Nvidia Branded Video Cards Only Sold in Best Buy

[puscifer919]

[citation][nom]orbitron[/nom]Too bad NVIDIA, I don't buy stuff at BEST BUY.[/citation]
Me EITHER. I can't IMAGINE why anyone WOULD.

 

[dgingeri]

[citation][nom]roofus[/nom]If you are trying to avoid Foxconn made products, you may as well abandon computers, gaming consoles and cell phones collectively.[/citation]

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.

 

[razor512]

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.

 

[calmstateofmind]

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.

 

[Khimera2000]

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...

 

[rochin]

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.

 

[luke904]

best buy preys on customer ignorence

 

[gewehr37]

lol 299 for GTX460,why they call themselves "bestbuy" again?

 

[hillarymakesmecry]

[citation][nom]dgingeri[/nom]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.[/citation]

Foxconn employs nearly a million people and manufactures a lot of our common electronic stuff. This must be pretty hard to do.

 

[rooket]

Remember Visiontek used to be the OEM for Nvidia? I still have (in mint condition too) a Visiontek Ti4600 video card with all the stock Nvidia circuit board, h/s and fan and Nvidia logo sticker on it. It looks really cool. I just keep it sitting on a shelf in my room. First $300 video card I ever bought and not really planning on letting that one go. It's probably only worth a couple bucks now but it sure gave me some good gaming especially in command & conquer.

 

[C00lIT]

[citation][nom]rooket[/nom]Remember Visiontek used to be the OEM for Nvidia? I still have (in mint condition too) a Visiontek Ti4600 video card with all the stock Nvidia circuit board, h/s and fan and Nvidia logo sticker on it. It looks really cool. I just keep it sitting on a shelf in my room. First $300 video card I ever bought and not really planning on letting that one go. It's probably only worth a couple bucks now but it sure gave me some good gaming especially in command & conquer.[/citation]
I agree, The Ti Series were fantastic cards... I had the Ti4200 and it rocked... up untill EA came out with Betafield 2 who offered no support for it... BOOOOOOOOO EA !!!

And on topic... yes... Bestbuy (or futureshop) + Videocard, power supply + GeekSquad = Rich Daddy abuse for a soso computer

 

[rooket]

[citation][nom]c00lit[/nom]I agree, The Ti Series were fantastic cards... I had the Ti4200 and it rocked... up untill EA came out with Betafield 2 who offered no support for it... BOOOOOOOOO EA !!! And on topic... yes... Bestbuy (or futureshop) + Videocard, power supply + GeekSquad = Rich Daddy abuse for a soso computer[/citation]

I had a Ti4200 while I waited for my visiontek Ti4600 card to be RMAd. It was a damn dynomite card man. I ended up selling it on ebay when I got my new Ti4600 back from visiontek and it even retained its value although it was used. Too bad Asus uses really shoddy fans on their video cards though. The fan needed to be lubricated with some teflon lube so it would stay working. But I can say that besides the fan, Asus makes a very reliable high quality graphics card. I'd never buy one again but still.

The 4000 series were the first apparant cards that I could tell they were using the acquired 3DFX technologies in because the graphic filtering at 16bit color looked just as good as on a Voodoo2 video card, whereas on previous Nvidia chips it didn't blend very well. You could notice this when looking at the sky in Quake II or was it Quake III been too long to remember. Quake II sure was an impressive video game when everyone else was chugging along on a Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark heh they never knew what they were missing out on in those days.

 

[nforce4max]

Foxconn manufacturing plus tech support from India = NO THANKS! Tech support from India is the cow piss of the tech world :/ only problems...

 

[daniel123244]

thought the tittle meant that they weren't selling ati cards. wouldn't really matter now would it? Newegg FTW!

 

[aevm]

I did a quick search, just for fun. My local BestBuy has a Zotac GTX 470 for $380 (Canadian dollars, pretty much equal to US$ these days). With 13% sales tax, that's $429.

My favorite small local store that specializes in computer parts has the same card for $395. With tax, it's $446. My second favorite $382 ($432 with tax).

NCIX.com (Canadian online retailer) sells it for $380 + about $10 shipping, and with a $30 mail rebate. That is, you pay 380*1.13+10 (+0.5 for a stamp) and MAY receive back $30. (Multiply by 1.13 because there's a sales tax of 13% where I live and it applies to any online purchases I make from Canada.)
Total $440, or $410 if you're lucky and the rebate check arrives.

Newegg.ca: $361+$11.49 shipping, and there's a US$35 mail rebate. This definitely wins, but it's not by much IMO. If the rebate never shows up, it comes to $420. If it does, it's $385. And when you have a cheque denominated in US$ and you live in Canada, more headaches

Tigerdirect.ca (another online retailer) has it for $444. After tax, $502. No rebate. I didn't even bother to find out how much shipping is.

Of course, this is a statistical sample of 1 product, i.e. shouldn't be used for conclusions. Still it looks like BestBuy can be decently priced. You pay 10% more than at Newegg but you get the card right away, RMAs are not your problem, no paperwork to fill for rebates, no worries that the rebate won't show up. It's also cheaper than some online retailers and than some small local shops.

Sorry about the wall of text

Now, I'm not really defending BestBuy. I only buy stuff there during Boxing Week sales, when they do sometimes beat the online retailers by a nice margin. Their choices are extremely limited, so I don't like them much. Still, I don't get why some of you guys hate them so much.

 

[aznplayer213]

I for one am not worried about brand. I'm more into the the improvement of the 4 series processor!

 

[mr_tuel]

NewEgg FTW!!!

 

[Gin Fushicho]

pick up a box with a name that they are familiar with.

Intel. I have not heard of a computer illiterate. who knows anything about computers other than Intel. It is because Intel advertises, and people only know that it's "the best" becuase it's advertised, they don't care what's in the computer as long as it "has an intel in it".

 

[toastninja17]

Well, at least it's only retail. I still stick to newegg, always will be the best. Last time I was at best buy, they had cards that were decent for meh prices. Then newegg had all the same cards for less.

 

[belardo]

Ah Ti4200.... good ole's days.

Trust us... the other AIBs, who make/sell Nvidia graphics cards are not happy. Nvidia has already lost some big-name labels. If they continue to lose more, then nVidia will be stuck having to expand their brand.

nVidia is in trouble... in almost every price point - they are offering little over AMD cards, and the AMD 6000 series are not even out yet.

$80 for the SLOW SLOW GeForce-430 (letters are meaningless, unless theres a GTX 430 and GT480 - would have made SOME sense with the 460 1GB/768 models) that costs as much as the 5650~5670 cards, yet easily slower than the 5570... most likely on par with the $60 5550. No reviews against the 5500?

If Anyone remembers 3Dfx... they went from many partners, to only making their OWN cards. Nvidia says they did this to bring their tech to market faster (cough BS)... hmm just like 3Dfx. I'm thinking that AMD will be picking some nVidia bones soon for the PhysX IP.

 

[edilee]

Bad thing about Best Buy is they don't keep with current market pricing in the video card section. I saw a 8800 GT card about a while back still in their display and it was priced at what the card was when it was first released...that card is probably still there LOL. I believe at the time I saw this the GT was selling for around $150 and they had it priced at something like $300. Once again I will state this...Best Buy has no clue about PC's or PC hardware and components and neither does their staff, including there PC repair department.

 

[spectrewind]

[citation][nom]mman74[/nom]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.[/citation]

I once heard a manager in an Oregon store say that they would be willing to pull the side off a PC case, pee inside it, and charge for it, if that were a service people would pay for.
It was an off-the-cuff-remark one of the sales managers was making about the GeekSquad. This was years ago. This manager said this within hearing distance of customers.

As long as it is not illegal, nothing they do surprises me.

 

[Randomacts]

[citation][nom]otacon72[/nom]I got banned from BestBuy in my area. I overheard one of their "geek squad" trying to sell a customer a laptop making up so much garbage I had to laugh out loud. He asked if he could help me so I said "yeah just listening to the BS you're shoveling to this customer about the laptop". Security asked me to leave saying I was creating a disturbance and I was no longer welcome at BestBuy...lmao[/citation]

I think it would be a better idea to get a group of 4 people and help people, Make sure you have something you can show prices like a smart phone and show them newegg haha.. even price alone you will leave them speechless.

 

[mikem_90]

So, in other words, nothing to see here.

You don't want to pay extra money for something you can get elsewhere cheaper and likely with better support.

While its not against the law to sell something to people at inflated prices they can easilly get elsewhere, its still kinda, ehhh.

 

[syrious1]

if you know anything about best buy you'd know they buy cheap malaysian parts similar to dell and slap a name brand on it. ATI is better anyways.

Eat It Best Buy.