If you want to see how rampant fanboyism can get out of control, look no further than 31-year-old Russian manager Alexander Trofimov. A dedicated fan of graphics card manufacturer Nvidia, he murdered his 37-year-old friend Yevgeny Lyulin during a heated argument about AMD’s products.

Trofimov was found guilty of the murder earlier this month and will face nine and a half years in jail.

The alcohol-fuelled incident happened on September 16th, 2016. Trovimov went to visit the victim, Lyulin, as part of a professional holiday. The pair had worked together before some years before and were meeting as professional acquaintances.

During the evening the conversation between the two eventually turned to their favourite graphics cards. Lyulin praised AMD’s graphics chips, saying their workstation cards in particular were great for professional graphics modeling. Trofimov disagreed, instead suggesting Nvidia GeForce is the true gamers’ choice. Taking offence at Lyulin’s opinion, Trofimov struck him twice in the head with a kitchen knife before stabbing him a further 11 times. He then burned the body in an effort to cover his tracks.

We’ve all seen fanboyism before but I suspect never quite to this extreme. Actually coming to blows over which graphics card is your favourite really is something else, and definitely demands some perspective. ‘Twas only last week we pondered brand loyalty to gaming hardware manufacturers.