At what point do you say GPU's are too expensive and refuse to buy?

[Hotwired]

You are looking at profits made during Crypto, Pandemic times and AI times, not just gaming during normal times.
Again, you need the margins for gaming alone which you don't really have.

I'm under the impression that specifying "gaming" for Nvidia is a deceptive label.

The pallets of 5090s being converted to AI focused cards are all regular "gaming" cards.

 

[Calin Banc]

I'm under the impression that specifying "gaming" for Nvidia is a deceptive label.

The pallets of 5090s being converted to AI focused cards are all regular "gaming" cards.

Well... just like crypto. There isn't much you can do, the price goes up due to a side demand which makes gaming irrelevant. Perhaps we should be happy they only costs as much as they do now.

 

[Howling]

I literally can't follow the logic being used so I straight up can't form a response.... Own nothing and be happy I guess.

 

[Calin Banc]

I literally can't follow the logic being used so I straight up can't form a response.... Own nothing and be happy I guess.

That increase in profits does not represent an increase due to higher margins on gaming cards. Those are AI driven.
Unless you have info regarding margins back then an now on gaming cards, then you don't know if the higher costs are due to nVIDIA greeediness or higher production costs.

Of course, to some extent, nVIDIA will have higher margins since it's practically running against itself, but we don't know if a 5080 could have been sold with $699 (3080 MSRP) with a healthy margin, $799 or $899 instead of $999. Don't forget that Samsung's process on which 3xxx was made is/was actually cheap! while newer processes aren't...

Bottom line, we can cry "greed", but much of it is also cost driven.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

Bottom line, we can cry "greed", but much of it is also cost driven.

We can still cry greed

 

[Craig R]

Is there a mental limit you have set in your head that you refuse to go over?
Personally I think £2k is already crazy money for a GPU but my needs are different to some of you guys obviously.

£1k

 

[Tommy Gun]

End off the day we spend way too much to just play a few games at home.
Basically it's like back in the 90s and people saying no to the Neo Geo and going for Nintendo or Sega.

 

[Tommy Gun]

I literally can't follow the logic being used so I straight up can't form a response.... Own nothing and be happy I guess.

Literally or genuinely?

 

[~>Dg<~]

if you dont want to spend a fortune just look at the actual games you play !!!

1080 res for eg a 1070 gtx with a modern cpu will still play everything fine at 1080 £80 gpu
1440 something like a 3070 gtx will smash all games at that res still . £200 gpu

you dont need to go getting robbed when there is no need. a lot of people just upgrade cause they get the itch not cause its actually needed. if people did this then they would have to drop the prices cause the cards wouldnt sell ! that simple. you dont need to keep up with the jones. just buy what you need. thats why the prices are a joke and will remain so.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Yup. But it's just that spend a little more bug huh

 

[Howling]

Literally or genuinely?

Both Also, for good measure. Metaphorically, psychotically, and a little homoerotically

That increase in profits does not represent an increase due to higher margins on gaming cards. Those are AI driven.
Unless you have info regarding margins back then an now on gaming cards, then you don't know if the higher costs are due to nVIDIA greeediness or higher production costs.

Of course, to some extent, nVIDIA will have higher margins since it's practically running against itself, but we don't know if a 5080 could have been sold with $699 (3080 MSRP) with a healthy margin, $799 or $899 instead of $999. Don't forget that Samsung's process on which 3xxx was made is/was actually cheap! while newer processes aren't...

Bottom line, we can cry "greed", but much of it is also cost driven.

You can put down the last 2 years of exponential profit growth down to AI for sure (supplemented by the outrageous 5 series pricing tbh... though I can't whine too much given I bought the 5090 on day 1)... but what about the doubling of profits from 2016 to 17 to 18 to 19? And then again in 22 (with the also outrageously priced 40x0 launch)?

It's easy to try and find excuses, but pretending that we're not paying greed-driven inflated prices would be sheer insanity. But I feel like the focus has shifted from my original point that it wasn't "technological stagnation" and they were unable to provide increased value over time - but simply they're clearly unwilling. Part of this is our (consumer) fault for allowing it. This isn't meant an "nVidia bad" bash - they just happen to be the market leader and most egregious example - if AMD were in the same position they'd undoubtedly be doing the same, I'm certain AMD simply can't provide the same power for anywhere close to the same cost so their margins are likely miniscule by comparison (nVidia are that far ahead). The only winners here are folk that ain't us....

 

[Calin Banc]

End off the day we spend way too much to just play a few games at home.
Basically it's like back in the 90s and people saying no to the Neo Geo and going for Nintendo or Sega.

And you can spend that money on other forms of entertainment or hobbies. Even a rather large sum of money spread across a few years doesn't look THAT much...

Both Also, for good measure. Metaphorically, psychotically, and a little homoerotically


You can put down the last 2 years of exponential profit growth down to AI for sure (supplemented by the outrageous 5 series pricing tbh... though I can't whine too much given I bought the 5090 on day 1)... but what about the doubling of profits from 2016 to 17 to 18 to 19? And then again in 22 (with the also outrageously priced 40x0 launch)?

It's easy to try and find excuses, but pretending that we're not paying greed-driven inflated prices would be sheer insanity. But I feel like the focus has shifted from my original point that it wasn't "technological stagnation" and they were unable to provide increased value over time - but simply they're clearly unwilling. Part of this is our (consumer) fault for allowing it. This isn't meant an "nVidia bad" bash - they just happen to be the market leader and most egregious example - if AMD were in the same position they'd undoubtedly be doing the same, I'm certain AMD simply can't provide the same power for anywhere close to the same cost so their margins are likely miniscule by comparison (nVidia are that far ahead). The only winners here are folk that ain't us....

Well, gtx10 - Pascal, AI & Deep Learning with Tesla moving into data centers, Crypto minim boom, all got up and up, plus the increase of demand during pandemic times. The 3xxx series was cheap only on paper.
As per ChatGPT gross margin in 2019 was already 61.2%. In July 2025 it was 72.42%. However, in a previous trimester, apparently there were adjustments which took down the margin> in the first fiscal trimester of 2025, gross Margin GAAP was 60.5% and non GAAP 61%, but nVIDIA says that, if you take out some cost regarding H20 inventory, the margin would have been around 71.3%...

Now... doing some math on that, let's say a product sells for $1 with a margin of 61.2% for a margin of 72.42% it will require a about 40.6% increase in price if the costs remain the same. But, they don't. 4xxx was made on a custom node, so not cheap compared to Samsung. Extra vRAM, so extra money. Also, in this margin you'll get a huge pie from AI and less from gaming making just apple to oranges comparison...

With that said, I think they charge probably around 20-30% more than they did in the "good ol' days" with healthy margins in mind. Is it worth it? Well, my rtx2080 was doing path tracing in CB2077 at 1080p, 30fps and DLSS Performance. 4080 (which had a cost about 60-70% higher, out of which you'd need to take out inflation), does 4k DLSS Quality 30fps+ and 60-70fps + at DLSS Ultra Performance, before Frame Gen - making 100-120fps+ with FG... or about 100-120 (200fps+with FG) at 1080p Performance and be CPU/system limited. Add on top the improvements in DLSS (software), to ME, the value is there, but at a higher price. Would have been better to have somewhere around 60-80% performance increase, so not even 1080p 60fps DLSS Performance, but at the same price or around 60% more, but getting around 400%+ performance increase?

Almost 2.5 years since I have the card and is running even better than at the beginning (fine wine and all that). You'll get your 5090 to run for around 5-7 years doing just fine, although expensive... Going back enough, to the "good ol' days", how much a card would last? Did the 1080ti ran 4k60fps top setting years on end? 'Cause my 2080 sure didn't get that 60fps even when I've bought it in every game ). I'd say rose tinted glasses is also in effect when looking back.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

I think using the 1080ti isn't a good card to use for an example. People managed to drag that thing out for an extreme amount of time.
For the price it released at, it has to go down as one of the greatest GPUs.

 

[Raelgun]

That increase in profits does not represent an increase due to higher margins on gaming cards. Those are AI driven.
Unless you have info regarding margins back then an now on gaming cards, then you don't know if the higher costs are due to nVIDIA greeediness or higher production costs.

Of course, to some extent, nVIDIA will have higher margins since it's practically running against itself, but we don't know if a 5080 could have been sold with $699 (3080 MSRP) with a healthy margin, $799 or $899 instead of $999. Don't forget that Samsung's process on which 3xxx was made is/was actually cheap! while newer processes aren't...

Bottom line, we can cry "greed", but much of it is also cost driven.

Is it really production cost?

Only gpus in the entire tech space had seen this price hike.

Everything else has lowered or remained the same

Even the new iPhones have not increased in price (expensive non the less) for a long time but gpus keep shooting up in price?

Anything that uses a chip processor or graphics uses the same raw material, they are also likely manufactured in the same place and Apple in this context always has first dibs on the latest production nodes. They are then likely shipped out the same way.

So I ask time and time again, what makes you think gpus warrant they price hikes when nothing else follows this. Gpus are super easy to get hold of so supply isn't an issue.

 

[Joxeon]

That increase in profits does not represent an increase due to higher margins on gaming cards. Those are AI driven.
Unless you have info regarding margins back then an now on gaming cards, then you don't know if the higher costs are due to nVIDIA greeediness or higher production costs.

Of course, to some extent, nVIDIA will have higher margins since it's practically running against itself, but we don't know if a 5080 could have been sold with $699 (3080 MSRP) with a healthy margin, $799 or $899 instead of $999. Don't forget that Samsung's process on which 3xxx was made is/was actually cheap! while newer processes aren't...

Bottom line, we can cry "greed", but much of it is also cost driven.

Obviously the big money is now coming from AI but that doesn't mean their gaming line is not seeing higher revenue, in fact when we look at sales numbers over the past 10 years those have been stagnant or down especially from the mid 2010s.

Nvidia's revenue for just gaming on its own last quarter was $4.3 billion with around 9m cards sold, now compare that to back when 15m cards were being sold and the older figures also include all business areas not just gaming.

 

[Calin Banc]

Is it really production cost?

Only gpus in the entire tech space had seen this price hike.

Everything else has lowered or remained the same

Even the new iPhones have not increased in price (expensive non the less) for a long time but gpus keep shooting up in price?

Anything that uses a chip processor or graphics uses the same raw material, they are also likely manufactured in the same place and Apple in this context always has first dibs on the latest production nodes. They are then likely shipped out the same way.

So I ask time and time again, what makes you think gpus warrant they price hikes when nothing else follows this. Gpus are super easy to get hold of so supply isn't an issue.

I don't know exactly what is what, all I'm saying is that there are production costs involved. The chip from a phone is tinny compared to a dedicated GPU and the "entire tech" doesn't need cutting edge tech or large size, expensive dies.

Obviously the big money is now coming from AI but that doesn't mean their gaming line is not seeing higher revenue, in fact when we look at sales numbers over the past 10 years those have been stagnant or down especially from the mid 2010s.

Nvidia's revenue for just gaming on its own last quarter was $4.3 billion with around 9m cards sold, now compare that to back when 15m cards were being sold and the older figures also include all business areas not just gaming.

Well, gross margin Q4FY18 is 62.1% non gaap.
Apparently Q2 FY2026 is 72.7%.

These are for the entire business, not just gaming.
That difference means around 38.8% increase in pricing alone (costs remaining the same), again, for the entire product/service line that nVIDIA offers.

I'll take a wild guess that the big margins come from AI/business side and not gaming. Like I've said in a previous post, probably they charge 20-30% more than they could/did in the past with healthy margins and looking at gross margins seems close enough. So that's $649 instead of $499 or $899 instead of $699 and more than likely a lot higher with the top end product since there is zero competition. It doesn't mean that a 5080 could be sold for $500. But probably it could have been sold for $799.

 

[Joxeon]

I don't know exactly what is what, all I'm saying is that there are production costs involved. The chip from a phone is tinny compared to a dedicated GPU and the "entire tech" doesn't need cutting edge tech or large size, expensive dies.



Well, gross margin Q4FY18 is 62.1% non gaap.
Apparently Q2 FY2026 is 72.7%.

These are for the entire business, not just gaming.
That difference means around 38.8% increase in pricing alone (costs remaining the same), again, for the entire product/service line that nVIDIA offers.

I'll take a wild guess that the big margins come from AI/business side and not gaming. Like I've said in a previous post, probably they charge 20-30% more than they could/did in the past with healthy margins and looking at gross margins seems close enough. So that's $649 instead of $499 or $899 instead of $699 and more than likely a lot higher with the top end product since there is zero competition. It doesn't mean that a 5080 could be sold for $500. But probably it could have been sold for $799.

You have to remember the 5070ti uses the same size die and VRAM configuration, Nvidia can afford to sell that for what will almost certainly be a healthy profit at $750, there is no additional cost justification for the 5080 being $250 more at $1000.

 

[Vexr]

The position I took is that I'd fork out £800 for a GPU for a performance tier I'd have expected from a £400 GPU pre-2020 , but now I want to not upgrade again for 4-5 years instead of two years.

So far that's working out okay, though largely due to advancements in upscaling and frame generation, and me not having much interest in the latest unoptimized UE5 slop or ray tracing.

 

[Calin Banc]

You have to remember the 5070ti uses the same size die and VRAM configuration, Nvidia can afford to sell that for what will almost certainly be a healthy profit at $750, there is no additional cost justification for the 5080 being $250 more at $1000.

Another way to see it is that the 5070ti can be sold as a defective 5080. The cost is still the same to make as for 5080 (so the margin will be lower with a 5070ti), but you'll sell it with lower margins to not lose the entire die (something that you'll not do normally, as in sell such a big die so "cheap"). Is not the first time that it's being done.

With that said, $750 or $800 like I've wrote previously in regards to what a 5080 should be is basically the same. So yeah, probably that's the right price.

Moreover you can look at it differently, you can also see a drop from $1200 of the 4080 to $750 of 5070ti for practically the same performance (around 38% price drop).

To give you a different example, a 6800xt was sold for $649 and was 520mm2. It also had a 16GB vRAM, cooler and complex circuitry. Roughly speaking, $649/520mm2 = $1.25/mm2
A 5800x was sold for $449 and was only 199mm2 (74mm2 the die, which was most expensive and 125mm the I/O die, a lot cheaper). $499/199mm2 = $2.51/mm2

Since AMD was happy to sell the 6800xt for $649, a more complex product, then $1.25 * 199mm2 = $249 should have been the 5800x... Why did AMD charged twice as much and no one freaked out back then?

Or Ryzen 9800x3D , 193mm2 totally, $479: 479/193=$2.48
vs 9070xt , 357mm at $599: 599/357=$1.68

1.68 * 193 = $324. Why is the 9800x3d 48% more expensive than it should be compared to what AMD is happy to charge on the 9070xt?

And going by the same logic, why a 9950x3D was $699 and not 1.68 * (2x71+122)= $440, being 59% more expensive than what AMD is happy to get with 9070xt?

The last part is more of an example of how the tech industry "stayed the same, just GPUs went up!".

Nope, they've overcharged for CPUs as well, but we're happy to pay since the price is relatively low.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Is it really production cost?

Only gpus in the entire tech space had seen this price hike.

Everything else has lowered or remained the same

Even the new iPhones have not increased in price (expensive non the less) for a long time but gpus keep shooting up in price?

Anything that uses a chip processor or graphics uses the same raw material, they are also likely manufactured in the same place and Apple in this context always has first dibs on the latest production nodes. They are then likely shipped out the same way.

So I ask time and time again, what makes you think gpus warrant they price hikes when nothing else follows this. Gpus are super easy to get hold of so supply isn't an issue.

5080's and '90's FE's weren't selling out immediately so Nvidia lowered the price. After which they sold out again. Simply supply and demand as long as people keep snapping them up the prices stay high. Nvidia's profit margins are what, 57%? Plenty of money being made here.