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.
