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

[Roph]

I 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.

 

[bug]

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.

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.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Market development funds and access to chips.

 

[Vayra86]

You would have to be very naive to believe ASUS would go out of their way to ask a premium for a sticker on a product that they know most consumers already think isn't very appealing. They didn't do it because they genuinely thought that will bring them more cash, they did it because the surroundings forced them to do so , namely Nvidia and their program. Think for a bloody second , how do you rip off people with a brand that has no background by making an already expensive product even more expensive ? You are again trying to make it sound like this company is run by absolute morons and no else was involved in this. Actually scratch that , they were morons but not for that reason, they were morons because they bent over and it cost them a bit.

I don't know if you intentionally refuse to see how things really were or that you really can't understand what happened but I would go by your words as well and tell you to broaden your view a bit as well.

The root cause of this whole Arez garbage thing wasn't ASUS trying to rip off consumers , it was Nvidia trying to rip off consumers or rather to make sure that the number of consumers than are being ripped off doesn't go down.



Well let's see , can you come up with a concise reason why those IPs would be detrimental to your well being at some point in time ? We all like to talk about big things and how it will affect us greatly. Meanwhile the price hike is already there and directly affecting some consumers. Boycotting one is just as worthless as boycotting the other and therefore I see no importance in neither one of them.

Ehm... Asus made how many Vega's with AREZ stickers on it? If you really think Asus needs to recoup 'Arez' branding expenses man are you short sighted. They made five Twitter posts about it and put some guy on Photoshop for an afternoon to make some silly looking sticker. This is peanuts on their operation even if you only look at graphics card sales. The damage to their branding is going to cost them a whole lot more in any case and this inflated price only adds fuel to the fire (look at this very thread for proof...).

The reality is, this is just an anomaly that got out in the wild and because of that it is priced high. End of story. I know its great fun to twist that into a news post about GPP somehow being alive and kicking but you guys need to stop deluding yourself. This is just the market at work. Something is unique, it costs more. /thread

About ripping people off... if you go out to buy a Vega card and you end up with this overpriced POS in your PC, did you get ripped off? Yeah that makes total sense. People should try using their brain a bit instead of just whining about prices.

Its no different from buying that 883 EUR GTX 1080 11 Gbps because of its faster memory (2-4% performance over a normal version) that I pointed out in my first post, and its no different than buying a GPU based on its higher amount of RAM when benches show it makes no difference in performance (RX580 examples) nor is it any different from people buying the highest factory OC'd 580 for a mere 60mhz bump over a much cheaper alternative. Those, too are ripoffs in the very same way - there is no realistic relation between price and relative performance to be had.

So, can YOU find a reason why this overpriced Vega would be detrimental to anyone's wellbeing? I sure can't. You just avoid it.

But, you guys can enjoy winding yourselves up over 'GPP' for all eternity, I really don't care a whole lot... I tried my best getting some common sense in here. If you want to enjoy a daily dose of outrage be my guest... it just looks a bit sad. Its called beating a dead horse.

 

[eidairaman1]

Marketing costs money, however if asus, gigabyte and msi dropped out, Id just get a Sapphire or Zotac branded gpu.

 

[Xuper]

some people denied GPP is behind this story.but they can't debunk about Arez Branding.Why is there Arez branding ? Who did force ASUS to create new Brand ? IF GPP wan't there , You think this news would exist ? Hell no.

 

[Vayra86]

some people denied GPP is behind this story.but they can't debunk about Arez Branding.Why is there Arez branding ? Who did force ASUS to create new Brand ? IF GPP wan't there , You think this news would exist ? Hell no.

No one is denying GPP existed. Nuance, boy.

 

[Sp33d Junki3]

Yes, but there are large price variances across every single SKU regardless of how small the differences are, and in the case of Asus there are even self-imposed locks on things like 'being able to overclock', most notably the Strix O8G 1080's versus the 8G 1080's.

It was an example of how minute or 'fake' differences are sufficient to create different 'products' with different prices. This Arez stuff is just more of the same and has little to do with GPP. Its Asus strategy above all, and Asus is not alone in this either. EVGA is another good example, MSI too. And it happens with Nvidia ánd AMD SKUs.

I could also argue that 'I'd want the AREZ' Vega because of its collector's value. There is a VERY small number of cards with that specific sticker and I'm a real enthusiast.. There you go - a difference.

The 4 cards you highlighted are completely different. 4gb to 8gb, dual to triple fan and even the OC is quite different. All those will change on how the price is reflected. Some of them you listed are stock or custom PCB.

As for Newegg listing, they are so bad when they come to pricing. This is nothing to do with naming or what Asus has changed. This is only Newegg listing on how they do this.

 

[Xuper]

No one is denying GPP existed. Nuance, boy.

Nice Try boy.You are sad that GPP is behind story.

 

[Vya Domus]

No one is denying GPP existed.

You sort of did , or rather that it had nothing to do with any of this which is false.

Point is , you're saying we are beating a dead horse. If that's the case then you are doing the same thing , it's just that you are kicking it from the opposite side.

 

[Dimi]

No offense but articles like these make TPU look like a cheap British Tabloid trash site.

Did you know AMD ASUS boards are branded CROSSHAIR and Intel Asus boards are branded MAXIMUS in the higher end segment?

The MAXIMUS brand is a lot more expensive than the CROSSHAIR.

There, i gave you something else to cry about.

I can go to any supermarket and show you 2 bottles of WATER with different branding, one will be 20cents per bottle and one will be 1.5$.... nobody crying about that.

 

[Mistral]

Everyone is already so fed up with this GPP whining, just make up some other drama already...

No worries, nVidia will provide...

 

[ENSAKA]

Really? Now Price is 749$. There is no Room for doubt. But A few days ago, AREZ RX VEGA 64 was 589$.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Ehm... Asus made how many Vega's with AREZ stickers on it? If you really think Asus needs to recoup 'Arez' branding expenses man are you short sighted. They made five Twitter posts about it and put some guy on Photoshop for an afternoon to make some silly looking sticker. This is peanuts on their operation even if you only look at graphics card sales. The damage to their branding is going to cost them a whole lot more in any case and this inflated price only adds fuel to the fire (look at this very thread for proof...).

The reality is, this is just an anomaly that got out in the wild and because of that it is priced high. End of story. I know its great fun to twist that into a news post about GPP somehow being alive and kicking but you guys need to stop deluding yourself. This is just the market at work. Something is unique, it costs more. /thread

About ripping people off... if you go out to buy a Vega card and you end up with this overpriced POS in your PC, did you get ripped off? Yeah that makes total sense. People should try using their brain a bit instead of just whining about prices.

Its no different from buying that 883 EUR GTX 1080 11 Gbps because of its faster memory (2-4% performance over a normal version) that I pointed out in my first post, and its no different than buying a GPU based on its higher amount of RAM when benches show it makes no difference in performance (RX580 examples) nor is it any different from people buying the highest factory OC'd 580 for a mere 60mhz bump over a much cheaper alternative. Those, too are ripoffs in the very same way - there is no realistic relation between price and relative performance to be had.

So, can YOU find a reason why this overpriced Vega would be detrimental to anyone's wellbeing? I sure can't. You just avoid it.

But, you guys can enjoy winding yourselves up over 'GPP' for all eternity, I really don't care a whole lot... I tried my best getting some common sense in here. If you want to enjoy a daily dose of outrage be my guest... it just looks a bit sad. Its called beating a dead horse.

Biggest load of shit right here. This nVidia fanboi, or maybe employee, is trying pass a completely different story than the OP. Best advice, do your own research and find your own truths about GPP. Card overprices on newegg are thanks to its new management team from "that other country".

 

[bogmali]

Warning to all the trolls that came out of the woodwork.....if you cannot get your point across or present your argument without calling other members names, please don't post cause I will start issuing thread bans

 

[Vayra86]

Biggest load of shit right here. This nVidia fanboi, or maybe employee, is trying pass a completely different story than the OP. Best advice, do your own research and find your own truths about GPP. Card overprices on newegg are thanks to its new management team from "that other country".

What are you trying to imply, that the OP is a fanboy or that I am? You're not being awfully clear when you follow up with a sentence saying card overpricing is a new standard on Newegg?

Personally I'd refrain from pulling the fanboy card, but that's just me... All I see here is clickbait.

You sort of did , or rather that it had nothing to do with any of this which is false.
Point is , you're saying we are beating a dead horse. If that's the case then you are doing the same thing , it's just that you are kicking it from the opposite side.

No, just no. I was one of the people who was of the stance that GPP had to die fast. And it did... quite fast and rightly so. It has no place in this market, there is no need for it, and branding *does* matter to many people. My story has never changed in this topic either. People pay for branding, and there is a good reason to pay premium for a rare AREZ branded card as a collector's item, its just not a reason I'd personally go for. Would the person buying this card be 'ripped off'? Not any more or less than buying any other GPU, if they choose to pay premium for this branding power to them. Its a different discussion than the one about what's good for a marketplace or market/mindshare. I view this as no different than Gold Edition MSI cards of a few years back or a Star Wars lightsaber RGB Titan.

You know me longer than today right... you can find me advocating either company, I really don't have a preference except for top performance and I'm the last one to pull out the fanboy argument... what I try to do is what I always do, consider the facts and draw a conclusion. Is it always the right one? No. But quite often it does turn out as such by the time we collectively managed to weed out the bullshit and inflated press noise. What bugs me is the fact TPU jumps on the bandwagon at every turn lately, and how so many of us here just follow that reasoning without even thinking clearly.

 

[xorbe]

Marketing costs money

For $160/card I expect Asus to include white glove delivery and 90 minute massage while someone installs the card into my PC. ;-)

 

[vMax65]

Sometimes I just cannot understand the mental block people have...Asus is a business, with shareholders and they care about one thing over everything else and thats profits...no profits and they go out of business..They are no different to Nvidia, Intel, Gigabyte, Apple, AMD et all and will push the envolope to see how much they can get per unit - thats what they do!. If they make good products, and understand there real audience which is the mass market not us the enthusiast...they will do well. They are relying on us the consumer to buy these, no one else is at fault and if you want to blame someone, blame us the consumer for buying at these prices...

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.

View attachment 103965


View attachment 103966


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

View attachment 103967


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.

How right you are, its as though some out there want the peopel to suffer more and never have the chance to achieve..

 

[Totally]

Really? Now Price is 749$. There is no Room for doubt. But A few days ago, AREZ RX VEGA 64 was 589$.View attachment 103976

A) price probably dropped because they weren't selling, after moving a few units price snapped back to original

Or

B) probably on sale

 

[kggrm]

It's really quite simple, If you don't want to pay the extra $160, then don't buy it. Then they will either change the price of the AREZ cards to bring them in line with what the other cards are going for, or they will stay on the shelf and gather dust.

 

[eidairaman1]

For $160/card I expect Asus to include white glove delivery and 90 minute massage while someone installs the card into my PC. ;-)

Well tell nvidia about it then

 

[bug]

Warning to all the trolls that came out of the woodwork.....if you cannot get your point across or present your argument without calling other members names, please don't post cause I will start issuing thread bans

Could you issue a warning to news posters to curb this tabloid streak they're on?
It may rake in page hits, but I've quit other forums when there was nothing to discuss besides "Intel is evil, AMD is good" and "Nvidia is evil, AMD is good". It gets really nauseating after a while.

 

[bogmali]

Could you issue a warning to news posters to curb this tabloid streak they're on?
It may rake in page hits, but I've quit other forums when there was nothing to discuss besides "Intel is evil, AMD is good" and "Nvidia is evil, AMD is good". It gets really nauseating after a while.

Not within my perview...but you could address this with @W1zzard and the OP

 

[comtek]

This article reminds me of Charlie Demerjian

 

[R-T-B]

Everyone is already so fed up with this GPP whining, just make up some other drama already...

Clicks don't lie. Vote with your mouse.