NVIDIA & AMD in hot water for potential price fixing

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her34

Senior member
Dec 4, 2004
581
1
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http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/10/disg...inds-crafty-path-to-lawsuit-settlemen/

Hoo boy, this could be a nasty one. You know how NVIDIA and AMD got slapped with those federal subpoenas a week ago? At the time, no one was sure what the DoJ was getting at, but apparently it wasn't just to look at the pretty graphics these firms churn out. Turns out NVIDIA, AMD and ATI have been accused of some antitrust shenanigans, with the DoJ alleging the firms "have engaged in a contract combination, trust or conspiracy, the effect of which was to raise the prices at which they sold graphics processing units and cards to artificially inflated levels." We're not so sure that the main argument -- that graphics card prices are almost always the same, reaching around $500 in the high end -- will hold a lot of water, given the specs pumping nature of the graphics card biz, but allegations of secret meetings between graphics card execs to discuss pricing could be a bit more damning. The DoJ is requesting documents as far back as 1990, so this could get messy. Intel has managed to steer clear of this whole cartel fiasco, thanks to its lack of a discrete graphics biz, but we're sure they're totally jealous right now -- perhaps they'll buy NVIDIA just to join in on the fun.
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Pugnate

Senior member
Jun 25, 2006
690
0
0
Here we go again. This case is bullshit and will be laughed out of court... otherwise forget any innovation in the video card department.
 
Soccerman06

Soccerman06

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2004
5,830
5
81
If people pay the prices, then why lower the price. Make as much money as possible, simple economics.
 
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Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
Originally posted by: Soccerman06
If people pay the prices, then why lower the price. Make as much money as possible, simple economics.
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You could say "because people have to", but with the prices dropping in the low-high end quite rapidly, that's a lie.
If you "must" have a bleeding edge card, you pay assloads of money for it.
If you want 6 months~1yr then those high end cards are a hefty chunk cheaper.
15 months after I bought my 7800GT, I can get a better performing card for half the price.
If that's price fixing, then I want price fixing in every industry.
 
Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
I would rather see these guys pick the CPU sector, or better the LCD sector with those over priced panels..
 
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A554SS1N

Senior member
May 17, 2005
804
0
0
To be perfectly honest, graphics cards have never been better at decent prices IMO due to the current competition - if this has been done artificially, then congrats to them all, as it's great. Only the high end cards have got alot more pricey, but only rich people go for them anyway, so I don't care about that area - in the mainstrea, and budget ranges, things are great though, so I wish these federal guys would back off. What do they hope to do? Slap a fine on them, causing them to increase prices? Probably nothing more than an attempt to get more revenue for government projects tbh.
 
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BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,365
16
0
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
I would rather see these guys pick the CPU sector, or better the LCD sector with those over priced panels..
Click to expand...

You're joking right? Intel's Core 2 Duo caused AMD to half their prices. Certainly doesn't look like there's any collusion going on there. Most called it a price war.

LCD panels have continued to get get cheaper.

Memory prices are the one thing that's looked suspicious recently, and they've been caught price fixing before.
 
Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
I would rather see these guys pick the CPU sector, or better the LCD sector with those over priced panels..
Click to expand...

You're joking right? Intel's Core 2 Duo caused AMD to half their prices. Certainly doesn't look like there's any collusion going on there. Most called it a price war.

LCD panels have continued to get get cheaper.

Memory prices are the one thing that's looked suspicious recently, and they've been caught price fixing before.
Click to expand...

I want core2duo to be more affordable with a cheap 40inch LCD in front of me :D
 
C

coldpower27

Golden Member
Jul 18, 2004
1,676
0
76
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
I would rather see these guys pick the CPU sector, or better the LCD sector with those over priced panels..
Click to expand...

You're joking right? Intel's Core 2 Duo caused AMD to half their prices. Certainly doesn't look like there's any collusion going on there. Most called it a price war.

LCD panels have continued to get get cheaper.

Memory prices are the one thing that's looked suspicious recently, and they've been caught price fixing before.
Click to expand...

I want core2duo to be more affordable with a cheap 40inch LCD in front of me :D
Click to expand...

Ha, the companies have to make a profit too, Core 2 Duo is also the best right now so Intel can charge whatever it wishes, it's already cheap for it's performance considering it caused AMD to slice most of it's Dual Core's by 1/2 in price to compete.

LCD panels only get expensive once you get into the extreme sizes. 22inch is a good sweet spot with 23+ being quite expensive.
 
Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster

Diamond Member
May 7, 2005
5,161
32
86
I was only kidding. ;)

I find DOJ humorous at best because im guessing theres something else motivating them.
 
R

Rage187

Lifer
Dec 30, 2000
14,276
4
81
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
I would rather see these guys pick the CPU sector, or better the LCD sector with those over priced panels..
Click to expand...

huh? LCD's drop a 1/2 in price every year if not more.
 
M

Matt2

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2001
4,762
0
0
Originally posted by: coldpower27
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
I would rather see these guys pick the CPU sector, or better the LCD sector with those over priced panels..
Click to expand...

You're joking right? Intel's Core 2 Duo caused AMD to half their prices. Certainly doesn't look like there's any collusion going on there. Most called it a price war.

LCD panels have continued to get get cheaper.

Memory prices are the one thing that's looked suspicious recently, and they've been caught price fixing before.
Click to expand...

I want core2duo to be more affordable with a cheap 40inch LCD in front of me :D
Click to expand...

Ha, the companies have to make a profit too, Core 2 Duo is also the best right now so Intel can charge whatever it wishes, it's already cheap for it's performance considering it caused AMD to slice most of it's Dual Core's by 1/2 in price to compete.

LCD panels only get expensive once you get into the extreme sizes. 22inch is a good sweet spot with 23+ being quite expensive.
Click to expand...

22" is NOT a sweet spot. TN panels are not worth anyone's money. Better to pay a little more and get a good quality 20.1 or 21" panel.
 
A

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
I would rather see these guys pick the CPU sector, or better the LCD sector with those over priced panels..
Click to expand...

You're joking right? Intel's Core 2 Duo caused AMD to half their prices. Certainly doesn't look like there's any collusion going on there. Most called it a price war.

LCD panels have continued to get get cheaper.

Memory prices are the one thing that's looked suspicious recently, and they've been caught price fixing before.
Click to expand...

Not just caught, all 7 of the big ones were convicted and fined hundreds of millions.
 
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imported_RedStar

Senior member
Mar 6, 2005
526
0
0
"Not just caught, all 7 of the big ones were convicted and fined hundreds of millions"

indeed. Yet, i have received no check. who gets the money?

And do we end up paying double when the same companies charge more for the current ram to recoup the fines?? heh, more a rhetorical question really ;)
 
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Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
0
0
Originally posted by: Soccerman06
If people pay the prices, then why lower the price. Make as much money as possible, simple economics.
Click to expand...

If NVIDIA and ATI both independently decide to do this, it's called "implicit collusion". Neither company would want to dramatically lower prices, since it would end up making less money for both overall (even if it might change the balance of market share). This is legal, but there's a fine line between not wanting to get into heated price wars and screwing the consumer.

If NVIDIA and ATI actually sat down and said (for instance) "Look, instead of producing low-end cards for $25 apiece, we're gonna make sure our cheapest cards are always $75 so we both have good margins", that's explicit collusion and violates all sorts of antitrust laws.

That said... the technology in the GPU market moves very fast, and the competition between the companies at least seems pretty cutthroat. But any time you have a market with only two real players, it's going to be something that draws attention.
 
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