graphics cards in taipei seem expensive

[dingetje]

hi guys, ;shakehand

i am a dutch guy living in taipei. i am going to build a pc so i checked the prices over at guang hua.
the prices are pretty good, but the prices for midrange gfx cards (like the 6800gt and x800 cards) are very high compared to prices in the usa. even the high range cards like the nvidias 7800 and ati 850 are not exactly cheap here.
does anybody know why?

i wish i could read chinese so i would know whats going on in the other areas of the forum (im hoping i will press the right button to post this message lol).

 

[chyyoung780]

i just bought a gigabyte x800 graphic card from USA. it is cheaper than the card you could see in Taipei. i never know the reason. isn't the card company from taiwan?

 

[dingetje]

hi chyyoung,

yes i think gigabyte is taiwanese so its very strange taiwan prices are 30% higher than in usa.
did you find a reseller that will ship the card to taiwan from the usa or did you visit there yourself?

i think the prices for graphics cards in taiwan are fixed (maybe by law or else by price fixing of traders).

also, i dont understand why brands like sapphire, xfx, bfg, evga for graphics cards and brands like abit, dfi, sapphire (and many more) for motherboards are not available in taiwan. it seems the only brands available are asus , gigabyte and msi which of course are good quality brands too.

does anyone who reads this know when the nvidia 6800GS cards will be available in taiwan?
in the usa they are already 200$ which is less than 7000 NT.
the 6800GS cards are faster than the 6800GT cards, especially when you overclock.

check this out : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130258

best regards.

 

[dingetje]

by the way......today i was in nova...the asus en6800gt can be had for 9000NT .... i was also told the 6800gs cards will be available next week so i'm waiting for those because they are cheaper and better for oc'ing

 

[Kilo-ServerZoo.com]

Hello

I personally guess that is because most Graphic core chips such as ATI or Nvidia are not Taiwanese brands. Many of those core chips are for sure built in Taiwan but they are just not possible to be sold from factory to Taiwan local market. they have to go from

Taiwan factory -> USA -> Taiwan graphic card providers

This is a great forum and don't hasitate to ask any questions ;em25;

 

[Kilo-ServerZoo.com]

oh, also

When you go to Kuan-hua or Nova, if you don't ask for invoice and don't pay by credit card, you will have cheaper rate. I know it is a bit unethical, but..... ;rr;

 

[dingetje]

hehehe i know about the cheaper rate (some even advertise with the "no tax" prices), thanks for the tip ;)

by the way....do any of you guys know if the sapphire x800gto2 "limited edition" card is sold in taiwan....i have checked and asked around but no shops in guang hua seem to know anything about that card....while it is THE card to get price/performance ratio wise...flashing the bios takes the 250$ card to the speeds of an x850xt pe card (it has the same r480 core and hella fast 1.6ns memory)



i would choose that over the 6800 gs anytime ;)