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South African retailers Evetech and Titan-Ice The prices of the recently announced GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards from ASUS and MSI were recently listed on their websites.
Enthusiasts were quick to compare the MSI and ASUS RTX 3070, 3080 and 3090 rand price to the manufacturer’s suggested retail price that Nvidia announced when officially released the letters in early September.
While these direct comparisons using the rand and dollar spot exchange rate are riddled with pitfalls, US prices do not include sales tax, such as 15% South African VAT, MyBroadband recently compared the launch prices of Nvidia graphics cards dating back to the original Riva TNT in 1998.
The comparison showed that the price of the new Nvidia graphics cards has risen much more than anticipated, even considering the weakening rand and inflation.
To find out what has caused these higher than expected retail prices for Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards in South Africa, MyBroadband asked Evetech and Titan-Ice for comment.
Evetech did not respond at time of publication.
Titan-Ice founder Johan de Klerk told MyBroadband that the prices on their website are based on the wholesale prices given to them by local ASUS and MSI agents. These prices are only a starting point and are not final.
“The mad rush with GPU releases leaves a lot to be desired,” said De Klerk, adding that the recommended retail prices in dollars that have been circulating leave several things out of the box in our local market, such as transportation costs.
“As retailers, we are not exposed to the basket of costs with which local agents are served by the local government and the transport chain,” said De Klerk.
“I suggest you contact the local agents or the local offices of the brands involved for a proper explanation.”
MyBroadband contacted MSI and ASUS to ask what has caused local prices for GeForce 30 series cards to be much higher than Nvidia’s indicative prices.
ASUS did not provide comment at time of publication.
MSI’s business development manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, Niel Campbell, explained that the price that Nvidia advertises when it launches new graphics cards has often been a challenge for Add-In Board (AIB) partners.
Nvidia’s suggested retail price is “as of”, not “until”
“In the past, Nvidia reference designs were delivered to AIB as MSI to sell as a first run batch while our custom cards were being prepared,” said Campbell.
“Not long ago, Nvidia decided to sell its own reference cards directly to try to lower retail prices as much as possible and to cause some excitement with the low launch prices.”
However, Campbell said that these Nvidia referral cards are quite limited and can only be purchased directly from their website, so they are not available to South African resellers.
“It is extremely difficult for AIBs to get close to those prices. It’s been a problem before, so Nvidia decided to add ‘start from’ to the price tag. “
Campbell noted that Nvidia’s pricing is also based on its reference design. MSI adds a custom cooling solution, designs a custom printed circuit board, and includes additional features with its boards.
Some of the GeForce 30 series cards that MSI builds will also be factory overclocked versions of the GPU, which will attract a higher price.
Price Drivers: Currency Exchange, Shipping
Regarding questions about what drives the cost of graphics cards in South Africa, Campbell said that when you buy products in US dollars, banks do not use the spot rate to exchange their rand for foreign currency. Banks add a conversion fee, so the rate is always higher.
Suppliers also use worst-case scenarios when estimating launch prices to try to avoid disappointing customers by having to raise prices when stocks land.
“Shipping costs at the moment are at an all-time high as cargo flights are available. Hopefully that will improve as COVID-19 restrictions are eased, ”added Campbell.
Campbell emphasized that the cards are not yet in South Africa, that the price is an estimate and could still change closer to the launch date.
Comparing South African prices with the rest of the world
Campbell also noted that most overseas retailers are not yet listing prices, despite Nvidia asking all AIB partners to include suggested retail prices.
He pointed to an article on TechPowerUp which reported that launch prices for GeForce RTX 30-series cards from third-party vendors are also much higher in Germany than Nvidia’s suggested retail prices.
Article refers to custom GeForce 30-series card listings at CaseKing.de. At press time, CaseKing listed custom cards from Gigabyte, Inno3D, and Zotac.
That priced Inno3D’s GeForce RTX 3080 at € 760.45, or roughly R15,000. This is much more expensive than Nvidia’s “starting price” of $ 699 (R13,847 if 19% German VAT is included).
Campbell said it would be wise to wait for prices for its cards to emerge overseas and then compare local estimates to see if they are online.
Limited stock
In response to questions about how many stocks of the new GeForce Series-30 cards have been allocated to South Africa, Campbell said the first batch will be extremely limited.
“We should receive stock weekly in the future. Starting in October, the supply should be more stable, ”said Campbell.
“The cards will be available through all resellers, but only a few have decided to start including the cards before launch.”
Now Read: Nvidia Graphics Card Prices in South Africa – 1998 to 2020
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