Refractive Software® is discontinuing Cubix Xpander support

[bob30]

I wonder why some people behave like wanting to control everything... and also wanting that this forum becomes a place where censorship is the way to go.

From a customer point of view, when things go wrong there is no compromise nor regrets to have. Only hypocrisy leads to compromises and respectability. (Not that i say one must not respect each other, on the contrary).

But the truth is that the Xpander boxes are not a good affair: 2000$ for a PCIe gen 2.0 is clearly a kind of theft for the customer. I think some companies are abusing new technologies for creating markets on the fly with exagerated prices, and i don't speak about particular Cubix's position, but i think in more general terms.

In this case, customers of Octane Render can not buy such hardwares, it is a certainty, excepted for a few percentage of them. So, it's clearly a non friendly-market for Octane's customers. If hardware assemblers want to sell their old PCIe gen 1.0, they can do that, but at reduced prices, and not saying that it is new technology whereas one is going to enter into gen 3.0 specifications, or that it is cheaper than buying new computers, because it is clearly a false argument.

So, i understand that companies want to make business, but if they do that without taking into account the reality of the market, and in occurence the market of Octane render software, then there is no possibility of continuing with such companies. Thus, i understand the decision of Refactive software, even if i don't know all the intricacies of their past relationship with Cubix if any.

[GeoPappas]

2000$ for a PCIe gen 2.0 is clearly a kind of theft for the customer.

I don't have a Cubix and don't plan on buying one, but to claim that they are stealing from the customer is just plain ridiculous.

Nobody is forcing anyone to buy from Cubix. Buying a Cubix (or any other product) is at their sole discretion. If you don't like a product or believe that it is too expensive, then you don't have to buy it (or you can try and build one yourself for cheaper). Plain and simple.

Cubix is obviously a niche product. They cater to people and businesses that need what they sell. And if they didn't have lots of happy customers, then they would be out of business by now.

[bob30]

Hi GeoPappas

From what i know, but i may be wrong, Cubix is not a card builder, but an assembler company. So, if they can't have correct prices for their material from their dealer and taking into account the market of their customers, then one can not say that they are stealing, consciously, their customers. It would be dishonnest to say that.

[bob30]

What i'm afraid of, is that the PCIe circuit builders are the same than the CPU builders.

According to wikipedia, "Work on PCI began at Intel's Architecture Development Lab circa 1990."

So, if the GPU market is controlled by the CPU one, one can understand that they don't want a too quick development of GPUs. But at the same time, the boxes for GPUs are in the market and are totally overpriced for what they are, comparatively to a computer, and that is what i find it is not acceptable, as a mere customer.

[bob30]

I mean: imagine a computer company which proposes you to buy a computer 900$, but as an empty box, without graphic cards, motherboard or CPU... I don't think you would accept that price.

[Carl S.]

You are completely missing the point.
Just say we have animations to render TODAY.
How else do you suggest adding 2,4,6,8 etc.. video cards to your computer today?
Not waiting for a new solution to come out but right at this very moment.

I have rendered about 10,000 HD unbiased frames since you have been on here ranting about Cubix.
How would you go about rendering those?

[ilac]

I mean: imagine a computer company which proposes you to buy a computer 900$, but as an empty box, without graphic cards, motherboard or CPU... I don't think you would accept that price.

If you needed such a computer box, and they were the only company to provide it, then yes you would.

[matej]

Does Cubix have any competition in this segment? If not, then their prices are completely understandable, still overpriced in regard of the technology the product is made of IMO, but understandable. That just how the market works.

[ROUBAL]

2000$ for a PCIe gen 2.0 is clearly a kind of theft for the customer

I have worked in electronics for 25 years. I can tell you that the price of a device is not mainly due to the hardware inside, but mainly to the amount of pieces that the builder will sell. More sales, lower price. For a new product on a limited market, if you start with low price you will never cover the R&D expenses and production cost.

In my former work, I used several kinds of pliers for crimping wires into special plugs. These pliers were very simple tools molded in plastic and made of only 3 parts. Though, they were very expensives ! Around 150 Euros each ! Why ? Because the market was very narrow. Potential users/purchasers were a limited number of specialists using these tools in rare situations. These tools were made because they were necessary for some tasks, but as the market was narrow, this product apparently simple was very expensive.

The market is like that. It's how business works.

[bob30]

Ah Carl, i see what you mean..

Well, if i answer you, people will say that i make an advertising. Never mind. You say you have the money for buying it, and also because you need it now. Then, you could have chose Arion, and there, with multi CPU, multi GPU and LAN support, you could have bought several computers with graphic cards, and be far more faster with not only multi GPU but also multi CPU... but Arion is not affordable for most of octane's customers.