Nvidia have through channel, warned partners to only buy from authorised resellers. Nvidia have become the next target in a long list, where so called ‘shadey’ grey import dealers may have been taking lower end stock and changing stickers or bios to resell them as higher end units.
“Reseller who do not purchase from authorised partners run the risk of putting substandard products in their customer’s hands. That can only lead to higher returns rates and damaged relationships with consumers,” said Fiona Faulkner, senior director for sales for GeForce EMEAI.
Both AMD and Nvidia have extended their ranges dramatically in the last few years by offering ‘cut down’ units from the same product lines as higher end units with bios changes to suit retailers. But rumours of retailers across the board buying stocks of cards from non authorised channels that turn out to have been bios adjusted may be true and should be a word of warning to consumers to make sure they buy from high end retailers to try and avoid this issue.
Not all end users could spot a rebranded GPU. So it will be intresting to see if we see examples of the ‘Grey Market’ rebranding GPUs and turning up.
http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/reseller-news/nvidia-warns-resellers-over-dangers-of-remarked-chips/
