[engadget] Origin PC drops AMD graphics options due to feedback, support woes

[BoFox]

Origin PC CEO Responds to AMD GPU Controversy


"Devin Connors: Has Origin PC received any incentive, cash or otherwise, from Nvidia that led to the discontinuation of AMD GPU sales by Origin PC?

Kevin Wasielewski: No. In fact, I called my NVIDIA rep and told them I am dropping AMD. Not the other way around.

DC: Did SemiAccurate reach out to you for comment before they published their article today?

KW: They did not reach out to me. No calls, emails, or tweets. "


http://www.gamefront.com/origin-pc-ceo-responds-to-amd-gpu-controversy/

Read this again:
"Devin Connors: Has Origin PC received any incentive, cash or otherwise, from Nvidia that led to the discontinuation of AMD GPU sales by Origin PC?

Kevin Wasielewski: No. In fact, I called my NVIDIA rep and told them I am dropping AMD. Not the other way around."


Now, here's the million-dollar question:

WHY?
WHY would Kevin need to call his NV rep and tell them that he's dropping AMD?

Sir, tell me why!!


BtW, I have a 5-year old (4 sons total) who can lie just as good as that, but he never gets away with it, hehe..

 

[SiliconWars]

That's the main issue - this guy tells a lot of different stories and the only thing that is consistent is none of them make sense.

If he's had an issue with AMD he'd have got a lot more out of taking the issue up with AMD instead of this. He sure wouldn't ditch one of his main partners at this time with new cards incoming. Making those comments in public is just idiotic in the extreme, no need to burn bridges even if he's unhappy now.

Throwing his toys out the pram because he didn't get an invite to Hawaii or get some cards sent for validation? Total crap.

And yep, let's say his comment about him calling Nvidia is true. Why would he do that? If this is true it just shows him up as being a mug - now Nvidia knows they can squeeze him on prices if they want. You would never, ever do this. It is in your own businesses interests to have supplier competition and the last thing you want is your suppliers knowing you depend on them 100%. Unless of course, you've been given other incentives...

It's dirty as hell and hopefully he's done more harm than good. He's either corrupt or plain incompetent, neither of which gives me any confidence in his company.

 

[SolMiester]

Read this again:
"Devin Connors: Has Origin PC received any incentive, cash or otherwise, from Nvidia that led to the discontinuation of AMD GPU sales by Origin PC?

Kevin Wasielewski: No. In fact, I called my NVIDIA rep and told them I am dropping AMD. Not the other way around."


Now, here's the million-dollar question:

WHY?
WHY would Kevin need to call his NV rep and tell them that he's dropping AMD?

Sir, tell me why!!


BtW, I have a 5-year old (4 sons total) who can lie just as good as that, but he never gets away with it, hehe..

Maybe to get more stock, better deals! etc...I dont see anything in that TBH.

 

[Pariah]

Wow, that is about as childish and sad of a response from Origin that I could ever dream of. "They don't treat us like big boys because we sell 3 handfuls of rigs per year! They should give us thousands of dollars worth of pre-release cards!" Lord knows the two cards they send would cover half of their sales

Who exactly are the big boys that are going to be selling 290X crossfire setups? There are none.

This whole thing stinks. I don't think AMD decided against sending Origin PC because they were a boutique dealer. I think they didn't, because they didn't have any to send. The R9 270's are just rebadges, so they had those available.

The huge secrecy around a product of this magnitude this late in the game says AMD is having some sort of problem. You don't have preorders for something without announcing an MSRP and official specs unless something is not right. Could be hardware, could be software, who knows. Maybe that promised "fixed" eyefinity isn't quite working right, wouldn't be surprising when the fix isn't expected for a couple more months on the other cards. So AMD doesn't want to send out samples they know aren't functioning properly.

 

[SiliconWars]

Maybe to get more stock, better deals! etc...I dont see anything in that TBH.

You get a better deal by telling them you are now 100% depending on them for their business? No, not unless the deal is sweetened in other ways.

 

[Pariah]

WHY?
WHY would Kevin need to call his NV rep and tell them that he's dropping AMD?

Sir, tell me why!!

Really? The more intelligent question is why wouldn't he? The guy runs a business, he's and pretty much everyone else with a brain would be able to figure out he may be able to get some incentives out of Nvidia. Who doesn't like free money?

 

[SolMiester]

You get a better deal by telling them you are now 100% depending on them for their business? No, not unless the deal is sweetened in other ways.

Well, he doesn't buy directly from NV does he.....but he could get NV sweeteners for being NV exclusive!

 

[tential]

Really? The more intelligent question is why wouldn't he? The guy runs a business, he's and pretty much everyone else with a brain would be able to figure out he may be able to get some incentives out of Nvidia. Who doesn't like free money?

That's the point he's trying to make I'm sure.
It's that they dropped amd due to trying to get better deals with nvidia, and probably brand perception among the high end gamer who isn't tech savvy. It's amazing how people are willing to pay nvidia premium although I won't lie, I've always had to do more tweaks with my amd cards than nvidia.
The tweaks are worth the cash though, the nvidia premium isn't worth it to me. I'm sure those who don't like the frame pacing and like slu though and other nvidia features are quite happy. I even tried to hold out for the 7 series nvidia but wasn't impressed.
Well see what 2014 brings though.

 

[BoFox]

Maybe to get more stock, better deals! etc...I dont see anything in that TBH.

I mean, if that's all? To actually pick up the phone, call the NV rep just to let them know.. period?

He could've at least made it sound 1000x better than that...

 

[Abwx]

The huge secrecy around a product of this magnitude this late in the game says AMD is having some sort of problem. You don't have preorders for something without announcing an MSRP and official specs unless something is not right. Could be hardware, could be software, who knows. Maybe that promised "fixed" eyefinity isn't quite working right, wouldn't be surprising when the fix isn't expected for a couple more months on the other cards. So AMD doesn't want to send out samples they know aren't functioning properly.

The only ones who seems to have a problem are thoses
relying on viral marketing to counter this product.

Surely that they would launch and put on pre order a product
that doesnt work properly , thanks for your insight...

 

[SiliconWars]

Well, he doesn't buy directly from NV does he.....but he could get NV sweeteners for being NV exclusive!

Looking at the customisation options, he only sells reference Nvidia and EVGA cards.

Edit - "very cheaply" I should say. Hmmm. A 660 Ti for $133? A $770 for $290? http://www.originpc.com/configurator/d/d4.aspx?SYSTEMID=8

Looks like you could be right and he's got some VERY nice deals from Nvidia. That's $100 cheaper than Newegg - not at all fishy.

 

[Pariah]

You get a better deal by telling them you are now 100% depending on them for their business? No, not unless the deal is sweetened in other ways.

You sure might, if you send out a press release announcing it to the world. When the pieces are put together, it makes sense.

 

[SiliconWars]

You sure might, if you send out a press release announcing it to the world. When the pieces are put together, it makes sense.

That's what the original counterpoint was? Ok so it's been switched around so that he's phoned Nvidia instead of Nvidia phoning him. It's still corrupt as hell either way?

 

[Pariah]

Surely that they would launch and put on pre order a product
that doesnt work properly , thanks for your insight...

You must be new to the industry, if you've never seen a product released without all its features working properly. I've owned AMD/ATi products exclusively for a decade, it's a very common "strategy" used by them. Their AIW products in particular were awful when it came to working features out of the box.

 

[blackened23]

I actually loved those All in Wonder cards. I had a 9700 version of one of those IIRC, no problems!

 

[Abwx]

You must be new to the industry, if you've never seen a product released without all its features working properly. I've owned AMD/ATi products exclusively for a decade, it's a very common "strategy" used by them. Their AIW products in particular were awful when it came to working features out of the box.

The product is new die size wise but technologicaly it s a beefed
Tahiti , hence it use a mature technology.

Anyway we can guess that the current viral marketing
from the competition can only be sustained on the long
run given that Hawai completely reversed the impression
given by the release of Tahiti and GTX680 , explicitely
the perf/mm2 metric wich is currently firmly hold by AMD
and Nvidia knows that it might become even worse for the
next generation where they will need to devote a bigger
part for a necessary 512bit bus while AMD will devote
all the benefit of the new process to computation units
wich could increase their perfs/mm2 lead up to 35-40% from 30%.

 

[PingviN]

Really? The more intelligent question is why wouldn't he? The guy runs a business, he's and pretty much everyone else with a brain would be able to figure out he may be able to get some incentives out of Nvidia. Who doesn't like free money?

If he had already decided to drop AMD, why would Nvidia give out incentives?

 

[YBS1]

Looking at the customisation options, he only sells reference Nvidia and EVGA cards.

Edit - "very cheaply" I should say. Hmmm. A 660 Ti for $133? A $770 for $290? http://www.originpc.com/configurator/d/d4.aspx?SYSTEMID=8

Looks like you could be right and he's got some VERY nice deals from Nvidia. That's $100 cheaper than Newegg - not at all fishy.

My God man, you see everything with red tinted glasses don't you?? You perceive wrong doing even when there is none....The reason they are sold "very cheaply" as you put it, is as clear as day for anyone who takes just two seconds to look at that page. The reason the cards are so cheap is the default card cost is already built into the price of the pc, when you "upgrade" to a different card, the default card's cost is deducted from what would be the upgraded card's cost.

 

[Pariah]

If he had already decided to drop AMD, why would Nvidia give out incentives?

Follow the thread. That's what the purpose of the press release by Origin was.

 

[Pariah]

I actually loved those All in Wonder cards. I had a 9700 version of one of those IIRC, no problems!

I loved them too. Owned a few of them, but they were quirky as hell. Whenever MS released a new OS? That was time to get a new AIW, because lord knows, all the AIW features would never work again in the new OS, thanx to ATi's wonderful driver team.

 

[Teizo]

If he had already decided to drop AMD, why would Nvidia give out incentives?

Maybe because they will be buying more Nvidia cards now, so Nvidia will maybe give them a bulk purchase deal?

You wonder why Wal-Mart sells the same stuff for less? Because they buy larger quantities so manufacturers sell to them at a lower price. The manufacturers make a lower overall profit margin, but higher overall revenue. Pretty much common business practice across the board.

 

[SolMiester]

Looking at the customisation options, he only sells reference Nvidia and EVGA cards.

Edit - "very cheaply" I should say. Hmmm. A 660 Ti for $133? A $770 for $290? http://www.originpc.com/configurator/d/d4.aspx?SYSTEMID=8

Looks like you could be right and he's got some VERY nice deals from Nvidia. That's $100 cheaper than Newegg - not at all fishy.

Had to check that out for myself!....there must be a base amount for the primary graphics in the price, as the 2nd 660 is $508, so perhaps not so fishy eh?

 

[chimaxi83]

My God man, you see everything with red tinted glasses don't you?? You perceive wrong doing even when there is none....The reason they are sold "very cheaply" as you put it, is as clear as day for anyone who takes just two seconds to look at that page. The reason the cards are so cheap is the default card cost is already built into the price of the pc, when you "upgrade" to a different card, the default card's cost is deducted from what would be the upgraded card's cost.

I don't think he understands the "+ $xxx" concept of adding money onto the base price for upgradesk, or he's trolling on purpose. Probably the latter, because he's not mentioning all the other killer deals like the "+$359" 4930K, for example.

 

[Teizo]

That's what the original counterpoint was? Ok so it's been switched around so that he's phoned Nvidia instead of Nvidia phoning him. It's still corrupt as hell either way?

Yeah, letting your rep know you are only going to be buying from them now to more than likely try to re-negotiate purchase price on Origin's part is illegal....

You really have no clue what in the world you are talking about.

 

[Elixer]

Yeah, letting your rep know you are only going to be buying from them now to more than likely try to re-negotiate purchase price on Origin's part is illegal....

You really have no clue what in the world you are talking about.

Only if your caught

Kinda like a Ford dealer calling Toyota and saying: "We just dropped Ford, and want you guys now, gimme the best deal, since we dropped Ford. Did I mention we just dropped Ford ? What ? You want me to say Ford sucks ? Sure thing! Anything for a good deal!"