnt the poster boy for progression in the cpu space granted, but even if them joining meant the other two progressed more than usual, that would still be something.
on the other hand nothing might change, but who knows until it happens.

In regards to buying less often and gpus lasting longer the nock on effect of this could mean we also see less progression in the games that are made going forward.

 

[Bazzards]

could mean we also see less progression in the games that are made going forward.

That could be a godsend. Imagine developers not having to rely on flashy graphics to sell their games. We might actually get more innovation.

 

[Hotwired]

That could be a godsend. Imagine developers not having to rely on flashy graphics to sell their games. We might actually get more innovation.

But but but...

VR!

4k!

Think how much these affect games and how important they are

 

[4K8KW10]

At least it'll make the hobby cheaper. Little or no progression means less need to upgrade as often so you won't need to pay for an expensive GPU every generation.

This is actually not an opportunity, it is a real threat.
Imagine your card dies after 3 years and 6 months of "happy" experience with it. No warranty left, etc.
Imagine also there is no competition and in these 3 years and 6 months pretty much nothing changed performance wise.
Are you going to buy the same/a rebadged card or the one that is 10% faster?

But but but...

VR!

4k!

Think how much these affect games and how important they are

4K is extremely important. It transforms the usual, known for decades PC usage experience to something completely different.

 

[bru]

This is actually not an opportunity, it is a real threat.
Imagine your card dies after 3 years and 6 months of "happy" experience with it. No warranty left, etc.
Imagine also there is no competition and in these 3 years and 6 months pretty much nothing changed performance wise.
Are you going to buy the same/a rebadged card or the one that is 10% faster?

For a moment there I thought you were talking about AMD, 290/390.....480/580....

 

[Calin Banc]

That could be a godsend. Imagine developers not having to rely on flashy graphics to sell their games. We might actually get more innovation.

Most games are developed (gameplay wise) with the focus on console, so same hardware for many years. Nothing really changed.

The real change I'd guess will be brought by Squadron 42/Star Citizen (when will eventually be ready).

 

[Bazzards]

Most games are developed (gameplay wise) with the focus on console, so same hardware for many years. Nothing really changed

And that could be great for pc. A platform that suddenly becomes stable enough for developers to push the boat out and have to develop for the hardware available.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

competition is better than no competition or little competition in terms or progression surely. intel arnt the poster boy for progression in the cpu space granted, but even if them joining meant the other two progressed more than usual, that would still be something.
on the other hand nothing might change, but who knows until it happens.

In regards to buying less often and gpus lasting longer the nock on effect of this could mean we also see less progression in the games that are made going forward.

That's a good point, a lot of people are speculating like they know how things would turn out. But a lot of people seemed to think the world would end when GPP kicked in, but that fizzled out before it really got started. Most of this thread was spent complaining and worrying about something that is already dead.

 

[Calin Banc]

And that could be great for pc. A platform that suddenly becomes stable enough for developers to push the boat out and have to develop for the hardware available.

Sandy Bridge i5s and i7s coupled with a R290 and the sorts are still giving you a good overall experience, around 4-5 years later and if you have the 2600k with some overclock, if the components won't die, you'd probably get about 1-2 years out of them (maybe more). That's a console life cycle. Pretty stable if you ask me. Yet I haven't seen anything wow. Just more of the same.

 

[WantoN]

Sandy Bridge i5s and i7s coupled with a R290 and the sorts are still giving you a good overall experience, around 4-5 years later and if you have the 2600k with some overclock, if the components won't die, you'd probably get about 1-2 years out of them (maybe more). That's a console life cycle. Pretty stable if you ask me. Yet I haven't seen anything wow. Just more of the same.

It’s an interesting point you make actually mate.

My rig will probably last me 5 years at least, that’s shorter than PS4 to PS4pro isn’t it?

I think newer consoles help pc considerably, there wouldn’t anywhere near be as many titles if it were for them, and the hardware is getting so similar that they’re really just OEM pcs at this point. There are plenty of bad ports, but there’s plenty that don’t get much praise either. I also think we’ll see one more console generation before couch streaming becomes very prevalent. Seeing as it’ll probably be PCs doing the heavy lifting, ports might be infinitely better too.

Programs like GPP are much more harmful to pc gaming than consoles are, imo.