Nvidia Branded Video Cards Only Sold in Best Buy
Nvidia's video card plans only go as far as Best Buy stores.
It was a bit of a surprise to learn that Nvidia was selling its own video cards at Best Buy. The boxes were labeled as being designed and made by the creators, but in reality the manufacturing of the reference boards is by Foxconn and the tech support is outsourced to India.
Is Nvidia going up against its vendor partners in the retail space? Yes, but only in Best Buy, and only in the U.S., according to comments made to X-bit labs.
"We have no plans to do that outside Best Buy stores [in the U.S.]. It is a unique marketing initiative with Best Buy," said Bryan Del Rizzo of Nvidia PR.
Even though there are Best Buy stores opening up in the UK, it seems the first-party cards will be only sold on home turf.
The thinking behind this is that the majority of U.S. computer enthusiasts who know what sort of video card they want end up buying from an online source. Those who don't know what they want may just go into Best Buy and pick up a box with a name that they are familiar with.
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A bit of surprise, yes... maybe they're not really making money, even though a GT430 is out...
shooting those loyal to you to get a golden egg is not exactly the best way to go...
For one minute I thought that the title meant that Best Buy would only be selling Nvidia graphics cards. After the issue with the PS3 firmware update charge, this wouldn't have surprised me.
Nice Nvidia should last about three day in that market.
Pointless step.
I would say they are trying to setp on the toes of there bit players
IE xfx and evga. Sad to see BFG out. Nvidia should help them out instesd of a self brandded card.
For a high tech and generally good company, you have some dumb people working with you.
correction they are not trying to step on the toes of the big players
I guess I won't be able to buy nVidia for long? Pity, I enjoyed using them since the GeForce 2 days.
They're still Foxconn cards. I'm not touching them. reliability must be horrible, plus Foxconn relies on slave labor. I avoid anything Foxconn now if I can help it.
I guess I won't be able to buy nVidia for long? Pity, I enjoyed using them since the GeForce 2 days.
Huh?
Now, that explains those prices.........scary ............
compared to newegg
A bit of surprise, yes... maybe they're not really making money, even though a GT430 is out...
Are you kidding me? Have you seen the price tag the Best Buy throws on these cards? Most cards from Best Buy (from what I've seen) have at least a $50 markup on top of what online vendors like Newegg and TigerDirect offer. This is a money making move, but they won't make the money until Best Buy can appeal to more enthusiasts.
I see this as something the GeekSquad will capitalize on for video card installation services.
Are you kidding me? Have you seen the price tag the Best Buy throws on these cards? Most cards from Best Buy (from what I've seen) have at least a $50 markup on top of what online vendors like Newegg and TigerDirect offer. This is a money making move, but they won't make the money until Best Buy can appeal to more enthusiasts.I see this as something the GeekSquad will capitalize on for video card installation services.
Boy, isn't that the truth. Do these "special" NVidia cards come packed with a tube of K-Y Jelly to help ease the pain?
Are you kidding me? Have you seen the price tag the Best Buy throws on these cards? Most cards from Best Buy (from what I've seen) have at least a $50 markup on top of what online vendors like Newegg and TigerDirect offer. This is a money making move, but they won't make the money until Best Buy can appeal to more enthusiasts.I see this as something the GeekSquad will capitalize on for video card installation services.
It says right there in the last paragraph of the article that they are NOT trying to appeal to enthusiast customers. They are trying to sell cards on brand name alone to customers who don't know much about computers, ie. GeekSquad cunsumers.
Kind of like how Apple can sell a cement brick for $500 and call it the iPhone 5 and people will still buy it, Nvidia is banking on customers who don't know much about video cards, but know the name Nvidia.
All I see are overpriced cards made by "Nvidia" *cough Foxconn cough cough* being sold in an overpriced store.
Best Buy is well known for overcharging anything electronics, no surprise there.
This means that Nvidia is getting a cut considering its going to make BestBuy popular % up, everyone trusts Nvidia. Now will Nvidia have a good setup? I hope so!
I honestly don't know anyone that's ever bought a graphics card from Best Buy. If this is in response to BFG going under, well, I sort of get it. But outsourcing the manufacturing to Foxconn? Really? I mean, has Nvidia been reading the news lately? Have they seen the nets on the roofs? Seriously, those factories are straight out of that M. Night Shamylan movie where trees suddenly make everyone suicidal and people start jumping off of buildings.
3DFx again?
I honestly don't know anyone that's ever bought a graphics card from Best Buy. If this is in response to BFG going under, well, I sort of get it. But outsourcing the manufacturing to Foxconn? Really? I mean, has Nvidia been reading the news lately? Have they seen the nets on the roofs? Seriously, those factories are straight out of that M. Night Shamylan movie where trees suddenly make everyone suicidal and people start jumping off of buildings.
Actually, I have bought a couple from Best Buy before. Of course, at the time, (1994) there wasn't much commerce on the Internet and the only way to get them cheaper was mail order places from the back of PC Computing. The last one I bought was a Diamond Stealth II S220 PCI card with a Rendition 2100 chip.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,42-8.html
Pretty much everything since then has been purchased from Newegg.
I honestly don't know anyone that's ever bought a graphics card from Best Buy. If this is in response to BFG going under, well, I sort of get it. But outsourcing the manufacturing to Foxconn? Really? I mean, has Nvidia been reading the news lately? Have they seen the nets on the roofs? Seriously, those factories are straight out of that M. Night Shamylan movie where trees suddenly make everyone suicidal and people start jumping off of buildings.
the suicide rate for foxconn is below the national average, even beklow the us national average. it just gets bad press so they put nets up. its not like lemmings going off a cliff over there its a huge factory and facility the size of a city of coarse there is gonna be an errant suicide or two
Overpaying for branded foxconn, blarg
They're still Foxconn cards. I'm not touching them. reliability must be horrible, plus Foxconn relies on slave labor. I avoid anything Foxconn now if I can help it.
If you are trying to avoid Foxconn made products, you may as well abandon computers, gaming consoles and cell phones collectively.
I honestly don't know anyone that's ever bought a graphics card from Best Buy.
The best vid card I ever bought (BFG 9800 GTX+ OC) was purchased at a Best Buy. Reason? It was 30% off, and much cheaper than what newegg and amazon had for price at the time. Haven't been back to that store since!
How much for just the box?
dont care... I never buy those kind of stuff in retail stores anyway. newegg ftw
Too bad NVIDIA, I don't buy stuff at BEST BUY.
Too bad NVIDIA, I don't buy stuff at BEST BUY.
Me EITHER. I can't IMAGINE why anyone WOULD.
If you are trying to avoid Foxconn made products, you may as well abandon computers, gaming consoles and cell phones collectively.
That's why I said I avoid it if I can help it. Unfortunately, we can't avoid them completely, but we can reduce their presence. I bought my motherboard because it didn't use a Foxconn socket. I bought my power supply because it didn't use Foxconn connectors. Although both had other motivations as well, the lack of Foxconn components was part of the decision process. I didn't find out until after I bought it, but my video card does use a cooler made by Foxconn. I didn't find a way to find that out before I made my purchasing decision, so that was just unavoidable.
Unfortunately, I don't have any influence with my company, and they buy and resell (with software and other parts) Supermicro servers. Those use a lot of Foxconn parts. I just wish I could find a way to convince them to stop doing that.
That pretty much sucks then. It is the same as any other card, there is no benefit to the nvidia brand since in that case, nvidia is still only making the GPU and another company is doing everything else, then nvidia comes back and slaps on a sticker of their logo. then screwing people on the price. If nvidia wants to advertise that there making their own card then they need to make the entire card them self.
Interesting - I saw that EXACT picture but IRL when I went to Best Buy yesterday...except just to the left was a Galaxy GT 430. Lol.
Wow a quick surch of google showes foxconn hasent changed much. the page was dated 12oct2010... so... Nvida is linking themselves with a company that is still abusing there employes, and selling there cards at a place that most knowlagable PC buyers avoid... Am i missing something or does it look like Nvidia is trying to go out of buisness? Do they really expect to get repeat sailes from Best Buy? this is why corp exects shouldent drink there pee...
The computer community as a whole does not shop at regular stores. That is not the case for all the younger kids that beg parents for electronics. Also if you have to go into a store for an item, around where I live it is either Frys or Best Buy, not much choice as both are not very good. Nvidia has lost a few partners lately, perhaps they are just selling excess cards normally shipped to partners to Best Buy as Nvidia branded. While we all may hate Best Buy, they still sell a lot of electronics and such. If they go, the online stores are soon to follow with Best Buy type pricing. It is good to have real stores to keep online prices down.