AMD Card Prices Skyrocket due to cryptocurrency mining?

[dasa]

so i wonder is amd trying to increase production capability's to keep up or do they figure its not worth the cost and this will burn out soon
kinda sad that the middle men margins will be so much bigger than that of the manufacturers at the moment but then i guess thats the way it is with most things food\clothing ect where a lot of stores operate on ~70% profit margins

[AliG]

so i wonder is amd trying to increase production capability's to keep up or do they figure its not worth the cost and this will burn out soon
kinda sad that the middle men margins will be so much bigger than that of the manufacturers at the moment but then i guess thats the way it is with most things food\clothing ect where a lot of stores operate on ~70% profit margins

Well, at the moment it keeps their cards in very high demand. I'm not sure it would necessarily be smart to increase inventory too much from a business perspective; ideally your stock disappears the moment its produced. Now mathematically it actually works out to be the optimum number is 50% inventory (which has been proven in manufacturing systems theory), but that assumes a constant flow of products through the pipeline (which is rarely true). So I wouldn't be surprised if AMD just sits back and uses the money to develop better products

[Heinz68]

Ok guys let's cut it out.
Just like everyone here, people have their opinions so lets keep it civil please.

This is hardly an opinion because even he must know better it's not true. Just usual troll by AMD hater, that's why he was banned on many forums including here. Just changing the nick name did not make any difference.

it is a lie, it is not because mining, but a catastrophic shortage of chips, amd ordered them only a small numbers at TSMC, has no money for manufacturing. The same is at CPUs too.

[paulbagz]

No, no it is not. There are many more variables involved.

This. Initial cost of hardware and ROI times are far more important imo.

-PB

[Buckeye]

This is hardly an opinion because even he must know better it's not true. Just usual troll by AMD hater, that's why he was banned on many forums including here. Just changing the nick name did not make any difference.

Actually Mr. Heinz, that was my opinion of this whole matter and that is the only one that actually matters, so please move on and drop it.

[KiSUAN]

This is hardly an opinion because even he must know better it's not true. Just usual troll by AMD hater, that's why he was banned on many forums including here. Just changing the nick name did not make any difference.

As much as it pains me to admit I think he's right in the “error at ordering”, although nothing to do with the money part, that is plain ignorant to say the least…

[DefStar]

Well, miners certainly are not interested in 7970s equipped with water-blocks it seems. I revamped my ad to sell just the stock air-cooled cards...I will sell the water-blocks separately. I put the prices kinda high because I actually really like my cards (I paid > $750 new for EK water-cooled 7970 crossfire)...but if they do sell I will post what I got.

[tajoh111]

As much as it pains me to admit I think he's right in the ?error at ordering?, although nothing to do with the money part, that is plain ignorant to say the least?

It was definitely both but probably more about AMD not ordering enough chips. I was surprised to say the least to see Nvidia's market share and profits grew after Hawaii came out. Nvidia's gained in marketshare and the gains were quite significant for a quarter. I believe the console chips are made at TSMC and this probably is what caused the supply issue for AMD.

If AMD had a decent enough supply, AMD should have seen an increase in card sales and gained marketshare, but the opposite happened. That shouldn't happen when you launch a new line even though most were rebrands.

[Heinz68]

As much as it pains me to admit I think he's right in the ?error at ordering?, although nothing to do with the money part, that is plain ignorant to say the least?

It was definitely both but probably more about AMD not ordering enough chips. I was surprised to say the least to see Nvidia's market share and profits grew after Hawaii came out. Nvidia's gained in marketshare and the gains were quite significant for a quarter. I believe the console chips are made at TSMC and this probably is what caused the supply issue for AMD.

If AMD had a decent enough supply, AMD should have seen an increase in card sales and gained marketshare, but the opposite happened. That shouldn't happen when you launch a new line even though most were rebrands.

It's 100% all about mining plus he never did say AMD made an eror. The fact is AMD ordered plenty of cards for normal market and priced them right to be very competitive. The prove is the cards were selling at MSRP and in about 4 weeks after the launch Newegg already had at least one of the R9 290X for sale, clear indication they must have plenty in stock and actually R9 290X main competition was R9 290.

Since Bitcoin mining was dead for AMD cards NOBODY at AMD could have predicted the new Litecoin mining craze due to the huge Litecoin price increase in just few days.
http://www.ltc-charts.com/period-cha...d&market=btc-e
Wish I did see that coming had some spare cash at that that time

I'm sure at that point AMD did all they could to increase the orders since they did not benefit any from price gouging only some retailers benefit from that and off course also Nvidia did.

There are numerous article about this included the one in the OP, I have yet to see any about AMD making mistake not ordering enough cards.

Anyway looks like the prices at Newegg are slowly coming down too bad it might be little too late for some people.

[LordEC911]

There was a shortage of other components, they never specifically said which.

So no, this wasn't an issue with AMD not ordering enough wafers from TSMC.

[tajoh111]

Why did AMD marketshare drop? If AMD really had lots of cards to go around, AMD should of had a positive effect on their own cards and their market share should have grew.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...t-expands-jpr/

AMD unit shipment slipped 10% which is pretty big in a quarter. And considering AMD cards were regularly selling out at the time, it would be dumb for AMD if they didn't have a supply issue to ship more cards.

AMD having a supply issue would be the only reasonable explanation for the following; Nvidia had a record quarter + Even though AMD had a new card at the time + AMD shipping less cards even though they were sold out(Card sold out should denote good sales and not a loss in units shipped).

[dasa]

There was a shortage of other components, they never specifically said which.

So no, this wasn't an issue with AMD not ordering enough wafers from TSMC.

the fact that they are short on 270\280\290 but nvidia doesnt seem to have a shortage must narrow down this part a little bit

[Hornet331]

Why did AMD marketshare drop? If AMD really had lots of cards to go around, AMD should of had a positive effect on their own cards and their market share should have grew.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...t-expands-jpr/

AMD unit shipment slipped 10% which is pretty big in a quarter. And considering AMD cards were regularly selling out at the time, it would be dumb for AMD if they didn't have a supply issue to ship more cards.

AMD having a supply issue would be the only reasonable explanation for the following; Nvidia had a record quarter + Even though AMD had a new card at the time + AMD shipping less cards even though they were sold out(Card sold out should denote good sales and not a loss in units shipped).

because if you look at it you see its pretty much only mobile, its even written in the text that the its was "discreet mobiles cards".

AMD/ATI cards where quite popular for cheap notebooks cause they had better performance then intel solutions, now that intel pretty much offers the same performance, they don't use it anymore. Thats why you see a pretty much 1:1 switch over to intel.

[Kai Robinson]

....there are no shortages here in the UK or Europe.

[LordEC911]

Why did AMD marketshare drop? If AMD really had lots of cards to go around, AMD should of had a positive effect on their own cards and their market share should have grew.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...t-expands-jpr/

AMD unit shipment slipped 10% which is pretty big in a quarter. And considering AMD cards were regularly selling out at the time, it would be dumb for AMD if they didn't have a supply issue to ship more cards.

AMD having a supply issue would be the only reasonable explanation for the following; Nvidia had a record quarter + Even though AMD had a new card at the time + AMD shipping less cards even though they were sold out(Card sold out should denote good sales and not a loss in units shipped).

You didn't read your own link?
It states they increased their GPU shipments but notebook shipments dropped both APU and GPU, since Q4 is typically slow.

the fact that they are short on 270\280\290 but nvidia doesnt seem to have a shortage must narrow down this part a little bit

Probably has something to due with the bad batch of components AIBs got.

[tajoh111]

You didn't read your own link?
It states they increased their GPU shipments but notebook shipments dropped both APU and GPU, since Q4 is typically slow.



Probably has something to due with the bad batch of components AIBs got.

Still doesn't change, Nvidia grew more and had better sales when they were just refreshing the top end compared to Nvidia. When has q4 been considered slow?

Nvidia was basically going unchallenged for the most part during the whole entire gtx 7xx generation. Sales should have peaked during that time when AMD wasn't challenging them. They grew further somehow.

Of all the market players, Nvidia should be losing the most marketshare. They have the most to lose, particularly at the low end because they don't make an APU.

With AMD releasing a new line up(a rebrand and hawaii variants), the battlefield 4 tie in and refreshed their APU line, they should have gained marketshare. But somehow they didn't. Considering the sold out part in north america, you would expect more than 1.8 percent growth in discrete market.

I.e a growth of 1.8% percent in discrete sales shouldn't be what separates, card sell outs, the price of some cards jumping 50% compared to earlier where 7970's could be found for around 300 dollars and 7950's around 220 dollars. AMD cards if there wasn't a supply issue should have gained way way more market share, and more importantly, caused a drop in Nvidia's marketshare, rather than an increase. This should have been the one time, Nvidia took a marketshare loss, particularly when mining boosting the sale of AMD's entire desktop lineup.

Investors were likely expecting it too and it's why Nvidia's stock price rebounded so much after they released their results. They really should have lost more card sales, but they gained it. Even with the slumping tegra market, Nvidia gained 15-20% in stock price after the results.

AMD was in every position to hurt Nvidia's card sales, but they blew it with supply.

[DefStar]

So my highest offer was $386.99 + Shipping = $400 for a 6-month old stock 7970. Which I would totally do except ebay takes 10% which is half the profit from the sale.

Talk about volatile, the newegg 7970 price on my card just dropped a $100!

[AliG]

So my highest offer was $386.99 + Shipping = $400 for a 6-month old stock 7970. Which I would totally do except ebay takes 10% which is half the profit from the sale.

Talk about volatile, the newegg 7970 price on my card just dropped a $100!

You're not thinking like an investor, sell the 7970 and then buy a better nvidia card (because of the huge amd markup) once it goes on sale with the same $360. As long as you buy low and sell high, it doesn't matter what your profits are, you still beat the market (and get a better graphics card out of the deal).

[DefStar]

I didn't accept that offer...now a week later the best offer I'm getting is $312. I can't even get my original investment back now, ebay will take $33.

[screwtech02]

Ahhhh, miners.....

[mcnbns]

I didn't accept that offer...now a week later the best offer I'm getting is $312. I can't even get my original investment back now, ebay will take $33.

Maybe I'm the idiot here, but... Are you really complaining about not being able to sell your video cards for a profit after using them for six months?

[screwtech02]

What he said! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^

[DefStar]

Maybe I'm the idiot here, but... Are you really complaining about not being able to sell your video cards for a profit after using them for six months?

No i'm not complaining, i'm not even trying to really sell my card. It was just an experiment at the time to see what someone would pay for a used 7970. Within one-week the card's value dropped $100 and after two weeks now they have dropped $150...on ebay. If me stating the facts about the situation sounds like complaining to you, then you must consider arguments and facts as being complaints.

Yes, I complain about ebay taking 10% of the final sale value and the shipping cost...I think ebay is a rip-off...If you want to go there then yes I'm complaining about ebay taking too much...but no I'm not complaining about the offers I have received for my card...like I said it was purely of interest.

It's incredibly rude and fallacious for you to direct such a comment at me or anyone else. Did you just suddenly get an impulse to accuse someone of complaining? The discussion here is about AMD prices skyrocketing and the reason behind this...as a back-drop to the conversation I experimented with my 7970. Don't attack me because you have nothing to add to the conversation...Thanks.

Conversely, if you truly thought I was complaining I assure you that was not my intention. I see how I worded my last statement... I was just taking into consideration that In general, sellers on ebay have to price their items higher to account for the fees ebay charges...ebay should have a cap on that fee.

[mcnbns]

No i'm not complaining, i'm not even trying to really sell my card. It was just an experiment at the time to see what someone would pay for a used 7970. Within one-week the card's value dropped $100 and after two weeks now they have dropped $150...on ebay. If me stating the facts about the situation sounds like complaining to you, then you must consider arguments and facts as being complaints.

Yes, I complain about ebay taking 10% of the final sale value and the shipping cost...I think ebay is a rip-off...If you want to go there then yes I'm complaining about ebay taking too much...but no I'm not complaining about the offers I have received for my card...like I said it was purely of interest.

It's incredibly rude and fallacious for you to direct such a comment at me or anyone else. Did you just suddenly get an impulse to accuse someone of complaining? The discussion here is about AMD prices skyrocketing and the reason behind this...as a back-drop to the conversation I experimented with my 7970. Don't attack me because you have nothing to add to the conversation...Thanks.

Conversely, if you truly thought I was complaining I assure you that was not my intention. I see how I worded my last statement... I was just taking into consideration that In general, sellers on ebay have to price their items higher to account for the fees ebay charges...ebay should have a cap on that fee.

That's fair enough about Ebay fees.

Nothing in my comment was fallacious. It was a question. Although you were pointing to Ebay's selling fees as part of the problem, you were still saying you couldn't recoup your original investment in a video card you said you'd been using for six months, and you characterized that negatively. Sorry for misinterpreting your intentions.

I see that this was just an experiment on your part and thank you, honestly, for sharing your findings with us here.

What I wanted to add to the conversation was this idea: I realize we're not in the 90s anymore with tech doubling in speed every year, but six months is six months and hardware used for that long isn't worth what it was new. That you can use the cards for mining is irrelevant. Electronic computer hardware isn't like real estate. It doesn't hold its value.

Again, I'm the fool here cuz I've never even come close to breaking even selling used computer hardware. I guess I don't have the killer instinct.

[DefStar]

Well, I certainly would not buy a six-month old card unless...I knew it was taken care of the way mine are. A typical air-cooled video card runs at a sustained 70+ Celsius (under load) and the VRMs upwards of 80+ and the RAM i'm not sure...and those temps go up a lot more if the card was overclocked.

But, I know my video card's GPU, VRMs, and RAM have never exceeded 55 Celsius (due to using full-cover water blocks) which is pretty significant.
I mean, usually when you have a 6-month old cards the stickers on the back are brittle and the adhesive has completely dried out so the stickers just fall off...on my cards the stickers are like new.

Conversely, I would also be wary of buying a previously water cooled card due to maybe the owner had no idea what they where doing and the card possibly being damaged.

So what I am saying is, I am and would be confident that the card I am selling is in Great condition compared to other used video cards and would be the most reliable out of any other used video cards of 3 or more months old...the stock Twin Frozr III fans and the heat-sink is still Brand-new, the card has never got hot, and if you averaged all the gaming I do...will it would break down to less than 10 min. a-day for the past 6-months. Also I had to replace the cheap AMD thermal pads and compound with high quality EK pads and compound. But you know, somebody would have to understand and believe all this, and Good luck doing that. So no I wouldn't feel like I just sold somebody a piece of Sh!zz...