Kyle from HardOCP on the Future of the Graphics Card Industry and Hardware Reviewers

[W1zzard]

Kyle Bennett, head of HardOCP, and part of this Industry for several decades has posted an interesting editorial yesterday. While I don't agree with everything, he's making great points that are worth considering. The editorial begins with how and why GPU vendors will abolish the MSRP, because it's bringing nothing but bad press to them. No MSRP would also mean additional flexibility in pricing things—just set the price dynamically—no doubt that also helps to maximize profits.

I am sure both AMD and NVIDIA have marketing managers sitting around watching reviewer after reviewer slamming its company for "fake MSRP" and are now thinking about a solution to that.

In the second part of the editorial Kyle continues that hardware reviewers will soon be obsolete and that influencers and YouTube entertainers will become the primary source of exposure for hardware companies.

Did you ever care what chip was used inside your VCR?

Obviously check out the editorial only if you're interested in reading things and considering things as opposed to influencers making up your mind, and telling you what to buy and what not, with a splash of drama and edutainment on top.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Slizzo]

So I suppose I shouldn't be watching and supporting LTT, HU, GN, J2C, you guys etc... then, eh?

 

[bug]

hardware reviewers will soon be obsolete and that influencers and YouTube entertainers will become the primary source of exposure for hardware companies

I can see that happening, just the other day there was this news piece about people that have lost their money after investing in crypto through companies highly recommended by influencers. It seems betting on stupid is THE surefire way to make money.

 

[Space Lynx]

I'm really not sure I understand at all here, because yeah third party manufactures raise prices, but you can still buy MSRP $649 6800 xt every Thursday during restock on AMD.com - I plan to try again tomorrow. they won't be sold out forever. and never know when you might get lucky.

long live AMD and reason!

 

[chodaboy19]

Doesn't he work at intel?

 

[TheLostSwede]

I can see that happening, just the other day there was this news piece about people that have lost their money after investing in crypto through companies highly recommended by influencers. It seems betting on stupid is THE surefire way to make money.

I know so many people that are saying that crypto is the future and you should invest now.
Saw som post on Twitter the other day by someone saying something along the lines of, what if all the world's billionaires want a bitcoin each, there aren't enough to go around, so better get yours now...

On topic, I think the people that care about reviews will continue to do so, as it's not like there's a lack of sources for reviews of just about anything you want to buy these days, not just "influencers" spouting company propaganda.

Doesn't he work at intel?

No, that didn't last long.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I absolutely hate watching videos - I hate listening to people talk. I'd much rather read what's on a screen. I hope things don't forever transition to whiny, snot nosed pukes that love listening to their own voice.....

Ick....just f'ing gross.

 

[bug]

I know so many people that are saying that crypto is the future and you should invest now.
Saw som post on Twitter the other day by someone saying something along the lines of, what if all the world's billionaires want a bitcoin each, there aren't enough to go around, so better get yours now...

Oh, I'm not talking about people duped into buying stuff that crashed. I'm talking about companies that took the many and vanished.

On topic, I think the people that care about reviews will continue to do so, as it's not like there's a lack of sources for reviews of just about anything you want to buy these days, not just "influencers" spouting company propaganda.

Yes, I hope the web will continue to help us get to the quality media, as scarce as it may become.

No, that didn't last long.

Unfortunately, the shuttering of HardOCP did

 

[Tomorrow]

If this comes to pass then im betting bigger reviewers that can buy their own cards or get samples from AIB's will continue to exist. As will their audience. But upcoming and small reviewers will be in a tough spot. They do not have resources to go an buy every sample themselves. In-depth reviews will still be a thing.

And regardless what the big RGB (R-AMD, G-Nvidia, B-Intel) will do with pre-launch samples, AIB's will continue to send out review samples to bigger reviewers. It's just that we may not get that many Day-1 reviews anymore. Wich is fine by me. I like to take my time to do my research and even in perfect market conditions (before the pandemic, shortages etc) new products are harder to get and are priced higher 2-4 weeks after launch. Especially GPU's.

 

[defaultluser]

So Kyle's "Magic Wishing Ball" suddenly matters after three years of silence? For all we know, Etherium 2.0 could kill the rest of the smaller coins for the next several years (NEVER BEFORE HAS A COIN THIS ESTABLISHED MADE THE TRANSITION, SO PEOPLE MAY GO OVERBOARD SELLING CARDS FOR MORE STAKE)

THE ONLY REASON WHY WE HAD 2 YEARS SUSTAINED MARKUP WAS because both crypto and Covid hit us at exactly the same time; once yearly multi-strain Covid shots become a thing, most businesses will be able to ease restrictions on part-flow (and eventually MSRPs will fall back down to 2019 levels)

Kyle seems to be forgetting all the previous economic downturns where certain items escalated (the price of new loans ) or fell drastically (everything else that were secured by those loans)! Eventually, the market recovered.

Once the biggest Proof-o-Work influencer is gone, it will likely be several years before we have another GPU rush. And no, much like the price of loans in 2007, this inflated scarcity is not the new normal!

 

[MrDweezil]

I agree with all of the MSRP stuff, and the move to YouTube isn't what I want but seems to be true. However I don't agree with the paragraph about midway down that contains:

I have used the following analogy for quite a long time, but I think it is even more fitting today than ever. Did you ever care what chip was used inside your VCR? I would suggest 99% of consumers never did. You just wanted to be told which one would serve your needs and to many it was important that it was a familiar or respected brand.

That's true for most things in most markets, but I think the group of people buying their own components for their PC are overwhelmingly not in that camp.

 

[bug]

So Kyle's "Magic Wishing Ball" sudden;ly matters after three years of silence? For all we know, Etherium 2.0 could kill the rest of the smaller coins for the next several years.

THE ONLY REASON WHY WE HAD 2 YEARS SUSTAINED MARKUP WAS because both crypto and Covid hit us at exactly the same time; once yearly multi-strain Covid shots become a thing, most businesses will be able to ease restrictions on part-flow (and eventually MSRPs will fall back down to 2019 levels)

Kyle asseems to be forgetting all the previous economic downturns (where certain items escalated (the price e of new loans ) or fell drastically (everything else that were secure by those loans)!

Ridiculously priced GPUs started with Turing, a full year before COVID. Just sayin'.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I absolutely hate watching videos - I hate listening to people talk. I'd much rather read what's on a screen. I hope things don't forever transition to whiny, snot nosed pukes that love listening to their own voice.....

Ick....just f'ing gross.

Different types of media have different uses.
I prefer a combination of the two, as a video can relay certain things text can't when it comes to product reviews.
Can't say I care much for looking at graphs in a video though.

 

[mechtech]

“Obviously MSRP means literally nothing to consumer pricing now,”

yes it does. It lets everyone know how much they are getting ripped off and how much corruption there is because historically the selling price was typically a bit less than MSRP.


“AMD and NVIDIA listing an MSRP price on GPU video card models for the past two years has done nothing but bring more and more bad press to each company’s doorstep”

it shouldn’t. Bad press should goto etrailers retailers and AIB partners. IMHO

“ Did you ever care what chip was used inside your VCR? “

not really but it’s only function was to play a tape. Much like most people didn’t care what chip was in a DVD burner

a cpu and gpu is like the engine and transmission in a vehicle it has the largest effect on what its performance is. This matters.

Well coffee break over. Have to finish it later.

 

[Chaitanya]

In India there is such a thing as Maximum retail price and its legally enforceable upper limit.

Maximum retail price - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[defaultluser]

Ridiculously priced GPUs started with Turing, a full year before COVID. Just sayin'.

And did we not see an eventual battle between AMD and Nvidia at $150? With the Turing GTX 1650 Super?

The top-end cards that jumped in price is permanent, but they are subsidizing things for the rest of us! that means you can eventually get good value cards (the RTX 3050 should have launched at $200, the exact same price the 128-bit GTX 960 launched at, and the 6500 XT should have replaced the RX 560 at $129!)

 

[looniam]

kyle bennett is a toxic waste pool, fuck him.

there i said it.

 

[bug]

In India there is such a thing as Maximum retail price and its legally enforceable upper limit.

Maximum retail price - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That actually works when you want to create scarcity, not fix it.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I want what Kyle is smoking

Making a distinction between influencers and reviewers is pretty slim as it is. The amount of speculation is a lot, however I can see some of that looks like its based common sense that anyone can see, but it took Kyle to point out the obvious that everyone might be thinking. If GPU makers are reading, what are the chances they never thought of doing away with MSRP and Kyle just gave them the suggesting they take up scalping?

IMHO, Kyles post is FUD and replying to it is just fueling it, making it more than the moehill it should have been left at.

 

[dozenfury]

It's a problem that already seems to be correcting itself. GPU prices and availability have already markedly improved in the last 2 weeks from the bitcoin price drop. You still have to be fairly quick, but it has settled down a bit. Quite a few 3060ti's have come in stock in the $450 range, which is what I paid at launch for one for a secondary PC. Higher end card prices are dropping noticeably too. Throw in a little more relief in bitcoin prices and maybe Intel Arc ever seeing the light of day and I could see some semblance of normalcy finally returning to the market.

The best part is seeing flippers panic when the 3090s they paid $2000 for and listed to resell at $3000, are now getting posted new on Amazon for $1300. The tables turn quickly.

 

[Lycanwolfen]

That was the best read all morning. I miss Kyle and HardOCP. I love reading things hate Youtube.

Everytime I see a review on Youtube or other platform they have to add bells and whistles, Music and junk.

I love to read. Maybe see few pictures which is good. But other wise it's quite good.

I have worked in IT for 25 years now and I'm started to see who is going to replace me when I retire and I'm quite scared really I am. These new Techs and Adminstrators I see today right out of college cannot think for themselfs. They get into a problem and they basicly Google it look at the first thing and try it. Sometimes making things much worse. When I got into Tech there was no google no look ups No youtube. You basicly had to learn ways to fix it yourself. Those are the best because you use your brain for something. You think the basics and they try what you know and then try something new.

Back then was not much VM's around or virtualized machines. We would basicly ghost it to another PC then try all sorts of ways to fix the problem. FInd a solution write it down and remember it and then try it on the actually PC in the first place.

Over the course of IT I even ran my own business and I tell ya some of the people wanting jobs were some of the dumbest certified people I ever saw. I met many book smart people and one I was so amazed and there stupid level it got stuck in my head forever. I hired a MCSE once and 2 days in I asked her to build a PC for a server. When I checked the motherboard when she finished I asked why there was only one screw holding the thing in. She said that what the manual said to do. Lets just say she did not last long.

 

[big_glasses]

“AMD and NVIDIA listing an MSRP price on GPU video card models for the past two years has done nothing but bring more and more bad press to each company’s doorstep”

it shouldn’t. Bad press should goto etrailers retailers and AIB partners. IMHO

Should being a nice word. Doesn't happen though.
I can totally see MSRP disappear from AMD and NVIDIA. As of now, it only gives them bad press and inflexible pricing. Like with the 6500XT, which I believe immediatly had it's price rise from the MSRP in multiple stores... But with AMD still geting the brunt of the bad press (if not almost all)

About how much in-depth/written reviews. Well, the shift over to "eduitanment" is certainly easy to see on YT... Lotta them don't know shit, and at best their only value is the graphs they post.

 

[W1zzard]

By the way, if you're reading this, you'll have to thank Kyle for it. He's been a major source of inspiration for me back in the day, which ultimately lead to me starting TPU

 

[looniam]

Doesn't he work at intel?

no like everything else, he quits.
@W1zzard why do you even post this garbage?

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

By the way, if you're reading this, you'll have to thank Kyle for it. He's been a major source of inspiration for me back in the day, which ultimately lead to me starting TPU

Honestly W1zzard. I come here because you're the least bias in all of you reviews, even way back with Crossfire and SLI days you never ragged on them much, like all these so called "gamer websites" did