Tuesday, June 17th 2014
Graphics Card Shipments to Drop Drastically in Q2 2014
Graphics card vendors are bracing for a brutal spell for Q2, 2014, in which they expect sales to sequentially drop by 30 to 40 percent. They are attributing this to swelling inventories (unsold graphics cards) lower down the supply chain. The drop in graphics card sales, for the first time, is being attributed to a drop in the demand for GPUs by crypto-currency miners, who are either moving on to more energy-efficient mining technologies, such as ASICs, or quitting the business, following the drop in value of various major crypto-currencies, such as Bitcoin. These miners end up selling high-end graphics cards at attractive prices on marketspace websites such as Ebay, affecting brand-new high-end graphics card sales. Graphics card vendors (AIB and AIC partners), have asked GPU manufacturers AMD and NVIDIA, to help them cut prices to boost sales, however, both have cut down supplies, to deal with the situation, instead. Swelling inventories often translate into price-cuts for the end users, so be on the look out.
Source:
DigiTimes
51 Comments on Graphics Card Shipments to Drop Drastically in Q2 2014
"is being attributed to a drop in the demand for GPUs by crypto-currency miners"
that would hit AMD more then it would Nvidia.
I was looking on ebay at the 290X and the 780ti's, and right now I see no discernible reason to buy NVidia. The 290X's are going cheap as chips, and are within percentage points of 780ti performance. NVidia need to swallow their elitist attitude and cut prices for once, and AMD just plain need to keep going clearing stock.
Once that's done, the two asshats need to actually bring an entirely new generation of GPU's to the market, that have actual performance increase and a whole new archi, instead of relabelling GK104
I think that hardware wise we have pretty much all the power we need, think about how good games looks on a PS4 which is has a fraction of raw power of an high end pc.
Now it's time to improve software optimization and finally create some common standards, I thought that with the next-gen been x86 based something would have been changed...
Stuff like Shadowplay is simply awesome, inbuilt driver support for GPU downsampling, much better in game Vsync compatibility, higher quality Anti-Aliasing modes and their OpenGL support and performance, especially in older games is still much better.
So yes, it's a premium price, but it's not for nothing....
I hate both GFE and CCC, I have neutral hatred for drivers from both. Plus AMD offer their own version of shadowplay anyway, not that I've tried it. I switched from AMD during their crossfire-sucks period to NVidia, and pretty much avoid software from both parties.
I understand you find their software useful (I used shadowplay a fair bit too, but it simply sucks compared to OBS or FRAPS), but the price simply does not justify it. I pay for a GPU, and a GPU only, not some software that implements things already available to me. That doesn't exist. Unless you're talking about GSync, which requires a copiously expensive monitor, or a £100 add-on board for existing Asus monitors. Not really a reason why their GPU's cost more, especially when it's another closed garden idea.
Bottom line, Btarunr's first sentence said it all: "Graphic card vendors are bracing for a brutal spell for Q2 2014, in which they expect sales to sequentially drop by 30 to 40 percent." The rest is all bias rhetoric. This is typically normal before a new generation is about to be release. Pre-Maxwell and AMD R9-300 are possibly going to see high sales in Q3 and Q4 2014... Anybody who argues against this is redundantly ignorant: Christmas is probably the best time in the year to boost the highest revenue returns...
@btarunr
nice R9-290 from MSI. I've only now noticed you've got one... :D
Manufacturer as nVidia GPU and individual manufacturers (ASUS, MSI, Gigabayte ...) wanted too much profit, and the results are visible. Ddrivers are not be able to arrange let alone announced deadlines for new products. HYA cheaper TITAN -Z By Max Clock version at $ 600 and all supplies will run out ..... greedy fuckers !
You can download the software without needing to purchase a card.
no news on GPU in the last 2+ yrs? eh? Hawaii is from end 2013 right ? we are already in 2015? daaaamn i shouldn't have sleep so much. (oh wait you just say they are still based on a old tech... well yep i rather see a new GPU with Photonics interconect instead of copper for the next gen ... wait what? nevermind i said nothing) well not true ... i rarely have drivers problem and i used a mix of nV and AMD cards lately, yet a R9 290 is not far behind a Titan or a 780 (okok not black not Ti but also they are not far behind the fully unlocked too ) and cost way less, yet imho that premium you said "not for nothing" in the end is "for nothing"
Resolution and definition have reached very high levels (some push for 4K, but really less is enough for most.)
Extra gimmicks, like 3D, Blueray, etc, have proved to be failed shots.
So, in one word, we are SET. Money is going elsewhere, like house, traveling, dentists...
This is like computers. After everybody or every home has one or more, you should not wonder that sales decline.
And... they should have really filed lawsuites against iGPU in the beginning :):):)
EDIT: Maybe Titan and Titan Black sales pay for NVidia's years worth of software R&D.
Anyway extra software should be considered as an extra bonus bundle or something optional that you can buy later online. NOT as part in the cards price. If you go into a store to buy milk and only milk, you are not going to like it if the milk's price is 15% higher because it comes with "free" cookies.
Good for them. Maybe they will go back to 2009 prices if they will have unsold cards...