AMD, Nvidia Sell Fewer GPUs Than Expected, Point Fingers At HDD Shortage
AMD, Nvidia Sell Fewer GPUs Than Expected, Point Fingers At HDD Shortage
Posted 01/25/2012 at 12:16pm
| by Brad Chacos
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Blaming lackluster sales on the Thailand floods is the new black. Of course, the rising waters definitely affected washed-out HDD manufacturers with facilities in the Asian country; sales forecasts for PCs in general have also been reduced thanks to skyrocketing storage costs. Now, even AMD and Nvidia have started blaming the HDD shortage for a dip in quarterly GPU revenues. In case you're new here, we'd like to point out that GPUs don't use HDDs.
Of course, PCs use both hard drives and GPUs, so it makes sense that GPU sales were a bit low if overall computer sales were down. Nvidia says the flood's after effects are at least partially responsible for the $116 million revenue difference -- in a bad way -- between what it expected to earn last quarter and what it actually earned, The Verge reports. AMD says the shortage gave it "a little bit of pressure," too.
The rise of integrated Intel graphics and AMD's Fusion processors probably didn't help too much, either. Which do you think contributed more to the GPU pinch: integrated graphics or the floods? Is Thailand being used as a straw man to offset poor sales performance?
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mitcoes
January 26, 2012 at 6:07am
1.- Crisis, 4% less of PC sells
2.- HDD prices balanced budgets for a PC less GPU price or even integrated one
4.- Raise of integrated ATI and Intel graphics
5.- Why not make cheap Desktop ARM computers with dual boot Ubuntu ARM -Android as portable Cotton Candy - with Tegra 3 this case for Nvidia -
Or even triple boot MS WOS 8 ARM / Ubuntu ARM/ Android
7.- Alternative good games at phones and tablets, that are cheaper than buying a state of the art PC for gaming.
8.-Last but not least lack of PUBLIC DRIVERS of Tegra even blobs, that do not make devices for normal Linux, MS WOS 8 or custom Android mods desktop computers with Tegra2 and 3.
D00dlavy
January 25, 2012 at 5:24pm
"What about the fact that there have been really no compelling titles as of late and that most cards that are a generation old can pump out the frame rates on a 1080p monitor with no problem?"
So, how much crack do you start your day with?
While you're right that you do not need cutting-edge PC hardware to run some damn fine looking games, Battlefield 3 itself is a compelling title that will make your system strain a little.
I can understand why GPU makers have hard times, but I always hope they can weather those times and come into more profitable futures. I like graphics cards so I like the companies that make them.
devastator_2000
January 25, 2012 at 3:07pm
I guess I can see how the HDD prices could effect the GPU market to some degree. If you are just looking to upgrade your GPU, the HDD issues caused by flooding should have no effect. But if you are doing a new build from the ground up, then it could effect the GPU market.
I know I am wanting to build a media server, but refuse to do so at the current HDD prices. Right now the Samsung eco 5400 RPM drive that I bought for 69.00 is selling for 159.00. That's over double; making it more to buy the 3 drives than to build the rest of the computer.
nsvander
January 25, 2012 at 12:59pm
What about the fact that there have been really no compelling titles as of late and that most cards that are a generation old can pump out the frame rates on a 1080p monitor with no problem?
bling581
January 26, 2012 at 11:15am
"What about the fact that there have been really no compelling titles as of late"
By as of late you mean last week? I can think of half a dozen amazing titles that have been released since this fall, starting with BF3.
Peanut Fox
January 25, 2012 at 1:34pm
My GTX 260 was older than that and didn't truly become an issue for me until Skyrim. If I got close to things like water falls, or an area where there were too many effects I'd slow to a crawl. Though I had most of the features on or on a high setting. I got a lot of use out of that card and am pretty happy how it held up especially at the slightly higher 1920x1200 resolution.
GenMasterB
January 25, 2012 at 1:28pm
you serious? Have you heard of a little title called "Battlefield 3", or "Batman - Arkham Asylum"? generation old cards can play them, but to play them the way they were meant to be played requires a new video card.. or two..
praack
January 26, 2012 at 8:47am
granted but batman was an add on to the port from console. with Mass Effect 3 being able to run on integrated video with 256 ram and discreet starts with the old x1800 vid card - the top end mentioned was a 4850 or 9800 with 512 - not exactly midstream cards ever
the cost of hard drives just compounded the issue - with video game graphic code stuck in the mid 2000's i can see discreet cards falling over the next few years.
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