Why are graphic processing units so expensive?

[rrspamrr]

What is it about gpus that make them so expensive? Does it really cost companies hundreds of dollars to make?

 

[lxgoldsmith]

yes, and we should appreciate the power it gives our computers. Thanks to good GPU, we can truly immerse ourselves in our games

 

[firo40]

To a point the graphics cards are worth the cost. When you get to the higher end graphics cards at the 1000$ level it becomes way beyond what the actuall cost is but say you get a 400$ gtx 770 thats worth it for the price paying another 150 for a 780 which is only a 5-7% increase in preformance isnt worth it. So to answer your question yes and no

 

[USAFRet]

A $300 GPU today is 10x the processing power of a $3000 PC from a few years ago.

 

[Zero Oblivion]

The deal with GPUs is similar as it is with CPUs. As one article here on Tom's states (Best CPUs for money), there is little reason to buy a cpu that costs over 200 pounds (or was it dollars?) if you want best value per money payed. Same applies to GPUs. Pay 300 pounds worth a GPU, and you will get a piece that provides 60-70 per cent of performance (not actual statistics, but to give you an idea). So by this a GPU that dishes out all 100 of performance should cost around 500£... when it fact it costs double that (Titan, 690gtx etc). What this means is that past certain point you do not pay that extra money for increased performance directly. You pay increased price for every per cent on top, which means one thing - it becomes a privilege to own a top-of-the-line GPU. Do manufacturers benefit? Hell yes they do. Do consumers benefit? Hard to say. See, this opens up a whole new window of opportunities. In example, it becomes debatable what level of performance you will be satisfied with. Can you justify paying a thousand pounds for the best? Or will that mid range GPU for 200 will do just fine, with some settings set to medium, some to min, and a 720/1080p resolution instead of 1440p and beyond? Both AMD and Nvidia seem to pay more attention to this mid range market, as you may find awesome cards that deal with current titles just fine, provided you "limit" yourself to one screen and deal with a few compromises. GTX 770 arguably one of the best GPUs for the money. Radeon R9 280 should not be too far behind. Imo manufacturers recognise this mid range segment and its popularity thus providing us with more options.
In the end, there's a third factor that weighs in. Popularity. This happened with newly released Radeon R9 series. It became very popular among Lit/bitcoin miners (don't ask me i'm not into that stuff) and they wiped the selves clean real quick. What do the manufacturers do? Raise the price, because why the hell not if people are still buying those. So there you have it. Guys that replied earlier touched important points of what modern GPUs provide us with and that's, personally, something worth paying the money for. How much? Well that's, my friend, for your judgement and pocket to decide 😉

 

[rrspamrr]

The deal with GPUs is similar as it is with CPUs. As one article here on Tom's states (Best CPUs for money), there is little reason to buy a cpu that costs over 200 pounds (or was it dollars?) if you want best value per money payed. Same applies to GPUs. Pay 300 pounds worth a GPU, and you will get a piece that provides 60-70 per cent of performance (not actual statistics, but to give you an idea). So by this a GPU that dishes out all 100 of performance should cost around 500£... when it fact it costs double that (Titan, 690gtx etc). What this means is that past certain point you do not pay that extra money for increased performance directly. You pay increased price for every per cent on top, which means one thing - it becomes a privilege to own a top-of-the-line GPU. Do manufacturers benefit? Hell yes they do. Do consumers benefit? Hard to say. See, this opens up a whole new window of opportunities. In example, it becomes debatable what level of performance you will be satisfied with. Can you justify paying a thousand pounds for the best? Or will that mid range GPU for 200 will do just fine, with some settings set to medium, some to min, and a 720/1080p resolution instead of 1440p and beyond? Both AMD and Nvidia seem to pay more attention to this mid range market, as you may find awesome cards that deal with current titles just fine, provided you "limit" yourself to one screen and deal with a few compromises. GTX 770 arguably one of the best GPUs for the money. Radeon R9 280 should not be too far behind. Imo manufacturers recognise this mid range segment and its popularity thus providing us with more options.
In the end, there's a third factor that weighs in. Popularity. This happened with newly released Radeon R9 series. It became very popular among Lit/bitcoin miners (don't ask me i'm not into that stuff) and they wiped the selves clean real quick. What do the manufacturers do? Raise the price, because why the hell not if people are still buying those. So there you have it. Guys that replied earlier touched important points of what modern GPUs provide us with and that's, personally, something worth paying the money for. How much? Well that's, my friend, for your judgement and pocket to decide 😉

Wow, that was a really thorough answer! Thank you so much!

 

[Zero Oblivion]

Happy to share rrspamrr, researching GPUs is something I've spend a great deal of time on recently.