Nvidia to sell their own branded Geforce cards

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nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
9,031
36
91

Yeah, this is really no surprise. Like I said before, NV is going to have a hard time competing with the level of service that EVGA provides. However, I'm wondering if NV may actually be working with BB to have their GeekSquad division handle support for these cards. If BB/NV offer on site and 24/7 phone support for these cards NV might actually be able to compete with EVGA.

I know that Kyle mentioned that the phone number directed him to an outsourced call center in India, but he also indicated that NV clearly wasn't ready to talk about their retail cards yet. It's possible that they are still working out support details. Surely NV has to know that EVGA has the loyal customer base it does because they offer the best service/support in the business bar none. Dumb move on NV's part if they aren't taking service/support seriously...
 

exar333

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2004
8,518
8
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Support matters a great deal these days. Is there a really much of a difference from a mostly-reference card offered from one company to another? In most cases no. The service, and reputation of the company offering the card, is VERY important to me.
 

n0x1ous

Platinum Member
Sep 9, 2010
2,572
248
106
I hope Anand/Ryan are getting the real scoop on this. Im surprised we havent seen anything from Anandtech yet on this. The hardocp was an opinion piece more than anything. Really want to know the full truth on this..... a good Anand behind the scenes scoop would really hit the spot
 

formulav8

Diamond Member
Sep 18, 2000
7,004
522
126
I know personally this will have no effect on me. I RARELY go to Best Buy for any tech items. Only certain things like monitors/tv's because I will not agree to neweggs stupid 8 bad pixel policy or any policy that says it can only be returned if it has x amount of bad pixels. If it has 1 pixel that is at all noticable, its going back. So I buy local for those reasons. I've bought one video card at best buy and that was a few years ago when I bought the $100 VisionTech 3870 OC video card on clearance.

I definitely hope geekquad won't be nvidia's support unit. I have little respect for Best Buys Geek Squad division. Prices are aweful, and well... :)


Jason
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
31,413
9,305
136
I hope Anand/Ryan are getting the real scoop on this. Im surprised we havent seen anything from Anandtech yet on this. The hardocp was an opinion piece more than anything. Really want to know the full truth on this..... a good Anand behind the scenes scoop would really hit the spot

I think Nvidia were going to announce it on the 10th so maybe we'll hear more then.
 

Dark Shroud

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2010
1,576
1
0
It's not even the prices that annoy me for Geek Squad it's the blatent lying and not actually fixing the problem(s).
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,548
10,171
126
Depends... You can get lucky sometimes.

They were running a pretty good sale on Visiontek cards the week that AMD launched the 4-series early, so a brand new Visiontek HD 4850 ended going for $149.99 (MSRP was $199.99).

Best Buy attempted to get into the DIY market by selling a full tower Lian Li built case re-branded as a Rocketfish that didn't end up selling all that great to the average Best Buy customer. So, they sold off the remaining stock for dirt cheap. I had to drive about 65 miles out of the way, but I picked one up for $47. It's top notch Lian Li quality and would be a good deal at $85-100, but it's a total steal for $47. The Lian Li casters and optical drive bezels I added to it cost me more than the case itself.

True, true. I picked up two of the VisionTek HD4850s when they initially went on sale, and then another two a month later when they repeated the sale. The sad thing is, they sat in their boxes for over a year.

I picked up a couple of those Lian-Li cases too.
 

v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
2,720
0
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Apparently the latest rumor is executives at Best Buy wish to draw PC gamers and enthusiasts back into shopping retail. Establishing NV as the "PC gaming" brand, to complement the "console gaming" brands of Microsoft and Sony.

If so, I think they're kinda missing the point. It's not lack of branding that got gamers out of habitual shopping at Best Buy & co, it was the lack of PC gaming product and horrific hardware pricing they've had over the past 3-4 years. Now that people have tried online buying out of necessity how likely are they to return to a 50+% retail markup + tax as the cost of convenience?
 

Dark Shroud

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2010
1,576
1
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Well at least Best Buy is finally stocking PC Power cords.

As much as I loathed the original CompUSA before Tiger Direct bought them out they had a nice hardware section. If you needed cables, screws, fans, or some adapter they had it. They raped you at check out but at least you had a place to go during an emergency when you couldn't wait days for online orders.
 

Destiny

Platinum Member
Jul 6, 2010
2,270
1
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I used to be a big Nvidia customer... but this is a deal breaker for me... I'm sure the people at the India Call Center are good people - but in terms of customer service it is terrible... They go by a script when they talk to you (Funny Credit Card Commercials)... Obviously Nvidia's strategy is to increase their bottom line o_O - wether they can execute we will see in the future... when companies start sacrificing service for profits that is when they will start hurting...

Sprint/Nextel
AT&T Wireless
Cisco/Linksys

Are some of the examples that uses tech support in India Call Centers... and I have bad experience with all of them... and Sprint Customer Service was rated worst in of USA Companies two years in a row until they started re-routing some of their calls back to US Based support.
 
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golem

Senior member
Oct 6, 2000
838
3
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I used to be a big Nvidia customer... but this is a deal breaker for me... I'm sure the people at the India Call Center are good people - but in terms of customer service it is terrible... They go by a script when they talk to you (Funny Credit Card Commercials)... Obviously Nvidia's strategy is to increase their bottom line o_O - wether they can execute we will see in the future... when companies start sacrificing service for profits that is when they will start hurting...

Sprint/Nextel
AT&T Wireless
Cisco/Linksys

Are some of the examples that uses tech support in India Call Centers... and I have bad experience with all of them... and Sprint Customer Service was rated worst in of USA Companies two years in a row until they started re-routing some of their calls back to US Based support.

How could you have been a big Nvidia customer if this is the first time they sold self branded video cards. Unless you meant you bought cards from Nvidia's board partners, in which case what does it matter to you if Nvidia's call center for their self branded cards is in India? Your board maker of choice's call center isn't affected by Nvidia's call center.
 

Destiny

Platinum Member
Jul 6, 2010
2,270
1
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How could you have been a big Nvidia customer if this is the first time they sold self branded video cards. Unless you meant you bought cards from Nvidia's board partners, in which case what does it matter to you if Nvidia's call center for their self branded cards is in India? Your board maker of choice's call center isn't affected by Nvidia's call center.

I stand corrected... I used to buy EVGA Nvidia Cards for my builds...

I used to work as a store manager for the consumer electronics industry for 10 years and sometimes I got so frustrated when I help my customers resolve issues by calling the customer service dept for them - dealing with customer call centers based in other countries was a pain...o_O ... the customer service got so bad for some of the consumer electronics products because customer service centers are going over seas that I quit the industry all together and moved to a different career...:'(
 

Dark Shroud

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2010
1,576
1
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Outsourceing to India has slowed down a bit at least for help support because i causes companies their ratings. Those people have no idea how to actually help you and people remember that when they have to deal with that.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
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On the surface this may not be a big deal - it may in fact not be a big deal at all if it's strictly limited to just the gts450 and only at Best Buy stores. But if Nvidia were to expand on this and sell an entire lineup of Geforce cards across several different retailers, they would be entering into direct competition with their own AIB partners. And they'll have an unfair advantage by skipping the third party manufacturer.

nVidia branded cards are manufactured by foxconn... but yes, they are screwing the heck out of their AIB partners

I used to be a big Nvidia customer... but this is a deal breaker for me... I'm sure the people at the India Call Center are good people - but in terms of customer service it is terrible... They go by a script when they talk to you (Funny Credit Card Commercials)... Obviously Nvidia's strategy is to increase their bottom line o_O - wether they can execute we will see in the future... when companies start sacrificing service for profits that is when they will start hurting...

the best customer support I ever got was from india call centers. They have a funny accent but they are no less competent then their american counterparts. In fact I found them to be more competent. A competent computer expert will work in india for much less than they would here in the USA (where a minimum wage workers who is computer illiterate is reading from a script)
 
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Destiny

Platinum Member
Jul 6, 2010
2,270
1
0
$300 for a GTX460!? o_O

Is it stock OC'ed to 1.4GHz and equipped with 3GB ram?

Thank-god I just got back into tech forums after being MIA for 6 years... otherwise I'd be walking into a Best Buy this weekend to buy one of those...:eek: ... you could SLI GTX 460 768MB for that price...:p
 

nathanco

Junior Member
Oct 8, 2010
4
0
0
I would totally get NVIDIA branded if it were cheaper than a partner brand, usually I buy point of view, and other cheaper brands, never had a problem with'em! :)
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
59
91
nVidia branded cards are manufactured by foxconn... but yes, they are screwing the heck out of their AIB partners

At the prices being listed here I don't see how this poses any thread to an AIB partner unless that partner was seeking to list their product at equally absurd retail pricing.

If anything I'd argue it gives AIB customers the opportunity to feel that they are "saving money" by going with the equivalent performing but lower-priced AIB product sitting next to the Nvidia one on the shelf.

In stocks we'd refer to this as a "value trap", I'm sure there is a comparable vernacular employed to describe its equivalence in marketing where one creates the perception of a good value and good pricing by merely positioning it against a ridiculously over-priced equivalent product.

Generic pharmaceuticals comes to mind. Why do we have the impression that generics represent "good value", its not because we have assessed the value of the drug but because we are told it is inexpensive compared to buying the brand label equivalent. Value trap.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
31,413
9,305
136
I would totally get NVIDIA branded if it were cheaper than a partner brand, usually I buy point of view, and other cheaper brands, never had a problem with'em! :)

I'd have nothing against buying an Nvidia branded card but I'd rather stick to an EVGA one given the choice.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
In stocks we'd refer to this as a "value trap", I'm sure there is a comparable vernacular employed to describe its equivalence in marketing where one creates the perception of a good value and good pricing by merely positioning it against a ridiculously over-priced equivalent product.

That is a very interesting position... if nvidia makes sure to price those right (wrong?) they could work out very well as value traps. In which case nvidia would be helping its AIB partners.
 

Destiny

Platinum Member
Jul 6, 2010
2,270
1
0
At the prices being listed here I don't see how this poses any thread to an AIB partner unless that partner was seeking to list their product at equally absurd retail pricing.

If anything I'd argue it gives AIB customers the opportunity to feel that they are "saving money" by going with the equivalent performing but lower-priced AIB product sitting next to the Nvidia one on the shelf.

In stocks we'd refer to this as a "value trap", I'm sure there is a comparable vernacular employed to describe its equivalence in marketing where one creates the perception of a good value and good pricing by merely positioning it against a ridiculously over-priced equivalent product.

Generic pharmaceuticals comes to mind. Why do we have the impression that generics represent "good value", its not because we have assessed the value of the drug but because we are told it is inexpensive compared to buying the brand label equivalent. Value trap.

Great Comment... I was thinking that too!

Maybe they trying to employ an Apple pricing strategy? Or it could help increase sales of their AIB partners when customers actually see they provide just the same product if not better for a lower price? Only the future will tell.

Apple is a master at this! If only I can live in Steve Job's head for a day!
:cool:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38980367/ns/business-bloomberg_businessweek/
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
59
91
Welcome to the forums krumme! :thumbsup:

So you think NV did this to make the other models look cheap?
And you expect the partners to think this is good for the long term relationsship, and now they are safe?
Is this a win or lose strategy?
http://trustrelations.dk/win-or-lose-strategy/

If your post is intended to be a response to mine above then I will say I have no ability to fathom Nvidia's rationale and motivation for this maneuver.

These kinds of decisions occur and operate at a macrocosm level compared to my piddly little microcosm perspective.

I can argue pro's and con's based on logic, but that logic operates in a vacuum with respect to the initial conditions and boundary conditions confining Nvidia's decision makers...in addition to the fact any logic I'd employ would be sans the benefit of data and information Nvidia's decision makers have at their disposal.

In other words my best isn't even good enough to be considered "second-guessing" Nvidia's decision makers. Second-guessing implies I have the same information they have but I would make a different decision with that data...I'm not lucky enough to be in that position.

This is more like third-guessing or fourth-guessing.