GPU pricing, PC Gaming Becoming an Extreme Luxury?

[TNA]

Most of us don't live in the U.S.A. check a map, or use location tracking on your phone if you are unsure.

 

[McGraw]

I find it a more positive experience than you. I particularly enjoy the lack of faffing to play a game. The better HDR implementation. Built in 4k blu ray player. Price. My downloads are 100mb/s so not bad at all.

I agree with the refund aspect of the digital market. But in terms of pricing and not being open, I usually do OK as they frequently have sales. Steam never made me feel I'm dealing with a company of fantastic virtue and moral fibre.

10 minutes of tweaking settings max to play a game at the best visual settings possible is a miles better option than unbearable console jaggies.

 

[Sasahara]

Most of us don't live in the U.S.A. check a map, or use location tracking on your phone if you are unsure.

There is a fair chance that some of the increases will be past on to customers outside the USA to lower the impact on the US market. It won't be as bad as the US, but we could be effectively be paying part of that tariff. :/

 

[Journey]

There is a fair chance that some of the increases will be past on to customers outside the USA to lower the impact on the US market. It won't be as bad as the US, but we could be effectively be paying part of that tariff. :/

Tarrifs are paid at the point of import, not the originating country. They'd effectively have to sell to the USA at a loss then charge other countries more money for the actual items, so creating an imbalance in pricing which would be rather odd since most of these companies deal in USD($). If you took an item that should cost $300, the USA would be paying $240 for the item in order for it to end up at $300, while the EU would be paying $360 for it to make up for the $60 loss, so 20% more than it should cost, but actually 50% more than the USA would be paying for it before the tarrifs are applied. That is an extreme example, and I'd expect a more balanced approach.

There is one option, which is to complete the assembly of the products outside of China - e.g. Send the graphics card in 3-4 pieces to a freetrade location/country, then put the together and ship them into the USA. This could literally be simply the PCB already completed, and it just needs the thermal pads, heat sink installing and fans connecting, this would then allow the parts too attract no tarrifs, and in bulk only a small increase in cost to the manufacturer.

 

[Sasahara]

There are many ways pricing can be added to export to different countries, that on of the reasons why a lot of products don't have world wide warranties and a grey market exists.
This already happens. It won't be a big increase if it happens, but it's certainly likely on some imports. We won't be paying all the increase, just a small part of it.

There is one option, which is to complete the assembly of the products outside of China - e.g. Send the graphics card in 3-4 pieces to a freetrade location/country, then put the together and ship them into the USA. This could literally be simply the PCB already completed, and it just needs the thermal pads, heat sink installing and fans connecting, this would then allow the parts too attract no tarrifs, and in bulk only a small increase in cost to the manufacturer.

That is unlikely to work as there just isn't the capacity in other local counties to do that and the costs involved are not small and would in most cases wipe out most of the saving.
And depending on the how the tariffs are worded doing that may not avoid them. Remember the tariffs are base on import value not retail value.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports

 

[KingDazza]

10 minutes of tweaking settings max to play a game at the best visual settings possible is a miles better option than unbearable console jaggies.

I wish it were only 10mins. I used to spend hours. Far Cry 5 on X has no jaggies btw. But I get your point. ymmv dependant on console.

Also at Rock n roll, sorry but steam big picture looks balls in 4k. And the HDR argument is rubbish. If HDR standards were the reason why Windows implementation of HDR sucks, then why isnt it an issue for 4k blu ray players or consoles? HDR10 is pretty much standard even when dolby vision is available, it can still run as HDR10...

 

[VincentHanna]

All the consoles use HDR-10 for maximum compatibility

The only Dolby Vision game I've ever seen is Mass Effect beta on PC.

 

[subbytna]

There is a fair chance that some of the increases will be past on to customers outside the USA to lower the impact on the US market. It won't be as bad as the US, but we could be effectively be paying part of that tariff. :/

The US will be "UK'd" with higher prices for everything.

If OCUK buys components in dollars then prices here in the UK, WILL go up.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Tariffs are US specific - unless a retailer re-exports items shipped to the US,they will be buying straight from China or from somewhere in Europe. Hence,if a retailer tries to jack up the prices by 25% they are trying a fast one.

 

[Sasahara]

The Tariffs are US specific - unless a retailer re-exports items shipped to the UK,they will be buying straight from China or from somewhere in Europe. Hence,if a retailer tries to jack up the prices by 25% they are trying a fast one.

Some increase doesn't mean 25%.

What can happen is the prices get rasied accross the board by say 5% to everyone.

Then using that extra income they give only US customers a rebate that covers the some or all of the extra tarrif. This use of rebates creates country specific pricing that stops grey market exporting.
There are also rebates that can get paid direct to companies rather than having the end consumer deal with claiming. I believe some of Gibbos special deals may work this way.

This way they can hope to avoid any significant drop in trade overall because the extra costs have been spread across all the markets rather than one important market being hit heavily.

Now I'm not saying this will happen, but it certainly is possible.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Some increase doesn't mean 25%.

What can happen is the prices get rasied accross the board by say 5% to everyone.

Then using that extra income they give only US customers a rebate that covers the some or all of the extra tarrif. This use of rebates creates country specific pricing that stops grey market exporting.
There are also rebates that can get paid direct to companies rather than having the end consumer deal with claiming. I believe some of Gibbos special deals may work this way.

This way they can hope to avoid any significant drop in trade overall because the extra costs have been spread across all the markets rather than one important market being hit heavily.

Now I'm not saying this will happen, but it certainly is possible.

I can see that happening but if a retailer here adds 25% here to a Chinese made product then they are trying a fast one. Hence,unless a retailer can prove they re-export from the US,the effect should not be as massive on us,and there is nothing stopping them then moving from US re-export to importing from different countries with lower costs.

 

[Sasahara]

I can see that happening but if a retailer here adds 25% here to a Chinese made product then they are trying a fast one. Hence,unless a retailer can prove they re-export from the US,the effect should not be as massive on us,and there is nothing stopping them then moving from US re-export to importing from different countries with lower costs.

Yes, any silly prices increases won't be due to the tarrifs. For the end customer you shouldn't expect much more than 5% unless the company did most of it business in the USA. And if that's the case it probably wouldn't go down this route.

 

[nashathedog]

But fact is the upgrade over a 6700k @ 4.5ghz and a 1080ti would be placebo and yet cost nearly £2500

^^ This is an important point, The majority of people who will buying RTX won't being doing it because they have too, Their current hardware hasn't suddenly become unusable. They're making these price increases possible.

 

[nashathedog]

I've bought high end PC kit for a couple of decades. However recently I feel I would be being ripped off if I bought into the latest GPU's. I could afford to and still get tempted, but its just no longer sitting well with me anymore. So I decided to move across to a console where I don't feel liberties are being taken. Its all subjective of course.

I bought a PS4 and Xim Apex so I can use the mouse and Keyboard with it and any upcoming consoles. I can't afford the inflated prices we are seeing so the longer my current build can game the better and when I do replace my current components it looks like I'll be going mid level at best.