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GPU shipments dropped sharply during the closing months of '08

With major computer component sales being very tightly dependant on the sales of computers, a downturn in the PC market inevitably leads to a downturn in component sales like memory, GPU, and CPUs. The latest GPU shipment numbers from Jon Peddie Research (JPR) are in and things don’t look good for the GPU market.

The shipment numbers for Q4 2008 are in for the graphics market and total shipments for the quarter was 72.35 million units. During Q4 of 2007, the number of GPUs shipped was 100.5 million. In Q3 2008, 111.26 million GPUs were shipped showing a marked drop in quarter-to-quarter shipments of GPUs.

The drop during the Q4 holiday shopping season is also indicative of the low holiday spending seen in virtually all markets. JPR reports that Q4 2008 was the first quarter that shipments had decreased compared to Q3 since 2000. Growth from Q3 2008 to Q4 2008 was down 34.98%.

All graphics vendors were hit with reduced shipments, though some firms were harder hit than others were. JPR reports that NVIDIA was able to gain market share on ATI over the quarter. In Q4 2008 NVIDIA had 30.7% of the GPU market compared to AMD's 19.3% of the market. Intel was still the leader holding 47.8% of the market.

It's interesting to point out that NVIDIA had claimed in October of 2008 that it would use the 9400M GPU to grab 30% of the graphics market and as of Q4 2008, it has made good on that prediction. JPR points out that the Q4 GPU shipment numbers in relation to the Q3 2008 numbers are tempered a bit by the fact that Q3 numbers were surprisingly high.

President of JPR, Dr. Jon Peddie said in a statement, "The fourth quarter is usually a positive quarter for the computer industry. There has obviously been some inventory problems in the quarter as sales failed to live up to the optimistic expectations of the third quarter, 2008. Vendors were bracing for a slower than usual quarter due to economic factors, but performance this quarter was surprisingly low. Put simply, the market stalled in the fourth quarter. Due to the worldwide financial market meltdown, the U.S. housing market meltdown, layoffs, and media reports, the consumer has hunkered down to wait out the storm."

Peddie says that the forecast is for a strong Q3 and Q4 2009, but that will come after the worst Q1 and Q2 decline since 2000. In Q4 2008, 37.45 million GPUs shipped for desktop use, a 39.5% drop from Q3 2008. NVIDIA holds a small edge in the desktop GPU segment with a market share of 37.9%. AMD has 21.4% of the desktop market and market share information for Intel wasn't offered. JPR expects the desktop GPU market to level off in 2009 as better prices on desktop computers lure companies looking for workstations back to the desktop market rather than a notebook.

Most of the GPU market focus is aimed at AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA, but smaller firms are still in the market. Matrox held 0.1% of the graphics market; SiS holds 1.1% of the market and VIA holds 1% of the market for GPUs.

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hahah
By jay401 on 1/29/2009 11:39:43 AM , Rating: 5
They tried ratcheting up the prices again on the newest wares after several quarters of new model pricings coming in at the same level or lower than the outgoing models, and now the consumer is like wtfno.

The GTX-285 should have come in at $299 to keep things lively. Oh well, we can all just wait until the prices correct down again. It's not like we (well, those of us without a moneytree or a penchant for one-upping the Joneses) can't get by with what we already have.




RE: hahah
By Parhel on 1/29/2009 2:41:46 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
The GTX-285 should have come in at $299 to keep things lively.


I'm not sure how much that would have helped. What with the cheap 8800GT cards a few months ago, followed by ATI's new cards, I would bet that a lot of the people who would have been in the market had bought already.

And with the economy uncertain, an incremental increase in their graphics card is hardly the kind of thing many people are likely to spend $300 on.

I don't see sales picking up until at least next Christmas season, and even then only if the games are there.


RE: hahah
By The0ne on 1/29/2009 3:48:24 PM , Rating: 2
I believe the release was premature. I already had a 8800GTS and recently purchased a 9800GX2. What point is there to get a 4870 or 280 series that can give me substantial benefits when you can pick an 8800GTS for cheap. I got the 9800GX2 for $300 (on sale) and it's still running games fine. DX10 games? Tried them and the graphic enhancements and not very impress at all.

If it's going to work games are going to have to support what's being claim.


RE: hahah
By zerocool84 on 1/29/2009 4:13:23 PM , Rating: 1
Premature??? Do you know how old your GX2 is??? I for one welcome progress. I'm glad they are releasing new products all the time. You don't have to buy them if you don't want to. No one is pressuring you. When new things get released, older things drop in price and the new things give you more performance. Also when new things come out you always pay an early adopter premium for them. My 9800GTX+ does me fine now but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't come out with new cards. Oh and some people run bigger monitors that a 8800GTS stuggles on. Not everyone runs small monitors.


RE: hahah
By Parhel on 1/29/2009 4:33:05 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Premature??? Do you know how old your GX2 is???


The GX2 can't be even a year old yet.

Nobody's saying their shouldn't be progress, but it makes complete sense that Q4 was bad. Not only was the Christmas season bad for every product, but for video cards all of the really exciting releases came way in advance of the prime shopping season.


RE: hahah
By BruceLeet on 1/30/2009 1:59:29 AM , Rating: 4
I think AMD should come in with an ad based on this price/performance topic. AMD PR people walk with me-talk with me...

AMD has a side-by-side video of HD playback using their dragon platform against their Core i7 counterpart. And a subtitle says "Notice any difference between HD playblack? No you don't. So why pay over $1,400 on a i7 platform when you could spend under $800 for the same performance and save $600 for a high end monitor or a second AMD based system".

Run that on major stations for 6 months but of course they don't have the funds for it. I say they should run it when everyone gets their tax returns. Where there's recession there's opportunity.


headline
By alpensiedler on 1/29/2009 11:12:02 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
GPU shipments drop like shawty's at a Lil Wayne concert


This is perhaps the dumbest headline I've ever read.




RE: headline
By alpensiedler on 1/29/2009 11:13:49 AM , Rating: 2
Otherwise it's a good article though :o)


RE: headline
By therealnickdanger on 1/29/2009 11:43:10 AM , Rating: 2
In addition to being possessive instead of plural...

quote:
GPU shipments drop like shawty 's at a Lil Wayne concert


RE: headline
By tallcool1 on 1/29/2009 12:03:28 PM , Rating: 2
Lil Wayne?
Never heard of him/her... so the headline is even more pointless.


RE: headline
By PhoenixKnight on 1/29/2009 12:32:13 PM , Rating: 4
Nor have I. Understanding your readers' demographic...FAIL!


RE: headline
By Parhel on 1/29/2009 2:45:47 PM , Rating: 2
How about "faster than Bubba's confederate flag boxers at a Toby Keith concert."


RE: headline
By Nfarce on 1/29/2009 2:55:56 PM , Rating: 2
Poor analogy: rednecks don't think it's real cool to wear their pants/boxers halfway down to their knees.


RE: headline
By The0ne on 1/29/2009 3:44:21 PM , Rating: 2
Same, must be because I'm too old? I don't get it :/


think of performance
By Screwballl on 1/29/2009 1:12:34 PM , Rating: 2
When there are so few games/applications out there today that even fully make use of a 8800/3800 at higher resolutions, the nvidia 9000 and 200 series and AMD 4000 series GPUs are mostly just for the benchmark junkies and bragging rights.

When the economy slowed down, people realized that their current GPU is more than sufficient for playing the games they want at the resolutions they want (typically at 1600x or lower), so have held back their frivolous spending for now. I myself was planning an Intel i7 based build with a 4850X2 or GTX260 or similar card but decided to wait until 2010 tax refund to build it because of the current state of the economy. For now my E6600, 2GB DDR2-1066, GA-EP35-DS3P board, 8800GTS 320MB, 320GB Seagate 7200.10 and WD 500GB server drive, and X-Fi XtremeMusic is more than capable enough to handle what I need it to for another year or two if needed (although I have been thinking of updating to 4GB DDR2-800 [2x2GB] since it is so cheap nowadays).




RE: think of performance
By paulpod on 1/29/2009 2:02:32 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, and where is a games like "Thief: Deadly Shadows" that was wildy entertaining with a very short learning curve? Modern graphics coupled with the fanciful/humorous/creepy setting and characters of that game would be awesome.

Basically, where are games normal (employed) people can play without needing to spend hundreds of hours learning arcane skills and arbitrary game strategies? Bioshock is close, but still too much "work" to play. I will order a new graphics card the second a "fun" game comes out.

Unfortunately, game designers today are too lazy to produce a game that requires THEM do any storyline work.


RE: think of performance
By hadifa on 1/29/2009 10:23:11 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Unfortunately, game designers today are too lazy to produce a game that requires THEM do any storyline work.


We gamers are demanding as well. The designers are trying to produce games that are everything to every one and that's not easy. We want a triple A game, Full featured, innovative yet polished, physics, AI, high end Graphics yet runs well on older machines, Online multiplayer, Run on variety of hardware/OS and software setups smoothly, small learning curve yet deep, 10s of hours of game play yet enjoyable in short bursts and so on and so forth.

Looking at the recent games, they blow the mind. They are sophisticated and yet accessible. If you feel they lost the magic, it's probably because the concept is not as novel to you as it once was. The games available now are truly excellent but our expectations has matured as well.

Just playing or even looking at some of the latest games can bring tears to my eyes, yet I can't wave away the nagging in my head about, what if they have done this part similar to that other game or if this concept was a bit more open ended or if another part was more focused, just if they had multiplayer or only if they would add this or that feature. I wish that game would have been longer or this one had more variety in the game modes.

IMO The game designers are doing a fantastic job, but they can't always capture the feeling we had with some of the classics without extreme innovation -and risk-.

If you want the magic back, you may want to experience a different genre for a while, play a few indie games, a couple of flash ones or don't play for a while and then come back.

There are lots of fantastic games with truly novel approach that usually fly under the radar. Check them out and you will be pleasantly surprised by the simplicity and the depth in some of them.

Just suggestions from top of my mind for simple games I have checked recently:

Defense Grid on steam, surprisingly fun tower defense type game. Wish it had multiplayer and more depth

DROD ,puzzle game, Super low graphic requirement, I was hooked to this one for a while

Syberia 1&2 (simple and stylish adventure game) Super low graphic requierment

Spirit Engine 2, Simple RPG,

Galactic civ 2 (ultimate edition), low graphic requirement. Very deep and not simple turn based strategy game

Devil May cry 4, Simple hack and slash combo game. medium graphic requirement. looks stunning.

Starscape: excellent simple shooter game. Couldn't get enough of this one. low hardware requirement

and some simple jewel quest type games.

Most of these games are cheap and almost all of them have a demo you can check before buying.

There are many others that I enjoyed like space rangers 2, but I feel they are not for everyone. The ones above should appeal to the majority of people, or so I think.


Intel's Market Share???
By nemoshotyany on 1/29/2009 11:56:45 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
NVIDIA holds a small edge in the desktop GPU segment with a market share of 37.9%. AMD has 21.4% of the desktop market and market share information for Intel wasn't offered.
quote:


Is it safe for me to assume that Intel has a 38.5% market share?




RE: Intel's Market Share???
By bfellow on 1/29/2009 2:43:40 PM , Rating: 2
No... because you forgot about VIA, Matrox, and Bubba Joes


RE: Intel's Market Share???
By nemoshotyany on 1/30/2009 4:25:52 AM , Rating: 2
I subtracted those from Intel's market share. Well all except Bubba Joes.


Hmm
By svenkesd on 1/29/2009 12:07:19 PM , Rating: 2
We might as well drop the beginning of this headline so it reads:

Shipments Drop Significantly in Q4 2008

That about sums it up for everything.




Compound
By Lonyo on 1/29/2009 2:09:56 PM , Rating: 2
No real surprise at all here.
Q3 was good because we'd just had new cards from both ATI and NV, Q4 sucks because people have only just got the new cards in Q3, or they just aren't buying because the economy is a bit messed up.




Propping up the companies in Q1
By 7Enigma on 1/30/2009 8:24:45 AM , Rating: 2
Well I helped a bit to prop up the companies in Q1 of this year (or at least calender Q1). Just built a new system with mid-grade components since I game on a 19" LCD.

E8500 C2D, 4870 512meg, 4gig Reaper ram, UD3R Gigabyte mobo, etc.

All told spent about $850 (reused the case and HD from my previous build), and there was about $115 in rebates, so for under $750 I have a VERY capable gaming rig for the next 2 years. At that point I'll probably finally make the switch to 24" gaming goodness and will need to rebuild the system.




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