Of course you know the answer.
But in all seriousness. I'm pricing out my next new rig (shit timing for that really, the i9 just came out, and the Ryzen Threadripper comes out soon) and can't help but notice: what the fuck are we paying for?
Seriously.
Production cost of hardware components is practically nothing:
(Sure the article is old af but Intel's gotten much more tight lipped about production costs since then)
From the article:
Though Pentium 4s can sell for up to $637, Intel's average cost for making a chip comes to $40, according to a report from analysts In-Stat.
The report doesn't consider expenses related to design or marketing, or the fact that high-end chips can sell for more because fewer off the production line can actually run at top speed, but it does shed light on how Intel has managed to maintain healthy margins in an era of price declines. The cost has been steady at about $40 since 2003, according to In-Stat.
Adjust for inflation etc, and figure two things:
1. the new i9 is going for $999.99 off the bat.
2. Production costs have probably dropped a bit since 03. Since, you know (((innovations in productivity))).
Sure a significant amount of the profit margin goes to R&D for the actual chip, but when the competition can come out with a competing chip that's almost half the price, you have to wonder how much of the margin is driven by greed and international jewery.
I can get the price extremes for GPU's. They're niche market and not everyone needs a bleeding edge GPU. Even so, MSRP prices for high end cards have started to come down considerably.
Regardless of what you're doing with your computer, you need a CPU. The smart thing to do is to throw as much money as you can to futureproof for as long as you can. You would think to move as many units as possible, CPU's would be dirt cheap.
I figure just about every other aspect of commerce is zog'd, computer hardware just happens to be a prime example of it.
Thoughts?
