[citation][nom]spookie[/nom]Is it really worth that price tag?? How much could it really cost to build it?[/citation]
These are cards for professionals. In the consumer market it is a question of how much it costs to make, assemble, market, and support, while still allowing a profit margin for the manufacturer of the chip, the manufacturer of the card, and the reseller (typically 5-20% markup for each step). It is all about having the cheapest product that gets the job done with an 'acceptable' failure rate. That is now how 'pro' equipment is priced.
Professionals dont care (much) about the up front cost of a tool or product. What they care about is the efficiency of the workflow. Think of a video editor (though not the best example for this specific card, just a workflow I am familiar with, but the same general argument can be made for others). A small-time wedding videographer needs to pump our 2-6 videos a month to keep up with demand. Lets say that editing takes ~20-40 hours (importing, AV cleanup, editing, 'effects' and titles, and exporting). That leaves relatively little time allotted for lining up new gigs, actuially shooting projects, or looking at ways to expand or run the business. Also, most of the business lines up in a 2-3 month window during the spring, and how fast you can pump out a quality product determines how much money you will make that year. So getting a card (no matter the expense) that can help speed up that 20-40 hour workflow and shrink it down to ~15-30 hours means that you can all the sudden take on 1/3rd more projects, charge a little more because of your popularity and ability to get the customer their video in a timely manner (something most videographers suck at), or spend that extra time to hire/train new help, or administer the business end of things. Just on that alone it is worth every penny.
Conversely; What happens when your rig goes down? Missed deadlines typically means giving a discount to your customer, but more importantly it means that word-of-mouth advertising and referrals (which business relies upon) will not happen, and in fact you will likely loose business. That down time costs thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, hurts your reputation, and delays or looses further business. These pro cards are much beefier, and meant to run 24/7, where as game cards are more designed to run 4/6, so if you are a professional what would you trust?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram