Brendon Ray Hedrick, a former product manager at EVGA, has confirmed that internal concerns regarding NVIDIA's business practices influenced the company's decision to exit the GPU market. The tension began to escalate during the launch of the Pascal generation in 2016.
According to Hedrick, the introduction of NVIDIA's Founder's Edition cards created a direct conflict of interest. EVGA, which previously relied on selling NVIDIA's reference designs under its own brand, found itself competing directly against its primary GPU supplier for the same customer base.
The situation was further complicated by the pricing strategy of the GTX 1080 Founders Edition. This model was sold at a premium compared to the starting price of partner cards, highlighting the structural challenges EVGA faced while maintaining its partnership with NVIDIA.
