the verge A Trump tax means you’ll pay even more for Nvidia and AMD’s impossible-to-find graphics cards.

[bonami2]

Quote

Don’t Build a High-End Gaming PC Right Now,” Tom’s Hardware declared in November. “This Is a Bad Time to Build a High-End Gaming PC,” ExtremeTech echoed last month. But it’s looking like the worst time to build a new gaming rig is still to come. That’s because a perfect storm is pushing the price of components like must-have Nvidia or AMD graphics cards even further skyward — and because Donald Trump is now part of that storm.

https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2021/1/7/22217206/nvidia-amd-gpu-trump-tax-china-tariff-exemption-expire

[ENTERPRISE]

I think this tax tariff issue may very well fade away after the new US administration, but may not. Either way building a rig these days is expensive anyway lol. To the point where I do not think the tariffs will make a discernible difference.

[J7SC_Orion]

Trade frictions with China may improve a bit (if you're an optimist) but I do not think they are going away for a variety of issues caused by ALL sides. Be that as it may, a quick quote from Wikipedia about Caselabs, the much-vaunted PC case manufacturer that started in 1971 in California: "CaseLabs announced that it was shutting down permanently in August 2018, citing Trump tariffs cutting into margins by "raising prices by almost 80%", and the "default of a large account". The company said it would not be able to fulfill all existing orders, but parts orders should ship to customers"

 

[Diffident]

9 hours ago, J7SC_Orion said:

Trade frictions with China may improve a bit (if you're an optimist) but I do not think they are going away for a variety of issues caused by ALL sides. Be that as it may, a quick quote from Wikipedia about Caselabs, the much-vaunted PC case manufacturer that started in 1971 in California: "CaseLabs announced that it was shutting down permanently in August 2018, citing Trump tariffs cutting into margins by "raising prices by almost 80%", and the "default of a large account". The company said it would not be able to fulfill all existing orders, but parts orders should ship to customers"

 

That was just an excuse for a poorly run company.  The tariffs hadn't started yet.

[J7SC_Orion]

3 hours ago, Diffident said:

That was just an excuse for a poorly run company.  The tariffs hadn't started yet.

  

I don't think that's accurate, per below excerpt. Quite apart from that, raw material prices react immediately when a tariff is imposed, even before the official start of said tariff(s). In addition, tariffs were extended again later on.  

 

As to Caselabs being a poorly-run company, I did not see their books. Fact is though that they had been around for about 47 years (!) and their computer cases were (and still are) highly regarded. Raising the cost of a major input to production of a company can and does have disastrous effects.

  

    

[Diffident]

1 hour ago, J7SC_Orion said:

  

I don't think that's accurate, per below excerpt. Quite apart from that, raw material prices react immediately when a tariff is imposed, even before the official start of said tariff(s). In addition, tariffs were extended again later on.  

 

As to Caselabs being a poorly-run company, I did not see their books. Fact is though that they had been around for about 47 years (!) and their computer cases were (and still are) highly regarded. Raising the cost of a major input to production of a company can and does have disastrous effects.

  

    

The claim is bogus.  Prices fluctuate all the time, a 10% increase in aluminum isn't going to kill a business.  Commodities will increase more than that just from increases in the price of oil.  Being an electrician I've made note of the price of copper doubling between the start of a project and the end.  Small increases in material isn't a viable excuse.  Maybe having to wait almost 6 months for an overly expensive case has something to do with it.

 

It might be a coincidence, but 3 aluminum smelters reopened in the US in 2018.  So the tariff may have done it's job.

[UltraMega]

Slightly off topic but why hasn't Nvidia dropped the prices on the 2000 series GPUs? It makes no sense that 2000 GPUs are slower and more expensive than the 3000 still today. If they dropped 2000 series prices, people might actually but them since they're the only thing available that can do RT right now.

[J7SC_Orion]

...I do not need my graduate degree in economics to understand what happened to raw material prices for a firm like Caselabs in that period. The graphs in the spoiler say enough. Prices had already sky-rocketed before hand, and the tariff pushed it to the peak. As to US smelters reopening, the tariff war that resulted did not help the economy as a whole, on the contrary. But that's it for me on this...

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

  

@UltraMega ...I usually skip every second generation of new cards and 2x w-cooled 2080 Ti are doing great, including RTX. Still, 3090s might be a nice upgrade, but with prices so high / availability of the models I want so low, there's no rush

 

 

[Minotaurtoo]

The tariffs really helped our steel company by helping us compete with cheap foreign products. Yes our raw material cost went up, but the lack of overseas competition made up for it.  We make steel containers if it matters to anyone... That being said, I really don't see how any company can survive in Cali right now since their cooperate tax rates are so high.

[Darkpriest667]

The tariff did it's job, any objections to these tariffs are purely political. The point of tariffs is to encourage domestic manufacturing and sales. It did that.

[bonami2]

I sold my 1070 for like 300$ then sold my 5700xt for 400$ waiting for next gen. Then now 1070 are selling for 500$ and 5700xt 600-700 used.

 

I just want a gpu haha my rx 480 is crying at 4k and vr 

 

3060ti is soon the be 1k with the price increase in canada.

[ENTERPRISE]

9 hours ago, bonami2 said:

I sold my 1070 for like 300$ then sold my 5700xt for 400$ waiting for next gen. Then now 1070 are selling for 500$ and 5700xt 600-700 used.

 

I just want a gpu haha my rx 480 is crying at 4k and vr 

 

3060ti is soon the be 1k with the price increase in canada.

 

Ha, I know right. It has all gone a little crazy !