1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,680 We all had a giant bucket of cold water thrown on us when NVIDIA announced the pricing for their new 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:13,120 RTX 4000 Adelavelay series of GPUs. And it would be easy to blame the outrageously high MSRP's 3 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:18,880 on inflation and corporate greed. Don't get us wrong, those two factors almost certainly have 4 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:22,720 something to do with the price tags. But let's spend the next few minutes diving a little bit 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:32,880 First off, let's parse out just how bad this is. In 2020, the RTX 3080 was announced at a starting 6 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:39,600 MSRP of $700, and everyone was super hyped over getting a significant leap over the previous 7 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:45,440 generation's flagship for the same price. But you know what happened next, bots in the service 8 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:50,160 of crypto miners snatched up what little supply there was, and the rest of us were left to join 9 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:55,520 months-long waiting lists or buy from scalpers on eBay. We hate those guys. 10 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,560 But here in the present, with crypto mining crashing and used cards flooding the market, 11 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,800 many folks were hoping the Adelavelay series would be relatively affordable. 12 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:13,360 But the 16GB RTX 4080 starts at $1200, a 72% price increase over the 3080, 13 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,880 and that isn't even taking the aforementioned inflation into account. 14 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:23,360 But hold on, Riley. What about the other 4080 that starts at only $900? What are you talking about? 15 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:30,240 An astute observation, dear viewer. As you know, NVIDIA is selling two versions of the RTX 4080. 16 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:36,560 One features 12GB of VRAM, while the other features 16. And the 12GB version is the one 17 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:42,720 that starts at 900. But if we look closely here, there's way more differences under the hood 18 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:49,840 than just the RAM. The beefier 16GB revision has over 2,000 more CUDA cores, as well as a 19 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:56,160 wider memory bus. So even if 12GB of VRAM is enough to handle high-quality textures, 20 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:00,880 you're not getting anywhere close to the same maximum performance as the 16GB model. 21 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,360 A fact you can even see on a benchmark results chart, Team Green itself released. 22 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,640 Some fans are even going so far as to call the 12GB version nothing more than a rebadged 23 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:15,600 70-series card sold at a markup. Because yeah, the architecture is obviously newer, 24 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:21,680 but it comes with fewer CUDA cores than the last-gen RTX 3080. And to top it all off, 25 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,640 these are just starting prices, as third-party cards from AIBs, which make up the vast majority 26 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:31,680 of the market, are virtually certain to be more expensive. All this is a real shame. 27 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:36,960 Since even though the 3000 series was generally well received, it was also roundly criticized for 28 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:42,640 being short on VRAM compared to what modern AAA titles demand, even at the high end. 29 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:46,880 So if you're trying to snag a 4000 series card just so you can get more VRAM, 30 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:53,120 well, I hope you've got some deep pockets. And if not, I want to cut a couple new ones. 31 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,920 Even though NVIDIA isn't just going to spill all the ins and outs of its pricing strategy, 32 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:03,040 we have a good idea of what's going on here. CEO Jensen Huang has come out and publicly blamed 33 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:08,720 rising prices on the dramatically increasing costs of silicon wafers, and has also pointed out 34 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:15,280 that performance per dollar is much better than past generations. But that latter argument is, 35 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:21,280 you know, exactly how nearly all advancements in technology work, so let's get away from 36 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,920 NVIDIA's official statements. It's no secret that since the crypto crash earlier this year, 37 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:31,680 there's been a glut of old RTX 30 series stock that both Team Green and its retail partners that 38 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:36,320 have purchased graphics cards wholesale really want to clear out. I mean, New Egg is even giving 39 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:42,240 away free monitors if you buy an Ampere GPU. Therefore, both the high end of the new 4000 40 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:48,400 series and the existing 3000 stock are going to be on the market at the same time? 41 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:54,640 NVIDIA is effectively positioning the 4000 series cards at the top of one combined product stack, 42 00:03:54,640 --> 00:04:00,560 hence the 4000 series higher prices. NVIDIA seems to be using them as a tactic to nudge some budget 43 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,880 conscious folks towards buying an older gen card to clear out their inventory. 44 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:10,000 But what about supply of the new cards? Could the high prices be an attempt by Team Green to ensure 45 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:15,520 they don't run out of cards like what happened back in 2020? This isn't very likely considering 46 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:20,720 the pandemic seems to be winding down, GPU crypto mining is on life support, and the GPUs themselves 47 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,320 are now being made by TSMC instead of Samsung. In other words, many of the factors that seriously 48 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:31,840 cut into supply last time around, other than actual high demand from gamers, are now gone. 49 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:36,320 And even with the 4000 series admittedly impressive performance increases on paper, 50 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,560 it's not like gamers are chomping at the bit to get their hands on something new the way they were 51 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:46,400 when the 3000 lineup launched. Or for the next two years of supply shortages, since the 2000 series 52 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:51,840 was widely considered an overpriced disappointment. And the lack of supply constraints could end up 53 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:57,360 being good news in the months after the November launch, since NVIDIA may be forced to lower prices 54 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:03,120 once they move some of the 3000 series stock and once they face competition from AMD, 55 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:08,560 who will be launching their Radeon 7000 cards that same month. Sadly, if you want a shiny new 56 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:14,000 Ada Lovelace card for the holiday season, you most likely will have to fork over lots of cash. 57 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,480 And don't forget about budgeting for a new power supply. Maybe we should all just give up on PC 58 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:24,800 Go outside, find a cool stick, play with it. We'll launch a new channel called Stickwiki.