@cliffordcooley Well Cliff, when Nvidia cooked up those boards, the company was well aware of their cost to produce, and the profit margin they expected to see, when the sold the entire lot. I see Nvidia selling boards off their site, as a way to rein in unscrupulous retailers. After all, Nvidia sold those units to dealers at a specific cost, and a list price commensurate with their dealers making a reasonable return on their investment.
So here's a little math. Let's say the dealer cost of a GTX-1050 ti, was a hundred dollars, and the list price was $150.00. If the dealer sold the board at list price, they would turn a 33% "gross profit margin".
All of a sudden, the dealer starts selling the same board for $200.00. Now their profit margin is 50%. However, Nvidia has set the list price at a point which is fair for everybody, them, their dealers, and the end users.
IMHO, it's a slam dunk that customers will start blaming Nvidia for the price gouging, lack of inventory, and whatever else springs to mind, when it's really the dealers who are reaping the lion's share of the profit. So, and I believe rightfully so, Nvidia starts selling boards around the dealers to preserve their good reputation.
Now, and you can correct me on this, I believe whatever boards Nvidia is selling, are "reference boards", at the stock clock frequency, with all other "reference parts", the coolers and such. So, their partners / distributors install features in the boards they sell, above and beyond Nvidia's "plain Jane offerings". Which is the reason why customers would normally opt to buy EVGA or Asus, as opposed to buying direct from the manufacturer.
I can link you to "OutletPC, who is now trying to sell GTX-1050s, at the $400.00 price point! When you have greedy parasites like this in the food chain, both Nvidia's partners and customers, should thank heaven, that at least Nvidia is making an honest effort to put a lid on bullsh!t like that.
If AMD were to sell directly, all their board partner could leave them. They cannot do that to Nvidia, because they basically own the market. FYI the board partners do not like Nvidia selling cards directly because it cuts into their profit.
To be fair to Nvidia, their partners pre-ordered the number of units they could afford, or believed they needed to cover potential sales. The partners also more than likely, had the opportunity to pre-order more than they did. But then Gigabyte would be bi!tching about MSI, "hogging all the inventory". I don't think there's a way to keep everyone happy, with the current market dynamics such as they are.
(y)
