Retailers are paying distributors $675 for AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 cards

The whole AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 launch pricing controversy is still raging. It started shortly after launch as Gibbo from OCUK revealed that they were only able to hit the $499 pricing on standalone cards thanks to rebates from AMD. He said the $499 MSRP from AMD was impossible to hit without everyone in the supply chain selling the card at a loss.

Several other sources confirmed parts of the story and the overall sense is that $599 (or more) is a much more realistic price for the Radeon RX Vega 64. AMD released a cryptic statement and didn't confirm nor deny the story about the launch rebates.

Now TechPowerUp has a scoop about the price retailers are paying for the Radeon RX Vega 64. The site received photographic proof that San Jose-based distributor MA Laboratories is quoting $675 per unit for a regular reference design Radeon RX Vega 64 to a computer store.

In order to allow retailers to sell the cards for $499 and turn a profit, distributors should be selling the cards for under $499. This invoice lends credence to claims that the high pricing of the Radeon RX Vega 64 is not caused by retailer price gouging. So are it the distributors that are jacking up prices, or is it AMD or its board partners that are charging too much money for the cards? That remains a mystery.



Earlier this week there was also a story over at PCGamesN. That site talked to AMD marketing guy Gerald Youngblood at Gamescom and got to hear that the $499 price is not just for launch but ongoing. Youngblood claims inventory is incredibly important in everybody being able to hit the promised launch prices.

“Our SEPs, and the price tag that we announced,” Youngblood says, “is our full intention of where we would suggest the product be priced. Not just for launch, but ongoing.”

What happened, though, was we launched the product and the demand was really huge. Now we’re focused on replenishing so that there is plenty of stock so we can encourage our partners to hit the SEPs that we announced.”

We're also not quite sure where all the Vega cards are going to. Cryptocurrency demand is often blamed but the Vega series is not particularly great for Ethereum mining. Perhaps this time it's the AI/compute market and Hollywood that are scooping up all the cards?