Monday, July 16th 2018

Pay $160 for the AREZ Sticker: The Mess GPP Landed AIC Partners and Consumers in

by
btarunr
 Discuss (77 Comments)
The same exact graphics cards, made by the same exact manufacturer, in the same exact factory, with the only difference being the "AREZ Strix" branding, priced a whopping USD $160 apart - that's the kind of mess NVIDIA GPP (GeForce Partners Program) left in its wake. Newegg lists the ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX Vega 64 (STRIX-RXVEGA64-O8G-GAMING) graphics card at USD $589.99. This card was made before ASUS decided to re-brand its AMD Radeon graphics cards under the AREZ Strix brand, necessitated by NVIDIA GPP. The post-rebrand AREZ Strix Radeon RX Vega 64 (AREZ RXVEGA64-O8G-GAMING), is priced at $749.99 on the same site, a whopping $160 premium for what is basically a sticker. Just to make sure this isn't a discrepancy between the various sellers from Newegg's marketplace, we also post screenshots that confirm both listings are "sold and shipped by Newegg" (and not a marketplace partner).

We noticed this anomaly on Newegg last week (the week of 9th July), and initially dismissed it for a listing error that would be resolved by the retailer in a couple of days. The week passed, and the listings didn't change. NVIDIA triggered a strong backlash for the language of its GeForce Partners Program (GPP), which implicitly forced its AIC (add-in card) partners to keep their well-established gaming hardware brands (eg: ROG, Aorus, MSI Gaming, etc.,) exclusive to GeForce GTX graphics cards, forcing them to re-brand their AMD Radeon products (and stripping them of those well-established brands, thereby putting AMD at a disadvantage). NVIDIA eventually cancelled GPP, but not before the likes of ASUS and MSI committed changes to their product stacks. AREZ is the Frankenstein's monster that was too late to abort, which now threatens to rip off uninformed consumers.

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77 Comments on Pay $160 for the AREZ Sticker: The Mess GPP Landed AIC Partners and Consumers in

#26
bug
FordGT90ConceptIt's likely a share of what it cost Asus to create the AREZ brand. Asus has to recover the cost somewhere.
They could admit they messed up and take the loss as a sign of goodwill towards their customers.
Posted on Reply
#27
R0H1T
the54thvoidBoycotting for an inferior product to 'play a computer game' is a waste of ethics. And if that first shiny delivers a performance that the competitor cannot match? Well, colour me green. And red for my CPU.

Anyway, we should be boycotting AMD for selling out the x86 licence to China by means of a backdoor bungle.

As for that Arez pricing? That will be a collector piece soon. An anomaly, like a Star Wars figurine with a different paint job.
While you're at it stop buying clothes from slave camps aka Chinese factories, including the ones in South & South East Asia. Also stop buying products that are abnormally cheap, because the factory owner didn't get environmental clearances &/or doesn't pay his workers on time, if at all. That's in part due to corporations having to please their shareholders, but also because people in the west want everything cheap all the time!

When people blame corporations, they forget what they are doing for those abysmal working conditions in most parts of Asia i.e. nothing!
Posted on Reply
#28
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
bugThey could admit they messed up and take the loss as a sign of goodwill towards their customers.
What they should do is sue NVIDIA for putting that burden on them but they won't because then Asus won't be able to get GPUs. Asus is damned no matter what they do. #ThanksNVIDIA
Posted on Reply
#29
bug
FordGT90ConceptWhat they should do is sue NVIDIA for putting that burden on them but they won't because then Asus won't be able to get GPUs. Asus is damned no matter what they do. #ThanksNVIDIA
Ok, that's just stupid.
First of all, nobody put any burden on them, but themselves. As I have said repeatedly, they could have moved Nvidia to Arez and be done with it. They could also not have jumped onto the GPP bandwagon as others did.
Also, it's not like the bet their farm on GPP, writing that as a loss won't impact them in any meaningful way. But why do that when shills <insert something tamer here> like you make sure Asus can both screw their customers and get Nvidia blamed for it?
Posted on Reply
#30
Dicfylac
An Arez review at this point would be awesome, enlight us.
Posted on Reply
#31
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
KrzychEveryone is already so fed up with this GPP whining, just make up some other drama already...
You must be some nv puppet.
Posted on Reply
#32
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
I'd blame this more on newegg's terrible pricing algorithm than anything else. New card, with only a few other models from other manufacturers, and it is only available at newegg right now generally leads to newegg trying to overcharge for it. I'd like to see what the price is in a few weeks when these show up on amazon and microcenter.

Either ASUS decided to jack the price up, or newegg did, but either way I don't really think you can blame GPP for either one of them deciding to jack up the price on an AMD card.
Posted on Reply
#33
jboydgolfer
R0H1TWhen people blame corporations, they forget what they are doing for those abysmal working conditions in most parts of Asia i.e. nothing!
Those "abysmal conditions" are the same abysmal conditions that western countries and other capitalist nations (that are now further developed) were dealing with at the same period of their own relative growth phase. Many of those asian nations were almost entirely farming regions not long ago, then capitalism/corporations brought jobs, and the chance for development. The reason the chance to make $3/day is a good chance, is that what comes to follow is a chance to make $6/day, and so on, until they are in a position not dissimilar to other developed western nations. Look at S Korea. what they were in 1960, compared to what they are now (a global Giant). They were running "sweatshops" not long ago, then they progressed to be what they are now. Given the choice, id bet asian workers who are employed in those "abysmal conditions" would rather that, than the death sentence of a life that farming brought their ancestors. Capitalism is like a plant, it needs to grow, once it does, it is beautiful, but You cant look at a starting plant, from the perspective of a finished flower, and say "that is ugly", you need to realize, the US looked like that, We had our make $3/day phase, where workplace deaths were through the roof, but it was better than what came before, and the same will ring true for Asian nations following the capitalist model.







for comparison, here is what a nation PRE- capitalism/corporations looks, still rocking the Communist ideology to the core. if You asked those residents, Im Certain They would Gladly give up dying in the fields & starving to death, for a chance to earn $3/day, so their Kids will have a chance to earn $6/day, and so on




Its easy to look around the world, with a biased view, and say "this is cruel, or this is unfair", but Your not allowing for the Reality of the situation, which is a nation CANNOT, & MUST not go from developmental stage 3 all the way to stage 10 in a year, because You think it looks "cruel or Abysmal". They need to be allowed to grow, and in time, they will reach the point the other Asian nations have, where they are now out earning the very countries that gave them their starting influence. Sometime when you have the opportunity, take a look at global i.q percentages, given the time even the most underdeveloped asian nations can become leaders in this world. Asians tend to hold higher % i.q's , they'll prosper.
Posted on Reply
#34
Lobolawn
FordGT90ConceptInvestigative journalism by HardOCP is what stopped it. Without proof, all social media can do is rumor, theory, conjecture, and hearsay which gets handily dismissed.



It's likely a share of what it cost Asus to create the AREZ brand. Asus has to recover the cost somewhere.
It does not get dismissed. And it would not matter we always ask why. Because we aren't stupid. They could have done this before anyone had to investigate anything but we covered the stupid rule already.. And plenty of things on on social media (especially right now) aren't being dismissed and accepted with no proof. What planet are you on?? Naming A source of SOME info specifically does not matter or shadow the point. All things have origins. If no one read them and raised awareness it would just be an article. (hense the social we aren't telepaths) What are you getting at? Whys common sense a battle? Seems more for sport as your reply has not much to do with the point of ALL COMPANIES being responsible. They may not have your so called protection but they do have our money and sadly fans trust. Its not right to belittle it with secret programs. I dont get your battle. And with antitrust somone needs to be fined for it.
Posted on Reply
#35
Totally
Vayra86Is this news? There has always been a wide pricing range on Asus products that are 100% the same and availability is still being weird, look at this for some price variations. Want some OC or 11 GBps memory on your 1080, sucks to be you I guess? Want a 580? Pay up to double what you have to I guess...

This has nothing to do with GPP. Stop baiting.

Do some research, those aren't same cards, all with completely different specs. Even the very first one is a 4GB card while all the others are 8GB, and then they are either ref pcb or non-ref pcb, with or without OC, so of course the prices are going to vary. This is $160 for a limited edition sticker.
Posted on Reply
#36
R0H1T
jboydgolferThose "abysmal conditions" are the same abysmal conditions that western countries and other capitalist nations (that are now further developed) were dealing with at the same period of their own relative growth phase. Many of those asian nations were almost entirely farming regions not long ago, then capitalism/corporations brought jobs, and the chance for development. The reason the chance to make $3/day is a good chance, is that what comes to follow is a chance to make $6/day, and so on, until they are in a position not dissimilar to other developed western nations. Look at S Korea. what they were in 1960, compared to what they are now (a global Giant). They were running "sweatshops" not long ago, then they progressed to be what they are now. Given the choice, id bet asian workers who are employed in those "abysmal conditions" would rather that, than the death sentence of a life that farming brought their ancestors. Capitalism is like a plant, it needs to grow, once it does, it is beautiful, but You cant look at a starting plant, from the perspective of a finished flower, and say "that is ugly", you need to realize, the US looked like that, We had our make $3/day phase, where workplace deaths were through the roof, but it was better than what came before, and the same will ring true for Asian nations following the capitalist model.







for comparison, here is what a nation PRE- capitalism/corporations looks, still rocking the Communist ideology to the core. if You asked those residents, Im Certain They would Gladly give up dying in the fields & starving to death, for a chance to earn $3/day, so their Kids will have a chance to earn $6/day, and so on




Its easy to look around the world, with a biased view, and say "this is cruel, or this is unfair", but Your not allowing for the Reality of the situation, which is a nation CANNOT, & MUST not go from developmental stage 3 all the way to stage 10 in a year, because You think it looks "cruel or Abysmal". They need to be allowed to grow, and in time, they will reach the point the other Asian nations have, where they are now out earning the very countries that gave them their starting influence. Sometime when you have the opportunity, take a look at global i.q percentages, given the time even the most underdeveloped asian nations can become leaders in this world. Asians tend to hold higher % i.q's , they'll prosper.
That's like saying ~ just because someone did horrible things in the past, it's alright to do the same things in the present.

That's more to do with corporations making money, than anything else. If given a chance we'd have no corporate governance, zero social responsibility & working conditions that'll make slave camps look better.

Why is the choice restricted between a bottomless pit & a dark but shallow pit? I'll reiterate this has more to do with profit making companies than western consumerism, but the latter is a problem. It seems you're not acknowledging that in the least?

Only when it's trimmed regularly, untethered it's like a beast that only serves its masters i.e. megacorps.

Alright, but are you sure you want India or China to consume resources at the rate (per capita) of the US or much of western Europe?
Posted on Reply
#37
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
bugAs I have said repeatedly, they could have moved Nvidia to Arez and be done with it.
You honestly think NVIDIA would give them priority shipments for GPUs if they did that? Nothing NVIDIA did was in ink, it was winks and nods. It is *very* likely Republic of Gamers was referenced by name. Notice how the ARES card completely lacks ROG branding? That is not a coincidence.
bugThey could also not have jumped onto the GPP bandwagon as others did.
The "others" are based in the USA where they're shielded from NVIDIA's bullying by the legal system. MSI, Gigabyte, and Asus are Taiwanese companies that have no recourse to NVIDIA's bullying. It was either do (rebrand AMD) or die (no more NVIDIA GPUs) for them.
bugBut why do that when shills <insert something tamer here> like you make sure Asus can both screw their customers and get Nvidia blamed for it?
You're implying anyone is actually buying these ARES cards at inflated prices. Newegg probably got the cards when Asus could have gotten away with the $750 price tag because of cryptocurrency causing shortages. Since that ship has sailed, Asus will likely eventually buy back the AREZ cards and sell them by the pallet to an OEM on the cheap to integrate with pre-builts. Asus tried to make the best out of the situation they were put in at every turn. They were still screwed over by NVIDIA.
Posted on Reply
#38
Recus
FordGT90ConceptWhat they should do is sue NVIDIA for putting that burden on them but they won't because then Asus won't be able to get GPUs. Asus is damned no matter what they do. #ThanksNVIDIA
But why? Nvidia had permission to join more recognisable ROG brand with Geforce. Biased Hardcop journalism and HJW should be sued.

TotallyDo some research, those aren't same cards, all with completely different specs. Even the very first one is a 4GB card while all the others are 8GB, and then they are either ref pcb or non-ref pcb, with or without OC, so of course the prices are going to vary. This is $160 for a limited edition sticker.
Apart 4GB, Dual models it's same cards with different clock speeds.

www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/ROG-STRIX-RX580-8G-GAMING/
www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/ROG-STRIX-RX580-T8G-GAMING/
www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/ROG-STRIX-RX580-O8G-GAMING/
Posted on Reply
#40
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
RecusBut why? Nvidia had permission to join more recognisable ROG brand with Geforce. Biased Hardcop journalism and HJW should be sued.

a) no they don't. Asus owns the Republic of Gamers brand, not NVIDIA. NVIDIA did not buy license to use ROG branding with GPP. They coerced/pressured Asus into obeying NVIDIA directive to make Republic of Gamers GeForce exclusive in the discreet card market. It's a classic group boycott (anti-trust, illegal per se).

b) ATI is a wholly owned subsidiary of AMD. AMD owns the Radeon, FirePro, and ATI brands. It wasn't questionable at all when AMD decided to phase out ATI and replace the brand with AMD for the reasons that picture shows. AMD has more brand recognition than ATI so the theory is that branding them AMD would mean selling more graphics cards.
Posted on Reply
#41
bug
FordGT90ConceptYou honestly think NVIDIA would give them priority shipments for GPUs if they did that? Nothing NVIDIA did was in ink, it was winks and nods. It is *very* likely Republic of Gamers was referenced by name. Notice how the ARES card completely lacks ROG branding? That is not a coincidence.
Yes, you summed up the GPP debacle pretty nicely: we don't know what wrongdoing Nvidia pushed for, because nothing was written, but let's blame them for everything anyway. Because Kyle said so.
And while we're at it, whay not blame Nvidia for overpriced cards Asus made, months after the death of GPP.

Idk about you, but to me this looks like something between fanboism and paranoia.
Posted on Reply
#42
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
AREZ exists because of GPP. Creating AREZ incurred costs for Asus. Those costs may be baked into the card MSRP. This isn't rocket science. Turn back history to before GPP, make sure GPP never existed, and there would only be the ROG card today.

Kyle theorized that these new brands would be created because the sources he talked to made it clear that NVIDIA said they needed to. When those cards showing up on the market proved GPP wasn't just theory, it was impacting the market in a very real way. Case in point: if you tell someone to commit a murder and that someone does commit murder, you are an accomplice. Crimes don't need anything in writing to be illegal. Many death sentences were doled out based on witness testimony alone. NVIDIA committed a paperless anti-trust crime. In this age were lawyers run rampant, most people on the level demand paper work. The fact NVIDIA avoided paper work strongly suggests they knew what they were doing was illegal.
Posted on Reply
#43
Prima.Vera
Seriously, what's going on with those uber callously prices?!? :kookoo::kookoo::kookoo::shadedshu:
Posted on Reply
#44
JoniISkandar
ssdproThe disconnect is strong in this article. What does the now defunct GPP have to do with ASUS deciding to up the price of an AREZ branded card by $170? I can't find anywhere in the old GPP program a requirement to charge a specific price increase for a competing brand name or brand name sku.
make new brand cost money,, just like when they making ROG brand
Posted on Reply
#45
qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
So NVIDIA still wins at unfairly suppressing competition from AMD even after being forced to retract the GPP. :shadedshu:

The obvious answer is that NVIDIA should be made to pay ASUS money to bring down this difference to zero, but that will never happen.
Posted on Reply
#46
Aldain
KrzychEveryone is already so fed up with this GPP whining, just make up some other drama already...
whining?? oh boy!
Posted on Reply
#47
windwhirl
Well, it's a limited edition. Of course its price is gonna be higher :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#48
bug
Aldainwhining?? oh boy!
How would you call it? It was acknowledged above that nothing was ever written down so what exactly are we talking about? People crying foul over stuff they've never seen, but Kyle told them that sources told him it was there. That's whining in my book.

Seeing how much praise ADM got for Polaris and Vega, I'm surprised people didn't actually want those under a brand by themselves.
Posted on Reply
#49
Roph
LobolawnI always wondered why people went "in" on nvidia when all this happened. Why not go in on ASUS. How fast did they change there website? how fast did they say "yes daddy" and touch their toes for nvdia. That website for AREZ was up over night, And those arez stickers were changed in photoshop in the first 24 hours. Yes daddy lol. If nvidia can punk them as a company so easily why not try it every chance they get. Its all about money for them anyway. There has NEVER been a "loyalty to gamers". We made that up. Mining shows that too. They dont want a lane for you and me they want money. Its not nvidias fault everyone (companies fans customers) were so easy. It highlights what companies will do so easily. Give up trusted and established brand names at the drop of a hat to gain entry to a club they are already in. LOL
GPP created somewhat of a prisoner's dilemma for AIBs; it was in all their best interests to collectively not join it, but they couldn't risk themselves not joining while another AIB might and thus get an advantage over them.
Posted on Reply
#50
bug
RophGPP created somewhat of a prisoner's dilemma for AIBs; it was in all their best interests to collectively not join it, but they couldn't risk themselves not joining while another AIB might and thus get an advantage over them.
I'm not sure what advantage other AIBs could have gained. Nvidia wasn't about to release anything new, so there's no launch they couldn't have been part of. At best, they could have find it harder to source current gen GPUs, but I expect contract for those aren't signed on a monthly basis, so even that is unlikely.
It seems to me some rushed in headfirst, Kyle started a significant backlash, AIBs got burned. If they're allowed to make up for their rushed reaction by inflating prices (or otherwise), they'll have no reason to react any different in the future.
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