This is actually not true. Nvidia GPUs are still far outselling their AMD counterparts, it could be due to supply constraints or whatever but at the biggest US etailer, nvidia has dominant sales figures over AMD as seen here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers...22/ref=sr_bs_1
This list is dynamically updated on the hour for top 100 rankings. As you can see nvidia is actually mopping up the sales, at least in the states, with both the GTX 780 and GTX 780ti taking up several top 40 spots.
I don't think you read my post carefully at all. I made no reference whatsoever about the sales figures of AMD's GPUs in reference to NV GPUs. My post is not even concerned at all about NV vs. AMD GPU sales. I really could care less if AMD had 5% market share and NV had 95%. The fact of the matter is, NV has the following:
1) Constant history of rip-off pricing dating way back to 6800 UE. That rip-off pricing is kept in check by only 1 firm in the world - ATI/AMD. Notice a trend how 1 firm almost constantly tries to raise prices and keep them high as long as possible, while the other tries to release GPUs with unlocked voltage/shaders, dual BIOSes and sets new price/performance levels keeping the market in check?
2) Asking $200-300 more for a mere 15-18% performance increase on the high-end (say 580 vs. 6950 unlocked) but by the time new games come out, all of that gen's single GPU cards are too slow, which means it's always better to buy a card slightly slower and hundreds of dollars cheaper but upgrade more frequently from a bang for the buck point of view (NV fails hard at this because they have a tendency to memory bandwidth/VRAM neuter their 2nd and 3rd tier cards unlike AMD -- see 7950 OC vs. 7970 or R9 290 OC vs. 290X OC). With cards like GTX480 selling for $100 and HD7870 for $150 trading blows with a previous $499 GTX580, buying the fastest NV cards in the last 4 years was akin to flushing money into the toilet.
3) Completely non-competitive in the bitcoin mining scene which lasted 4 years! In that time, AMD's GPUs made so much money from mining, they paid for years/decades of free GPU upgrades. NV users lost out on all of this. Now, when Maxwell comes out at $649, guess what, you are paying that. I pay $0 to buy that since it just goes from my scrypt mining account. So your entire point about NV vs. AMD global GPU sales is irrelevant. If 99.9% of people bought NV in the last 4 years, I was part of the 0.1% that didn't and my reward is a lifetime of free NV GPU upgrades if I so desire. How is that for an argument for pro-AMD GPUs in the last 4-5 years?
I think this is because miners are taking away all of the supply from the actual intended demographic - PC gamers. And PC gamers aren't going to buy AMD at inflated prices.
This is 100% hypothesis on your part. Let's say there are a total of 100 GPUs that are meant to be sold. Your theory is that majority of those (say 80%) of those are sold to miners and PC gamers get say 20%. What if AMD initially projected to sell 100 GPUs, but due to mining, they can now sell 400 GPUs of which 80% go to miners and 20% go to PC gamers? You do not have any evidence at all to conclude that AMD is not selling a record number of GPUs in its Q4 history. You keep assuming that AMD's total supply of X GPUs made is constant over the years in a particularly quarter. However, what if the supply of GPUs AMD this past quarter has increased 50%, 100%, 150% from the past since demand is much greater? Then your entire theory is undermined.
Did you blame NV for selling Titan at $1000 for its DP performance? I don't remember you making the argument that NV's Titan pricing is hurting PC gamers since NV is capitalizing on DP performance. Yet, now when the demand for AMD's GPUs is much higher due to scrypt mining, it's somehow hurting AMD?
ice as nvidia can, because AMD has had and still has significant software issues and problems that nvidia has not had in years.
Makes no difference to the argument at hand. As a PC gamer, I am not arguing software, drivers, etc. It costs me $0 to acquire GTX780 level of performance or $500 dollars. That's a no contest.
I personally wouldn't hesitate to get an aftermarket 290 at around 420-430$. At 499$ though? It becomes a more difficult proposition.
That's exactly my point. You keep viewing PC gaming and mining as 2 separate events. You created this artificial constraint in your mind. As a result, you continued to spend hundreds of dollars on GPU upgrades in the last 4+ years while on the AMD route, that upgrade cost has been $0. Therefore, if R9 290 is $399, $499 or $599, it makes no difference for those of us who mined. It costs us $0 anyway.
And for future customers, even if it costs $399 or $499, it makes no material difference if they set up scrypt mining. You don't want to mine, that's your entire point. Whose loss is that? Only yours to bear. In any event, your card cost you $650+ and even now an R9 290 at $499 is a better deal than 780 was. Therefore, you still do not have a point since in the GPU market, prices adjust over time.
I wanted to get a Tri-X 290 card for a secondary rig and I still may do that if the price is right. But not at 499$. I can get a GTX 780 with significantly better and more polished software for that price.
Even if you bought an R9 290/780 at $499 instead of $399, 12 months later there will be a GPU at $399 that will smash those. With scrypt mining, it doesn't matter since your cost to acquire the new card is practically $0 as it pays for itself. That's what you keep missing. You just don't want a free GPU. A 780 at $499 is still a terrible deal since the alternative is $0. It doesn't matter how good NV's software is. Don't you see the point that scrypt mining removes the cost of upgrading to next generation GPUs? You somehow keep arguing NV vs. AMD's value proposition but ignore this simple point as you have for the last 4 years. Once scrypt mining is finished, I get 2-3 decades of free NV GPUs if I wanted to spend my money this way; but every day you keep complaining, you earn $0 towards a Maxwell, Volta, etc. GPU upgrade.
I feel that AMD needs cheaper prices to be viable. Until their software becomes significantly better with more useful features AMD cannot charge those types of prices to actual games. They can only charge those prices to hashrate miner freaks. Nvidia adds features with every other WHQL or every 3rd WHQL. Like I said, AMD never adds features. Not since 2010 at least.
The funny part is the pricing of R9 290 has nothing to do with AMD. AMD never told Newegg, Amazon and so on to raise prices. MSRP is still unchanged. You aren't blaming the retailers though. ^_^
All other points you make again go back to you being close-minded. NV's software in no way justifies paying $500-1000 on their GPUs when the alternative is free. My cost to upgrade my GPUs since 2009 has been $0, and will be so for 30 more years from my 7970s alone, yours? You could argue until you are blue in the face about WHQL drivers, 3D vision, PhysX and all kinds of other features but you'll never win this argument. Buying AMD for the last 4 years was like writing a cheque for thousands of dollars falling from the sky for decades of free GPU upgrades. If you chose to ignore this perk, it's entirely on you. When scrypt mining dies, I'll get all of those "awesome" NV features for no cost at all --- thanks to AMD's GPUs you never utilized to their ability.
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