A POINTLESS QUESTION

[Overslop]

Just wondering why ATI and nVidia sell their cards via different brands such as XFX, BFG, PowerColor etc. when, to best of my knowledge, no other companies which sell PC components do. Is there some law regarding this? Or is it just mutually beneficial to sell their products in this way?

 

[Overslop]

AFAIK they just licence the chipset. Think about it, how many times have you heard someone wanting to buy a "new Hoover", Hoover is a brand VACCUM CLEANER is the product. In the same way people buy a new Radeon or Geforce, regardless of branding.

The difference is that these are still ATI/nVidia products, but sold under various brands. When people say "hoover" they usually mean vacuum cleaner regardless of the brand at all. I get your point though Frippy.

The sell core chips to partners and licence the board reference designs. ATI do make some of their own btw. Not sure about NV. I'd guess they could make all the production, but their production line would have to be massive. What happens if there is a down turn? Also the other companies would start to think about making their own chips. So its safer to concentrate on chip design and allow others to support your products without capital investment. At a guess.

That would sound logical fornowgain but doesn't account for why this isn't the case for other components such as CPUs.