ASUS Officially Increases Prices of Graphics Cards and Motherboards

[blazed]

'ASUS store has listed the following components at their respectable prices:'

Typically, the word used to describe separate items belonging to a list, would be 'respective', but if 'respectable' is what was actually meant, then I'll just assume there wasn't a deliberate attempt to exploit ambiguity in order to create a more favorable impression of what could otherwise be considered bad news.

In all honesty though, this doesn't bother me. Better that they raise prices than use cheaper parts. Inflation will be felt one way or another, so in that sense, I suppose it is respectable.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Fine, but that doesn't explain the fact that I have to pay not MSRP+VAT but A LOT more in Germany than in US for the hardware. It can only be explained by assumption that corporations demand higher margins in EU than in US. Take a FB's Oculus Quest 2 for example. Price in US $300 in EU €350, €50 ($60) price premium for the same product. +20% higher price even when you exclude VAT difference. Europeans are getting screwed big time on regular basis when it comes to hardware pricing.

For example, a trader in Bulgaria receives rtx 3060 ti at a price of ~ €245-279 depend of trademarks per piece.Then border fees and VAT are added to this price. From the amount received, to the MSPR price, there remains an amount that is a profit for the trader. If he is not very greedy, the trader will sell the component on MSPR and will be satisfied with the large turnover. If he is very greedy, he will increase the mark-up and sell more expensively than MSPR. This is what all traders in the EU do, they sell more expensive than MSPR because they are very greedy.

 

[yukinin97]

Oh yeah 2016 level performance is really superior.

2016 level performance(It's not but ok) while also being able to do some forms of ray-tracing and for a fraction of the cost of one of these GPUs seems like a mightily good deal in comparison to me. Not really the 'gotcha' you think your snarky reply was.

 

[lexluthermiester]

ASUS store has listed the following components at their respectable prices:

• ROG-STRIX-RTX3090-O24G-WHITE: $2,109.99
• ROG-STRIX-RTX3090-O24G-GAMING: $ 1,979.99
• RTX3090-24G-EK: $2,014.99
• TUF-RTX3090-O24G-GAMING: $1,839.99
• ROG-STRIX-RTX3080-O10G-WHITE: $1,049.99
• ROG-STRIX-RTX3080-O10G-GAMING: $ 929.99
• RTX3080-10G-EK: $999.99
• TUF-RTX3080-O10G-GAMING: $859.99
• ROG-STRIX-RTX3070-O8G-WHITE: $779.99
• ROG-STRIX-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $699.99
• RTX3070-8G-EK: $729.99
• TUF-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $649.99
• KO-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $639.99
• DUAL-RTX3070-O8G: $599.99
• ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $599.99
• TUF-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $ 529.99
• KO-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $519.99
• DUAL-RTX3060TI-O8G: $ 499.99

Right now, a question remains will other AIBs start doing the same, or this is just an isolated case.

I know who's cards I'm NOT buying. Note to NVidia AIB's, this is NOT how to earn business...

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yeah I wouldn't be interested in a asus gpu anyway rma/ customer support just isn't worth the chance.
Mother boards is bad enough to chance and still instore warranty is highly suggested so I'd never have to contact asus lol

 

[Max(IT)]

For example, a trader in Bulgaria receives rtx 3060 ti at a price of ~ €245-279 depend of trademarks per piece.Then border fees and VAT are added to this price. From the amount received, to the MSPR price, there remains an amount that is a profit for the trader. If he is not very greedy, the trader will sell the component on MSPR and will be satisfied with the large turnover. If he is very greedy, he will increase the mark-up and sell more expensively than MSPR. This is what all traders in the EU do, they sell more expensive than MSPR because they are very greedy.

I don’t know about Bulgaria, but in the rest of Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy and France for sure) numbers are quite different from what you are saying, and retailers markup is not so much

 

[MAXLD]

I know who's cards I'm NOT buying. Note to NVidia AIB's, this is NOT how to earn business...

Others won't be able to give you any choice... ASUS wouldn't add $110-130 to their cards MSRP (not even gonna touch the 3090s....) and stay there while others would be happy selling them at MSRP... If Asus did it, it's because:

- they know current inflated prices won't move for a long while (so it doesn't matter if they raise the MSRP, since Ampere cards MSRP is an illusion anyway)
- they expect other AIB's to do the same, or at least they know they won't be able to sell their rival cards at the old MSRP anyway... so all cards, Asus or not, will continue to be sold at around the same current high price, or worse, regardless of what each one say their MSRP is supposed to be

If the other AIBs could really sell their cards at MSRP soon, and with plenty of stock, then Asus would be stupid and out of business... their cards are attractive, but in a normal market nobody would pay $130 extra to get a 3080 Asus (VS a 3080 MSi, for example).
They know what they're doing, because they know other AIBs are having the same issues as them... so they dig go first, making this announcement and take the initial flak. Others will now follow suit.

 

[15th Warlock]

This is insane, their prices are so much higher than MSRP it makes no sense to buy their products anymore.

I've been an Asus costumer for well over a decade now, but they're so out of touch with reality, it's like they no longer care about their costumers.

Take my motherboard for example, the Maximus XII Hero, I got it for a much lower price than MSRP for black Friday, about $180 after MIR, but if you want to get the Extreme version of it, Asus is charging almost triple that price, same mobo, same power delivery, exact same performance, with only a few more accessories packed in, and a nicer heatsink, is that worth $749? No way I would pay that much for a motherboard!

Same with my video card, I paid MSRP for the founder's edition of the 3090, there's absolutely no way the ROG version is worth over $2k, I'm positive out of the box my card is within 5% to 7% the performance of one of their OC cards, no way that's worth about $700 more!

Then again, prices of all electronic components have shot up in the last few years, what with people willing to pay insane prices for cards on ebay, and all the trade wars happening, people think tariffs affect the country they're imposed on, but actually, costumers are the ones paying for those tariffs.

This is a bad start to a new year, and I sincerely don't know if I can continue supporting Asus if they choose to shaft their costumers with this insanely inflated prices.

BTW, one thing this article fails to mention is, they're not only raising the prices of Nvidia video cards, they're also raising the prices of their AMD cards, so everyone is getting shafted, no matter what team you prefer, red, blue or green...

 

[InVasMani]

ASUS has decided MSI's misfortune is also the PC industries misfortune and it will be retroactively jacking up pricing to compensate for the increased demand and profits it'll already be seeing.

 

[ironwolf]

So... How much more $$$ did these items actually go up?

 

[MAXLD]

So... How much more $$$ did these items actually go up?

More than $100 over initial theoretical MSRP. Examples:

ASUS RTX 3070 TUF Gaming OC
- TPU review MSRP mention: $540
- new Asus store price: $649.99


ASUS RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC
- TPU review MSRP mention: $730
- new Asus store price: $859.99

 

[ThrashZone]

This is insane, their prices are so much higher than MSRP it makes no sense to buy their products anymore.

I've been an Asus costumer for well over a decade now, but they're so out of touch with reality, it's like they no longer care about their costumers.

Take my motherboard for example, the Maximus XII Hero, I got it for a much lower price than MSRP for black Friday, about $180 after MIR, but if you want to get the Extreme version of it, Asus is charging almost triple that price, same mobo, same power delivery, exact same performance, with only a few more accessories packed in, and a nicer heatsink, is that worth $749? No way I would pay that much for a motherboard!

Same with my video card, I paid MSRP for the founder's edition of the 3090, there's absolutely no way the ROG version is worth over $2k, I'm positive out of the box my card is within 5% to 7% the performance of one of their OC cards, no way that's worth about $700 more!

Then again, prices of all electronic components have shot up in the last few years, what with people willing to pay insane prices for cards on ebay, and all the trade wars happening, people think tariffs affect the country they're imposed on, but actually, costumers are the ones paying for those tariffs.

This is a bad start to a new year, and I sincerely don't know if I can continue supporting Asus if they choose to shaft their costumers with this insanely inflated prices.

BTW, one thing this article fails to mention is, they're not only raising the prices of Nvidia video cards, they're also raising the prices of their AMD cards, so everyone is getting shafted, no matter what team you prefer, red, blue or green...

Hi,
That's how tariffs work
If you prefer another name they could call it elite tax guess we should get used to that one in the USA

 

[Kovoet]

Bad enough you can't get some of the product as in the gtx cards. It's getting out of hand with these guys

 

[Deleted member 177333]

hah ya, increasing prices is not a good recipe for increased customers, but hey, do what they want I guess. I've basically turned almost completely to the 2nd and 3rd hand market for my upgrades these days.

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

Oh yeah 2016 level performance is really superior.

Oh please just stop, a good GPU alone cost a much as a PS5 maybe even higher, for 400$ the PS5 digital edition has RTX 2080 performance and that card is still over MSRP after all this time not to forget you get a fast 5Gbs NVMe storage, its not about superiority its about the value, if PC market continues to go this route of 1000$ minimum for a decent mid range gaming experience than am sorry but PC gaming is starting to become a shit show of corporate greed.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I know this article only mentions GPUs, but I wanted to say that I can confirm the motherboard price hikes as well. Case in point, I browse Newegg a lot, and all last week, the price of the Crosshair VIII Hero was $360 for the non-wifi version, and $380 for the wi-fi version. Fast forward to yesterday, when while browsing I noticed prices on the Hero had increased -- non wifi 8 Hero was now $380, the wi-fi version $400 and the Dark Hero at $420, up from $400.

Turns out my gut instinct was, unfortunately, correct. Chances are the hikes will apply to the Strix and TUF boards too, maybe even the Prime series.

All I can say is, fuck off with that shit, Asus.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I know this article only mentions GPUs, but I wanted to say that I can confirm the motherboard price hikes as well. Case in point, I browse Newegg a lot, and all last week, the price of the Crosshair VIII Hero was $360 for the non-wifi version, and $380 for the wi-fi version. Fast forward to yesterday, when while browsing I noticed prices on the Hero had increased -- non wifi 8 Hero was now $380, the wi-fi version $400 and the Dark Hero at $420, up from $400.

Turns out my gut instinct was, unfortunately, correct. Chances are the hikes will apply to the Strix and TUF boards too, maybe even the Prime series.

All I can say is, fuck off with that shit, Asus.

You should see the hike on the reseller prices. I had to double-take that nonsense. Predatory pricing is what's going on here, nothing more..

They know what they're doing, because they know other AIBs are having the same issues as them... so they dig go first, making this announcement and take the initial flak. Others will now follow suit.

Not if they want to keep selling cards. There's a point where people will stop buying and just hold on to what they have and save their money for when prices come down. We were at that point before this price hike. If other AIBs follow suit, they going to discover the hard way why gouging the public is a very bad idea.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

You should see the hike on the reseller prices. I had to double-take that nonsense. Predatory pricing is what's going on here, nothing more..

Totally agree with you, Lex. Look at ebay; seems like all the Dark Hero boards in existence ended up there, for jacked up prices, the majority of which are between $500 and $600. What's funny, and perhaps even a bit sad, is it's not like the Dark Hero is a limited edition board like ASRock's ridiculous Aqua (only 999 of them are being made, I think?) the DH is a "mainstream" enthusiast board.

 

[Hyderz]

no need to tell me that
Asus tuf and rog cards already priced higher than stock gpu due to beefier cooler.
But i think asus shouldnt charge so much since their build quality has taken a dive.

 

[MAXLD]

Not if they want to keep selling cards. There's a point where people will stop buying and just hold on to what they have and save their money for when prices come down. We were at that point before this price hike. If other AIBs follow suit, they going to discover the hard way why gouging the public is a very bad idea.

The cards are being listed at those prices already, and every card that reaches the market is being sold. It doesn't matter that much what the theoretical MSRP is, if the market price is still above that. Asus could say the MSRP is $660, MSi could say theirs is "just" $560 MRSP, but if both are currently being listed at $700 or more at limited quantities (and people buy them all anyway)... what's really the point of the MSRP?

Not to mention that the difficulties / higher costs ASUS listed as reasons for the higher MSRP are common to all AIBs right now. They've all even bickering lately with nVidia about the MSRPs of the cards, saying it's not enough for their margins.
Until the market is literally flooded with cards that can cover both enthusiast high demand, and mining, prices won't improve. And that's not very likely to happen soon. Asus wouldn't officially raise so much their MSRP prices if the stocks and prices would improve so much at short term, specially when then they would be selling cards $100+ above the competition. Current prices will continue to be driven by scarcity, and none will sell cards at MSRP. Will all buyers stop buying them altogether? I don't think they will... there might be a bit of slow down of demand, but the amount of cards arriving is so low that they'll still be sold. There probably won't be much inventory stacking on the shelves due lacking of buyers. The only ones that might do that are the top 3090's that go above $2000....

 

[Gmr_Chick]

no need to tell me that
Asus tuf and rog cards already priced higher than stock gpu due to beefier cooler.
But i think asus shouldnt charge so much since their build quality has taken a dive

I'm calling BS on that. Gigabyte and MSI both make cards that have beefier coolers than stock, yet it's Asus that consistently over-inflates the prices on their GPUs and motherboards.

 

[xenocide]

Turns out my gut instinct was, unfortunately, correct. Chances are the hikes will apply to the Strix and TUF boards too, maybe even the Prime series.

ASUS confirmed it would impact their Mobo's elsewhere. Not sure TPU got that part of the statement, but I've seen it from multiple other sources. Basically anything with a PCB that is assembled abroad will see a price hike--GPU's, Mobo's, Sound Cards, etc.

Also not just ASUS. Per a reseller I follow, they've gotten confirmation from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ZOTAC, eVGA, and PNY that they will all see price increases.

I know who's cards I'm NOT buying. Note to NVidia AIB's, this is NOT how to earn business...

It's going to impact AMD as well. They just haven't announced it yet.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Also not just ASUS. Per a reseller I follow, they've gotten confirmation from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ZOTAC, eVGA, and PNY that they will all see price increases.

While I'm not saying it's not possible, I spoke with my resellers yesterday and they did not indicate price hikes across the board were incoming. In fact they were all to happy to cancel my orders for Asus products and substitute them with other items. So not yet anyway.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

If other makers are following suit, I better hurry up and buy my ASRock mobo...

 

[xenocide]

While I'm not saying it's not possible, I spoke with my resellers yesterday and they did not indicate price hikes across the board were incoming. In fact they were all to happy to cancel my orders for Asus products and substitute them with other items. So not yet anyway.

Might depend on the size of the seller. The place I'm talking about specializes in small batches of GPU's / CPU's for gamers to try and help them get them over bots. They generally order 10-30 cards at a time. Not a huge shop, but they have dealt with all those companies and reached out to their reps and got effectively the same response from everyone.