[GamersNexus] The Death of Affordable Computing | Tariffs Impact & Investigation
Astray
Member
Its gonna get far worse because this isn't just GPUs escalating in price, it's basically everything.
The cooler master product manager is talking about paying $95 in tariffs on a $100 case. They will have to more than double the price in order to make any money.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
"Death of Affordable Computing" happened a long time ago when the entry-level cards became top-level pricing of the time. Then bumping everything else above them to the moon.
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Digital-Aftertaste
Member
Yup! We're moving from 2000$ builds to 4000$+ for builds that won't be top of the line stuff
I wonder if this will end up affecting AMD in a positive way though. They could still manage to take advantage in affordability if Nvidia is still going to be gung-ho on price gouging enthusiasts.
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BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
I think all the tariff shit will sort itself out by the end of the year. Untenable situation that will just drive businesses out of the US. Then you're left with Nvidia who had no real competition for like a decade and took the opportunity to fuck their loyal customers with no lube. Thankfully AMD seems to finally be catching up in features and will seemingly be competitive. AMD just needs to come with a big 24 gig flagship card next time.
Puscifer
Member
True, but I think this video is amazing for highlighting how this tariff war trickles to everything through the lens of computing. Sure, we could definitely argue how the $700 midrange PC becomes a $1200 PC but you could apply the logic here to everything the tariffs are affecting for a bigger picture in how fucked we'll be.
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MrTroubleMaker
Member
Three hours! Nice!
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rodrigolfp
Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
/jhk
HerjansEagleFeeder
Member
Such a crazy world we live in. All you have to do to get rich is be dumb.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
care to elaborate?
PlayStaytion
Member
Alanah and Zak aren't dumb and aren't rich practically speaking, the closest answer to me is she isn't a real woman and he isn't a real man.
Durin
Member
We've been having problems with pricing since pretty much the crypto boom, going into the pandemic supply issues, then to the AI boom, and then whatever temporary period on the tariffs.
What I'm more curious about is how things will shake out post-tariffs, because we also have to contend with AI still being a thing, the overall stagnation of hardware growth, and some companies that will keep prices higher like they did after Covid shortage issues were over.
What I'm more curious about is how things will shake out post-tariffs, because we also have to contend with AI still being a thing, the overall stagnation of hardware growth, and some companies that will keep prices higher like they did after Covid shortage issues were over.
Magic Carpet
Gold Member
Yea it's like the computing world has been reset back to the 1990's.
But this time tech wont be shrinking to make things cheaper in the future.
PlayStaytion
Member
But the possibilities to newer feature sets are endless.
MacReady13
Member
I mean, this is the same argument many of us older gamers try telling younger people today that when we purchased games on consoles in the 90's, they were "cheap" here in Australia at over $90! Some even broke the $120 barrier! That was for the N64. SNES was cheaper around $70-80 but this was over 30 years ago!
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
The bigger problem is the uncertainty, the randomness of US government policy changes. This mess isn't caused by a freak accident (container ship blocking shipment through the Suez canal) or an act of God (earthquake, tsunami, global virus outbreak), but really bad governing. We're now in a three-month lull where supposedly the US government is making arrangement with every country on earth about future tariffs/their trade surplus with the US/forcing them to break off trade with China/etc, but no one knows what the outcome will be. Are we back to the situation before Liberation Day? Will a whole bunch of countries (like Canada, Japan, Europe) refuse the US' conditions and will a trade war break out? Will the US have come to an agreement with China by then?
This must be nerve-wrecking or even lives-destroying for anyone selling goods in the US that are partially or fully manufactured abroad. Their businesses are on the line here.
I think this point is going to get completely overlooked, because this was back before China pulled the manuever of undercutting literally every market they can enter by manufacturing at the expense of human rights and also by manufacturing as cheap and shitty as possible by volume.
This should never have been allowed to go on as long as it did, acting like the tariffs are dumb and we should just allow this happen for short-term cheaper shit (at the expense of even more outsourcing and diminishing of economic importance) is never going to solve the issue.
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Crayon
Member
The tariffs are dumb because they do nothing to address any of that. At least not without complimentary domestic policy and a steady hand. Some of the explanations in the video might make it more clear.
darrylgorn
Member
Apparently this has scared the US so much that there will be a reversal back to no tariffs, so whatevs, I guess.
Mortisfacio
Member
Or put it on payment plans. Even coachella, which isn't very expensive at $600, about 60% of attendees used payment plans.
The US is largely a nation of consumers too broke to buy anything, but will take any leverage the banking system will provide them so they can keep consuming and post to the gram/tiktok.
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
That argument would make sense if unemployment was extremely high in the US after manufacturing jobs moved abroad, but it's not. It's actually very low, it was much higher for almost all of the past 35 years.
What happened is that people went to do other jobs when the US transitioned from manufacturing to service based jobs. The fact that in the current global economy manufacturing has gone to low wages countries in South East Asia is not a bad thing when the US is on top of the food chain, unemployment is low and wages are high. All the tariffs are doing is making everything much, much more expensive in the short term, they're not bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US. That Corsair computer case that is now "made in China" will become "made in Cambodia" or "made in India" instead because it's still too expensive too make them in the US. It will also be more expensive than the Chinese case, because it's going to take years to move all Chinese manufacturing to other countries. It took China decades to build a strong, world class manufacturing base with complete manufacturing chains located in key regions that can produce in volume for the entire world. If you cut the US off from China and demand from the rest of the world to do the same, there's simply not enough manufacturing capability in the rest of SE Asia to take over. That shit takes a lot of time and in the mean time everything will become a LOT more expensive.
Zacfoldor
Member
Are you still talking about tariffs?
That shit is over. Everything is back except for China.
Nothing has went up in price in the US. I don't think it's going to. What's it like living life as a doomer? Honestly good for you to anyone buying this but prices are the same in the US. What do you think is up? When do you think these magical new prices will start? Soon? 2 weeks?
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kiphalfton
Member
Is it though? Lots of poor idiots buy stuff they shouldn't.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
Cost of living was far cheaper then. How much did housing, cars and so on cost?
MacReady13
Member
Really wanted to get my kids a gaming PC but honestly, the prices are just insane at the moment. Still on the lookout for cheaper parts but my kids aren't young anymore where any older parts would suffice. They are at an age where they want something for a 4K tv and really want to play some of the newer releases so PC gaming is the best option but fuck me, the prices are killing me right now!
TheChumpNation
Member
Aren't there still 10% tariffs on every country, and then some other specific ones on steel and what not?
It's hard to keep track of.
MacReady13
Member
We were going through a recession then and interest rates were sitting around the 16% mark! Trust me, it was fucking tough. Granted, not as bad as what it is today but still, it wasn't cheap then at all. In saying that, an 80 dollar game in 1995 would cost over 170 dollars today! And paying for an N64 game then, which was around 120 aussie dollars, would be worth around 246 dollars today! So it was still pretty fucking bad then and compared to today, it's not bad at all.
Killer8
Member
The more people describe outsourcing the more I just think it's actually mega based.
Why would an American want to do it when a Chinese or a Bangladeshi can do it instead AND we get cheaper goods out of it?
No one should want to work in a factory.
Zacfoldor
Member
That's what they are counting on. It being hard to keep track of.
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kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Are you still talking about tariffs?
That shit is over. Everything is back except for China.
Nothing has went up in price in the US. I don't think it's going to. What's it like living life as a doomer? Honestly good for you to anyone buying this but prices are the same in the US. What do you think is up? When do you think these magical new prices will start? Soon? 2 weeks?
You didn't watch the video, did you? The reason why prices of computer goods haven't gone up is because they're still selling existing inventory that's already in the US. Once that's gone, there's gonna be shortages for many goods that used to come from China.
Shoppers could find shelves empty by summer as China imports plunge amid Trump trade war
“I also think you’ll start to see things become scarce during the the big summer holidays,” Rita McGrath, strategic management scholar and professor at Columbia Business School, told The Post…
nypost.com
StereoVsn
Gold Member
I remember, lol, I was too poor to afford jack and shit! Was always a few years behind.
But a blue collar worker could afford a house on one salary. College didn't cost insane amount of money and car payments didn't cost stupid money. And let's not talk about insurance for medicine, cars or houses.
So yeah, games and computers cost a lot but it made a lot more sense back then.
MacReady13
Member
I get it completely. Thing is, gaming is a luxury and not a necessity. I don't NEED a 5090 GPU. I'd love it, but for the prices they're asking it's insane. And I'm quite happy to pass on it for the time being.
Times were completely different then, and I FAR preferred it to what it is today. But I'm just an old man yelling at clouds so what would I know?!?
PaintTinJr
Gold Member
I've only watched part of the video but the part about the thousands of parts on a motherboard coming from all over gives me a new appreciation for RaspberryPi's write up of why it took them so many years to get to a point they could say that the Pi was made in Britain and it actually feel like they meant it.
By comparison to the motherboard component issues I'm pretty sure the Pi still has that problem, but for the less generic small components it being a British product seems quite topical in this situation.
It would be interesting to see if they could design and develop a high performance RPi 6000 in the form factor of a Atari/Amiga to rival entry level PCs (with a NPU) and actually come in at a £200/$200 price that had most of its BoM only getting hit with the UK 10%.
By comparison to the motherboard component issues I'm pretty sure the Pi still has that problem, but for the less generic small components it being a British product seems quite topical in this situation.
It would be interesting to see if they could design and develop a high performance RPi 6000 in the form factor of a Atari/Amiga to rival entry level PCs (with a NPU) and actually come in at a £200/$200 price that had most of its BoM only getting hit with the UK 10%.
Crayon
Member
The grocery store has been ripping me off. I give them tons of money and they only give me like 5% back on my loyalty card. Huge trade imbalance.
So I raised the prices at the store. Don't ask me how I did that. I raised the prices and it'll motivate me to get my own chickens and coffee plantation. I made an exemption for captain crunch because I don't know how to make that at all.
I asked a 5 year old to help me with the math and it seems like double price from the grocery store is still cheaper since I have to hire a bunch of illegals to work my home farm but I'm now creating jobs so that's neat. Jobs for ICE agents.
Sure it's getting a little more complicated than I thought and occasionally I forget what it is I'm actually trying to do, but mark my words that grocery store will see who gets the last laugh.
So I raised the prices at the store. Don't ask me how I did that. I raised the prices and it'll motivate me to get my own chickens and coffee plantation. I made an exemption for captain crunch because I don't know how to make that at all.
I asked a 5 year old to help me with the math and it seems like double price from the grocery store is still cheaper since I have to hire a bunch of illegals to work my home farm but I'm now creating jobs so that's neat. Jobs for ICE agents.
Sure it's getting a little more complicated than I thought and occasionally I forget what it is I'm actually trying to do, but mark my words that grocery store will see who gets the last laugh.
kiphalfton
Member
Are you still talking about tariffs?
That shit is over. Everything is back except for China.
Nothing has went up in price in the US. I don't think it's going to. What's it like living life as a doomer? Honestly good for you to anyone buying this but prices are the same in the US. What do you think is up? When do you think these magical new prices will start? Soon? 2 weeks?
In next week's episode of DBZ "Tariffs Ascended; Super Tariffs 2!"
Hensen Juang
Neo Member
Madflavor
Member
The only reason I afforded a 3080 10gb back in 2020, is because I got a big dick bonus that year. Other than that, I'm priced out of high end PC gaming. The problem isn't just NVIDIA ass raping the market with their stupid high prices. Everything is more expensive now. It's hard to save money when you have a family, mortgage, utility bills, and just enough left over to buy a new game or enjoy the occasional restaurant.
I'm lucky that the 3080 is a fucking beast that can still tackle modern games at 1440p. It's a fighter for sure.
I'm lucky that the 3080 is a fucking beast that can still tackle modern games at 1440p. It's a fighter for sure.