Friday, February 9th 2024

ASRock Dives Into Why it Lacks NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Cards; Doesn't Rule Out Making Them in the Future

ASRock, ODM giant Pegatron's retail channel brand, built its reputation over its high cost/performance motherboards, and got into graphics cards rather recently (less than 5 years ago), beginning with AMD Radeon graphics cards, before expanding into Intel Arc GPUs. The company has shown with its high-end AMD Radeon cards that it can design complex custom-design graphics cards with heavy cooling solutions, especially given that AMD Radeon boards tend to have more elaborate power designs than NVIDIA. So then, where are the ASRock GeForce RTX graphics cards? Korean tech publication QuasarZone set to find out from ASRock.

Put simply, ASRock does not rule out making custom design GeForce RTX graphics cards in the future, but says that getting into that market right now, is "challenging." NVIDIA now commands the vast majority of discrete GPU market, and as such most of the top DIY PC retail channel brands (such as ASUS, MSI, GIGABYTE), sell both GeForce and Radeon products. They started making GeForce graphics cards decades ago, and have built market presence over the years. NVIDIA also has a set of board partners that exclusively sell GeForce—such as PNY, Palit-Gainward, Galax-KFA2, and Colorful, which make it all the more tough for ASRock to break in. On the specific question asked by Quasar Zone, here was ASRock's answer (machine translated to English by VideoCardz).
What are your plans for the future product lineup? Are there any plans to include NVIDIA graphics cards?

ASRock: This is quite a challenging question. Companies that have both NVIDIA and AMD are ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI. These brands have been in operation for a longer time than us, and back when there were founded, there were not only ATI and NVIDIA, but also Elsa and Voodoo. No one had a monopolistic position at the time. However, as time passed, NVIDIA's market dominance became overwhelming, and a world where the production of NVIDIA VGA became influential emerged. I believe there are complex reasons for this. From the perspective of ASRock, currently producing AMD and Intel VGA, it seems challenging for us to immediately start manufacturing NVIDIA VGA.
Sources: VideoCardz, QuasarZone
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37 Comments on ASRock Dives Into Why it Lacks NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Cards; Doesn't Rule Out Making Them in the Future

#26
Mike Bruzzone
The issue with AsRock as was with EVGA is production scale. Design manufacturers have the economies of production scale locked up and compete for inputs as a manufacturing block. EVGA there was a lot of media disinformation about their exit. The reality with EVGA as a design producer of cards also acting as an Nvidia del credere broker (supplier) of dGPU kit subject Nvidia broker dealer is they also had to contract with design manufacturers for their own production. Why would design manufacturers, the owners of manufacturing scale, procure Nvidia dGPU kit from a design producer in the way of their own inputs purchased directly from Nvidia? With the broker's margin add who was one of their contract customers its a delicate balance. Recall no PC OEM ever liked procuring Intel CPU brokerage from Dell its just not cost effective. The same was true for EVGA as a design producer and broker dealer for Nvidia kit, the manufacturing chain competing for inputs simply removed EVGA from the equation. mb
Posted on Reply
#27
Redwoodz
Dr. DroPrimarily because Nvidia doesn't sell Founders cards worldwide. In fact, outside of the pampered North American and Western Europe markets, they're just about unobtainable.



Something tells me the EVGA issues run far deeper than just "nGreedia bad". For example, their audio card venture simply folded after there was a fire at the Asahi Kasei Microdevices factory that manufactured the DAC and ADC that they used to make them. Instead of changing the design and suppliers, they just withdrew from the market.

I only found that out because I had been looking at upgrading from my original NU Audio (which I must admit, you have to pry it from my cold dead hands, I love it) to the second generation 7.1 model around the time I last overhauled my PC and got the i9-13900KS, only to find out they stopped making them. No driver updates have been released since then either, leaving them pretty much dead in the water. I hope that there's no compatibility issues any time soon - thankfully, it seems that audio drivers aren't exactly something that tend to break over time.

Most of EVGA's businesses have folded or collapsed in one way or another. With the exception of their power supply business (which also changed considerably, since EVGA is no longer synonymous with quality after several straight garbage PSU series ranging from non-rated to the lower-end 80 Plus Gold models), EVGA had been committing a series of blunders and they've just about come to pay the price for it. Don't you think that if it was really a case of Nvidia charging extortionate prices for the chips, making their life hard, etc. - they'd not have a whole series of Radeons, including an RX 7900 XTX Kingpin out by now? There's no loyalty in business, anyone who believes that excuse is beyond silly. The way I see it, the reason EVGA often gets a pass and blame is shifted elsewhere is because they're a darling brand.

If that hypothetical 7900 XTX Kingpin existed, I would have one. I wouldn't even care about the usual trillions of bugs and performance issues(*). I'd have it, fullstop.

(*) i'm obviously joking here, ease up usual suspects
For sure other things at play. Too many pots in the fire. But I do believe Founder's Edition cut into their niche in the market. I also gather Nvidia only makes enough Founders ed. to capture some of the initial price-gouging over MSRP at hardware release, which they no doubt creat by limiting supplies.
Posted on Reply
#28
R-T-B
ty_gerI think it is a verified truth from multiple sources.
Then post one?
Posted on Reply
#29
lexluthermiester
Dr. DroSomething tells me the EVGA issues run far deeper than just "nGreedia bad".
That would not surprise me at all. EVGA was doing solid before their choice to shut down. We might never know the real answer.
Posted on Reply
#30
Dr. Dro
lexluthermiesterThat would not surprise me at all. EVGA was doing solid before their choice to shut down. We might never know the real answer.
I think we've only really had an image of EVGA being solid because of their first-rate customer service and product lines that we genuinely liked. End of the day, I think running the business was getting challenging due to market conditions and supplier problems, having to compete with one of their primary business partners directly no doubt fueled that rollercoaster, and the CEO decided he'd had enough.
Posted on Reply
#31
ty_ger
R-T-BThen post one?
Post JPR's report? Post TPU's content? Post GN's interview? Post Jayztwocents' content? Post financials? Post AIBs' statements?

I mean, it is just accepted as truth. I am not going to dig through a couple year's worth of data to link you supporting evidence.

What part do you not believe? Let's start there.

Fact 1: AIBs have to buy the core and memory from NVIDIA. NVIDIA gets the margin on the core and the bulk pricing margin on the memory which it doesn't pass onto the AIB. NVIDIA will not sell the core without the memory, so the AIB has no way to leverage bulk pricing on memory for itself.

Fact 2: NVIDIA sets the MSRP of its competing FE products which NVIDIA gets the full margin on.

Fact 3: AIBs get almost no margin on jellybean components because jellybean components are cheap to start with and have little value potential on their own. The final product is what has value, not the individual components; but when competing with NVIDIA, with NVIDIA already getting the majority margin on the most important and valued components, there is little margin left for the AIB.

Tell me where you start to come to a different conclusion.



We have had 2 years for any media outlet to refute the reports which came from multiple sources. If you wait 2 years and then ask for sources, what do you expect? Who keeps lists of links? You can search as good as I can. Catch up. There is no refuting evidence and no evidence that anything has improved for AIBs since this news hit.

I mean, I hardly trust half of JPR's numbers too. They seem to have some really flawed definitions and classifications some times. But when no media refutes this specific claim, multiple AIBs corroborate this estimate, and all available data says that this claim is logical sound, what do you have left to question?

So I ask you:
post one?
Posted on Reply
#32
R-T-B
ty_gerPost JPR's report? Post TPU's content? Post GN's interview? Post Jayztwocents' content? Post financials? Post AIBs' statements?
Sure. My point was simply that the burden of proof is on the claimant and my bullshit detector goes off on unsourced "I heard's."

I don't strongly doubt the claims but I personally don't have knowledge and was asking for a source. That's all.

PS: It was actually kapone who would be the first "claimant" in this quote line though, not you, just FYI.
Posted on Reply
#33
lexluthermiester
Dr. DroI think we've only really had an image of EVGA being solid because of their first-rate customer service and product lines that we genuinely liked. End of the day, I think running the business was getting challenging due to market conditions and supplier problems, having to compete with one of their primary business partners directly no doubt fueled that rollercoaster, and the CEO decided he'd had enough.
Plausible. Beyond what's been said publicly, we have nothing to go on. It just sucks..

@ AsRock/Pegatron
So what do you say folks? Want to step up and fill the place EVGA had? We could use your unique style and good quality in the NVidia GPU sector.
Posted on Reply
#34
Chomiq
RedwoodzWell..... EVGA comes to mind. Pretty hard to compete when Nvidia sells it's own Founders Version at a cheaper price than the AIB's can. Why would they even try?
Not when FE is out of stock or sold out:

All but 4060 Ti are sold out on Nvidia store page.
Posted on Reply
#35
ty_ger
R-T-BSure. My point was simply that the burden of proof is on the claimant and my bullshit detector goes off on unsourced "I heard's."

I don't strongly doubt the claims but I personally don't have knowledge and was asking for a source. That's all.

PS: It was actually kapone who would be the first "claimant" in this quote line though, not you, just FYI.
Sorry, in this case, you are the claimant who is trying to contradict 2 years of well established data.
Posted on Reply
#36
R-T-B
ty_gerSorry, in this case, you are the claimant who is trying to contradict 2 years of well established data.
It's not established in a discussion without a source.

FWIW, I did google it myself. What I can find is gross profit margins for the company as a whole, which is different than what we are talking about no?
Posted on Reply
#37
lexluthermiester
ChomiqNot when FE is out of stock or sold out:

All but 4060 Ti are sold out on Nvidia store page.
Yeah, but those are the FE models. No thank you.
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