Sparkle factory tour puts a number on HDMI port cost
Source: Gamers Nexus
A Sparkle factory tour with Gamers Nexus of Intel Arc production in Taiwan put a rough number on something GPU makers rarely discuss. Sparkle said an HDMI port costs about $1 per port, and described licensing as a big part of that figure. As a rough estimate, the connector plus basic protection parts often lands around $1 to $3 per output in volume, while boards that need extra signal conditioning can add a few more dollars.
HDMI cost can also depend on how a card implements the standard. Intel Arc Alchemist is a good example, because some models relied on extra board-level hardware to reach full HDMI 2.1 FRL behavior, while others shipped with more limited HDMI modes.
Sparkle employee also revealed that DisplayPort (Alchemist cards use DisplayPort 2.0) is much cheaper than HDMI. For a simple Arc 3 series GPU, like we saw in the video, the HDMI ports alone already contribute to roughly 4 USD per card.
Source: Gamers Nexus
HDMI 2.2 raises the bandwidth ceiling to 96 Gbps, but the standard is still not showing up in shipping GPUs, monitors, or cables in any meaningful way. Maybe monitor and GPU makers should focus more on DisplayPort 2.1 instead. DisplayPort does not carry the same licensing overhead, and DP 2.1 hardware is already on the market, with monitors you can buy today.
It costs $20 to ship Arc Battlemage by air
One other detail from the tour is that Sparkle is shipping B570 and B580 cards by air to get them into the US channel faster, even though it adds a noticeable cost. Sparkle put air freight at roughly $20 per card, versus about $5 to $7 by sea. Air shipments take a few days (2-3), while ocean freight can take around a month.
It was an interesting video. The tour was led by a former EVGA employee, who shared some useful perspective on how much freedom Intel gives board partners when it comes to graphics card designs. However, even after watching the full video, I did not see any sign of an Arc B770.
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Source: VideoCardz
Author: VideoCardz