Why are new cards (GTX 900's specifically) with stock coolers so much more than their variants?

[Brandolfday]

I really want a GTX 980. I've got an MSI GTX 570 that's on its last legs. It's Twin Frozr II fans died on me and were a bear to replace. Looking to survey my options, I've perused the offerings from EVGA, Zotac, MSI and others only to discover that the vanilla Nvidia produced stock cooling options are all grossly overpriced when compared to those with aftermarket coolers.

I've since checked out Radeon cards and they all follow in the same vein. Most reviews I've read clearly state that an aftermarket variant generally provides quieter and better cooling. So, why are the single fan, stock solutions from Nvidia and AMD versions so much more?

 

[gytisxp]

They are less of them = the price is higher

 

[blacksheep123]

stock solutions are rare so price is high.. basic marketing

by the way dont buy the 980

buy a 970

980 is much expensive than a 970 but offers only 15% more performance.. not worth it

 

[Brandolfday]

I'm tracking, but the rarity of a basic level card shouldn't necessitate its inflated cost over an improved version, right?

What are MSI, Gigabyte, and the gang doing with what has to be a mountain of stock coolers? As I mentioned, the flimsy Chinese fans on my old MSI GTX 570 died, but not due to an outright manufacturing defect. Turns out, they just needed some lubricant of which I had no way to apply. I've seen enough tutorials to know its easier to lube up the stock coolers. I don't want to end up with another dead graphics card simply because the aftermarket fans $hit the bed.

As for the 980 vs 970 argument, I've done enough soul searching to know I want a V8 under the hood, no matter how snazzy the V6 looks. Remember, I went through all this before and chose a GTX 570 over the 580. While its done admirably, my 570 has always lacked that last bit of oomf I asked it for under load. Frankly I'm too lazy/cheap to go SLI. So, after settling last time: I want to bring the prom queen to the dance, even if she's an expensive date.

From the reviews: She puts out.

 

[chenw]

Well the MSI has kind of improved upon that in its Twin Frozr V, the fans do not spin until a certain temperature is reached, so it enlongates the life the fans.

 

[Brandolfday]

You haven't lived until you've dealt with the Chinese tech support of the only website on the planet offering MSI's y-split fan solution. Email correspondence with somebody whose primary language is mandarin was a hoot.

I'm not interested in ever doing that again even if MSI kicked the can a little further down the road. What's so difficult about allowing your customers to add a drop of oil to a fan? Dusting can only do so much.

 

[renz496]

I really want a GTX 980. I've got an MSI GTX 570 that's on its last legs. It's Twin Frozr II fans died on me and were a bear to replace. Looking to survey my options, I've perused the offerings from EVGA, Zotac, MSI and others only to discover that the vanilla Nvidia produced stock cooling options are all grossly overpriced when compared to those with aftermarket coolers.

I've since checked out Radeon cards and they all follow in the same vein. Most reviews I've read clearly state that an aftermarket variant generally provides quieter and better cooling. So, why are the single fan, stock solutions from Nvidia and AMD versions so much more?

AMD cards with stock cooler might be pricey because there isn't a lot of them. but the way it is their stock cooler is not on the same league as nvidia stock cooler. as for nvidia stock design being expensive it could be the same reason i was saying with AMD card but their stock cooler which people often dub as "titan cooler" did have premium feel and look to it. and it is possible some retailer take advantage of that to jack up the price. i think it was the case with 770 reference. nvidia did mention they will not going to sell many 770 equipped with titan cooler and back then there are people willing to pay extra just to have that card with titan cooler.

 

[chenw]

You haven't lived until you've dealt with the Chinese tech support of the only website on the planet offering MSI's y-split fan solution. Email correspondence with somebody whose primary language is mandarin was a hoot.

I'm not interested in ever doing that again even if MSI kicked the can a little further down the road. What's so difficult about allowing your customers to add a drop of oil to a fan? Dusting can only do so much.

That's why I never buy cards from online, always from locals. IF there is any problems with the cards, I get them to deal with it for me, I don't have to. I live in the place where MSI, Asus and Gigabyte all originated, and I am more than farmiliar with our customer services.

That said, I won't deny that all of the big 3 has poor customer services, we tend not being able to get English Speakers for customer service agents (it's not a job considered 'appropriate' for someone with that kind of skill). I only actually went MSI because of the reviews and consumer consensus that for the initial 900 series, MSI's Gaming 4G performed outstandingly, with fairly little problems (adding to that I didn't really have a choice, Gigabyte's stock were small to begin with, Asus didn't even start shipping to Taiwanese shops until fairly late, so all I could see were MSI and EVGA versionsm, the latter of which didn't have a great start with the 900 series. Galax, Zotac and PNY wasn't even heard of).

 

[Brandolfday]

Feel for you chenw. Let me ask you, with your proximity to the brick and mortar versions of the big card after-marketers, can you get a stock cooler version of a graphics card without a steep mark-up? If you can't (due to the afor mentioned limited stock), can you ask one of these big retailers directly (and I mean, standing right in front of them) and pose the big "Why?!" right to their face? I'd be interested in an answer that can't be dodged or a canned response.

Enthusiast users all appreciate the effort big vendors go to in order to improve card cooling, but if every fan option they eventually add becomes the weak link in build quality (and I have yet to see a reasonable warranty that extends far enough into the future to cover this inevitability) why bother? Reference AMD and Nvidia cards, from the videos I've seen, don't have a quick fan lubrication option either, but at least on these coolers the procedure is relatively non-invasive.

 

[chenw]

I had a quick check, the reference cooler 970's in Taiwan are rarer, but they are currently cheaper (albeit not by much, there difference in prices is no greater than 10%), so I don't think there is a 'mark-up' here for the reference coolers.

I could only see two versions on sale here though: MSI's 4GB5 OC 970 and EVGA's 970/980, both are being sold for less than their non-reference versions.

Why that is the case I do not know, but we have a somehwhat different pricing system here compared to US. This is not the first time I have seen thing, for example, when I was looking at motherboards for my new build, there were few recommendations of Maximus VI hero over Gaming GT because in US the former was cheaper, but in Taiwan, the latter is cheaper.

Take this with a grain of salt, since our GPUs already have a large markup compared to US already (EG 970's here is about US$400 MSRP).