顯示卡價格拒絕快速下降 AMD逆勢上漲

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長達數週的顯示卡價格下跌已呈放緩狀態。玩家們以樂觀態度看著來自NVIDIA、AMD的產品向其建議零售價下降的步伐不斷加快，但最新的數據顯示，快速的下降已經結束，至少目前是如此。

德國網站3DCenter一直追蹤德國RTX 30系列與RX 6000系列顯示卡的平均價格。從5月的峰值來看，當時NVIDIA顯示卡的售價是其建議售價的三倍，而AMD顯示卡是建議售價的兩倍，此兩家顯示卡於7月初已下降至較其建議售價高53%。

於7月4日至7月18日之間，NVIDIA顯示卡的價格僅下降了3%。而對AMD粉絲來說，有個更”不好”的消息，RX 6000系列顯示卡的平均價格於同一時間內不降反升3%，此為自5月以來的首次上漲。

值得慶幸的是，顯示卡的庫存尚保持穩定，只有RTX 3060 Ti於NVIDIA陣營未能獲得4/5的可用性評級，其它型號供貨的情況有所改善。而AMD陣營，RX 6800 XT（3/5）與RX 6800（2/5）為最難找到的卡。

需要說明的是，上述報告只適用於德國與奧地利的零售商，儘管經常被視作全球市場的參考指標，但預期可能會於幾週內看到另一次價格急劇下降，而二手市場最新價格更新亦顯示售價一直是穩定下降。

訊息來源

OnePlus Nord 2: A great 5G phone for a reasonable price

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Andrew Hoyle/CNET

OnePlus calls its brand new Nord 2 the “flagship killer,” and I get why. This phone has impressive specs, performs well and when paired with a reasonable starting price (only £399 here in the UK), it’s designed to offer everything you’d need from a phone without emptying your bank account. A powerful processor, a solid dual rear camera setup, 5G connectivity, super fast charging – and it’s not bad to look at either.

Read more: OnePlus Nord 2 vs. Nord vs. Nord CE vs. OnePlus 9: Comparing OnePlus' latest phones

Like the previous Nord – and the cheaper Nord CE, launched just a few weeks back – the Nord 2 will not be on sale in the US. It’s destined for the UK and wider Europe, where it’ll cost £399 for the version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or £469 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For reference, £399 converts to about $540 or AU$740.

But no, it doesn’t really “kill” any flagships. It’s not as powerful as a “true” flagship like the iPhone 12 Pro Max or S21 Ultra, nor will its camera skills attract the world’s most demanding photographers. The flagship that I feel is most at risk is OnePlus’s own 9 series, which shares many features with the Nord 2, yet has a much higher starting price of £629 ($729).

I’ve spent a short amount of time with the Nord 2 ahead of its unveiling, and here are the five things I like most about it.

A powerful MediaTek processor

OnePlus has typically used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon line of processors for its phones but it went with MediaTek’s Dimensity 1200-AI chip for the Nord 2. You’ll notice absolutely no difference in use – it’s the same as any other Android phone – but you will notice that it’s surprisingly powerful for the price.

While it’s not up there with the iPhone 12 Pro Max in terms of benchmarks, it did beat the Pixel 5 and wasn’t far below the more expensive OnePlus 9. It’s certainly powerful enough for gaming, photo editing and video streaming and navigating around the Android 11 interface is smooth and stutter free.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Android 11 software

The Nord 2 runs Android 11 at its core, over which OnePlus has slapped its usual Oxygen software. I really like OnePlus’s software as it’s neat, easy to use and doesn’t try and load the phone up with too many bundled services and bloatware. As a result, the phone remains nippy and trouble-free for longer.

It’s particularly important on lower and midrange phones that might not cope as well with being bogged down by services. The result here is a phone with smooth performance that I expect to remain for some time to come.

OnePlus says it’s guaranteed to get at least two years of Android upgrades – so an update to Android 12 this fall and Android 13 next year is a given – with an additional year of security updates after that.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Incredible fast charging

The Nord 2 has the same 65-watt fast charging seen on the OnePlus 9 series and it’s amazing. It’ll take the phone from empty to full in only about 30 minutes, which makes it amazing for giving it a quick boost before you head out from home. The 4,500-mAh battery should still give you a day of use from a charge, but when you can recharge so quickly, battery life becomes somewhat less of an issue.

Even better is that a 65-watt fast charger comes in the box, so you don’t need to scour Amazon for one. What the phone doesn’t have is wireless charging, but I don’t see that as a particular problem.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Vibrant, sharp display

The Nord 2’s display measures 6.43 inches and boasts a resolution of 2,400x1,080 pixels, which is sufficient to make tiny text look nice and sharp. It’s an AMOLED panel, making it extremely vibrant too: great for videos, photos or playing whatever colorful game is currently making the rounds on the Google Play Store.

It has a 90Hz refresh rate which is a touch lower than the 120Hz of the OnePlus 9 series, but I doubt you’d be able to tell any real difference in day-to-day use. It’s silky smooth when scrolling around the interface, but you can also turn it down to a more regular 60Hz, which will apparently help save battery life.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Decent rear cameras

We haven’t done our full suite of camera tests yet, but what we’ve seen from the cameras so far looks good. The main sensor is a 50-megapixel affair – the same one seen in the OnePlus 9’s ultrawide camera. Outdoor images look well-exposed, with plenty of detail and natural-looking colors.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The 8-megapixel super-wide lens is noticeably less detailed, but it too seems capable of capturing good-looking outdoor images. There’s an on-screen option for 2x zoom but there isn’t a zoom lens, so that 2x is based on digitally cropping the shot. Results still look good, but it’s worth keeping in mind that you won’t get maximum quality doing this.

There’s also technically a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor, which is totally pointless in my opinion as a photographer. If you want good-looking black and white images, use the regular camera and apps like Adobe Lightroom or Snapseed to have full control over converting to mono. Frankly, I feel OnePlus could have pulled this out and lopped another 20 quid or so off the price.

Why price of maize keeps rising

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Unlike this time of last year when a cob of maize either fresh, roasted, or boiled was sold for as low as N50, a cob currently goes for at least N100.00. Six cobs of maize sold at the rate of N200.00 last year is currently sold for N400.00 in local markets.

A 100kg bag of maize initially sold for between N15, 000 to N17, 000 at the farm gate has risen to around N30, 000.

The development is no doubt threatening the already distressed maize industry. According to stakeholders and industry analysts, the market is currently under pressure as the price of the produce had hit the roof in recent times.

As of Thursday, The Guardian confirmed that the price of a tonnage has increased between 25 per cent to 40 per cent compared to last year. It was revealed that a ton of maize sold for N180, 000 last year is currently selling for between N270, 000 to N280, 000.

This has inadvertently led to the price increase in feeds, flour, and all the derivatives from maize. The poultry industry seems to be hard hit as many farms and hatcheries have been forced to go underground. Those still operating, according to reports are either struggling to remain in business at zero profit or incurring huge debts to stay afloat.

The recent increase in the price of bread is also associated with this development as the cost of flour, one of the raw materials for bread has increased exponentially due to the high cost of maize.

The activities of the middlemen seemed to have been responsible for the increase, as they have been accused of taking advantage of the supply gap to hike the price of the commodity, though the Federal Government has taken moves to checkmate their activities by releasing the commodity from the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR) to stem artificial scarcity, stakeholders say the intervention has done little to tackle the challenges facing the market.

For the third time this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released metric tonnes of maize to identified major producers in the country. Speaking during the recent release three weeks ago, the CBN spokesman, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, said the intervention would crash the price of maize, reduce pressure on the market, and make the product directly available to feed producers, thereby reducing the price of poultry feed.

But based on current reality, industry players are raising alarm that the industry might face more challenges in months to come as the rising cost of the commodity due to its shortfall might spell doom for the already distressed industry.

While noting that the CBN intervention is a short-term solution, they claimed that several factors –yield reduction; effect of COVID-19; climate change; armyworm invasion; herders’ attacks are compounding the situation.

Country Manager of Harvest Plus-Nigeria, Paul Ilona, told The Guardian that the problem facing the maize market is multi-faceted. According to him, the factors responsible for maize price hike include- the problem of fall armyworm; insecurity; climate change, and others.

Ilona said there is no doubt that the fall armyworm infestation will continue to have its effect on maize. According to him, a report from farmers this year has shown some moderately high infestation by armyworm. “But the good thing is that there has been a lot more of awareness and so people seem to have understood the need to use prerequisite insecticide to control it.

“The problem resides in the small-scale farmers but the commercial farmers tend to use insecticide, but smallholder farmers have financial challenges of getting it.”

He said to a very large extent, there should be some effect of the fall armyworm infestation on the price of the commodity in months to come.

Continuing, Ilona said: “Aside from the effect of the fall armyworm, the invasion of farms by the herders has discouraged many farmers and it’s practically very difficult to convince them to go back to farm. Nobody is ready to invest N1m or N2m and reap nothing and one year after you expect him to go back to the field. Unless we address the insecurity problem, farmers will not be willing to go back to farm.

“The main challenge is getting the research institutions to quickly come up with fall armyworm resistant variety, it may take a while yet government must be able to do that, otherwise we’ll be at the mercy of the multi-nationals who are producing these insecticides. Climate change is another problem. This manifested in the Southwest, places like Iganna in Oyo State and others are suffering from rain shortages this year. These are actually causing a hike in the price of the commodity.”

He advised the Federal Government to put all the challenges in perspective, noting that unless the issues are addressed, “we’ll begin to import again. The poultry farmers are suffering. The sector is generating trillions of naira investment, why should we let it die due to feeding challenges. There should be right direction at the government level and right direction at the stakeholders level to solve this problem.”

The National President of Maize Growers and Processors Association of Nigeria (MAGPAMAN), Dr. Edwin Oche said: Today, we shouldn’t have been discussing this if not for the challenges encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If not for the advent of COVID-19 that affected food chains and production, as well as agriculture as a whole both locally and internationally, we will not be talking about the price increase in maize per bag. We will not be talking about the increase in feeds, flour, and all the derivatives from maize and others.

“It’s a global issue and as an association, we are dealing with it and strategically looking at the ways to ameliorate the problem by engaging the Federal Government and CBN and other partners to ensure we come out of it.”

He said local farmers had the capacity to grow enough maize to support both industrial use and local consumption.

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