Greetings GTribers!
Here are my following thoughts on why AMD's Vega GPUs are out of stock as soon as they are released.
1) Supply and Availability - The lack of supply will never satisfy the demands of consumers. AMD could not meet the target global demands in one full swoop but are doing supply by batches instead. AMD and their gpu manufacturers has yet to stabilize the supply for their RX 5XX but with the release of Vega it may very well add to the supply problems for the RX 5XX. The lack of availability… See More
is one reason prices of Vega are going up.
2) Crypto Currency - Miners will always be miners. Regardless if the card is good for mining or not, miners will still get them or at least try them first hand. They are after gpu numbers foremost and not necessarily gpu mining performance. They don't care about reviews or feedbacks and in fact majority of them will still try Vega regardless of mining proof and data that are already provided. They will get WHATEVER is available regardless the price especially when they too are suffering from RX 5XX availability. They know prices of such cards will rise so reselling them at a higher price later on is still advantageous to them. This is why that the Vega Bundle is a pretty much pointless solution. Same with those GPUs exclusive for mining that they released. Why buy a mining-exclusive GPU when you can easily resell a GPU to a wider range of buyers and at a way better price? No matter the mining performance, no matter the very high TDP...miners are still getting them. This shows that quantity is more important than quality.
3) Consumer Panic Buying - Those who pre-order Vega is not just to get the cards first but due to other reasons. They also know prices will rise up so they get them as soon as possible so as not to buy them at a more expensive price later on. They are also aware about Crypto Currency and the fear of not getting those cards due to miners hoarding them in no time is the reason why stocks of Vega are already gone during pre-orders and launch day. I don't blame them early and pioneer buyers at this point.
I understand AMD at a business stand point and regardless what happened, Vega is still a successful launch because of the factors stated above. Especially when they are sold out as soon as they are released. However, we the gamers are the ones suffering the most. Vega sales are successful because crypto currency miners, regardless the hash rates, are still hoarding them and so on. It is true that Vega 64 is dangerously reaching or even equaling Nvidia's GTX 1080Ti prices in some countries even though it is performing below the GTX 1080Ti. It is honestly ridiculous at this point and a blow to all gaming community. Sadly, AMD is only after the end result. That is to sell their cards in whatever way like any business would. AMD could easily make a command or program for their Vega gpus to not work when mining. I doubt AMD will allow this but if they do so, that is the only solution I can think of to separate miners among us consumers and to save us gamers.
Game on!
Sadly AMD gets nothing out of the higher pricing - just the resellers - and its not their fault if miners buy them. AMD just manages manufacturing and delivery to the stores. It would not help to just manufactor more, if the stores let them be bought off instantaneous in large numbers by miners.
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Ya I will sy with the mass ount of GPU's being grabbed up by miners. And a lot finding out it takes alot more work and time to make a profit we are slowly but surely starting to see GPU's fall back down in price. I recently picked up a 1070 at launch price of 399$ at evga b stock. Last month used they sat around 550$ same with the RX cards there slowly falling back into the 400.
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TBH I don't see a reason for AMD to seperate buyers (didn't get the Mining Cards either) they need to sell cards to earn money to keep R&D up and to stay in business. I know it sucks from our point of view (we need to pay the premium - or just can't afford to) but I'd rather see that than seeing AMD going down. Things will even out. We need to be patient. Meanwhile I'm happy for AMD!
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If you cant beat them, join them
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