News - NVIDIA Dictates Advertised Video Card Pricing?
NVIDIA Dictates Advertised Video Card Pricing?
Many HardOCP.com readers have noticed lately that their GeForce video
card buying experience has changed at major etailers such as Newegg and TigerDirect.
The reason for these shopping changes is that NVIDIA is attempting to
control pricing that is “advertised” to you. Now you might be wondering
why a fabless silicon GPU developer is dictating pricing controls to
the companies selling you video cards or how that is even possible. You also might be
wondering why comparing prices at your favorite etailer has become a
huge pain in the ass. The easy answer to that question is NVIDIA’s
Unilateral Minimum Advertised Price Policy, better known as “UMAP.” The
not-so-easy answer gets a bit convoluted as to what the purpose of the
program actually is, and whether or not it is legal. One thing is for
sure; going to your favorite etailer and easily comparing prices on
many GeForce branded video cards just got much more difficult.
