Graphics cards hit their lowest prices since the start of 2021

[midian182]

Why it matters: More good news for those looking to upgrade their graphics card. After what has felt like decades of high prices and poor availability, the latest Nvidia and AMD products in Germany have reached their lowest price point since the start of 2021.

The latest report from 3DCenter shows that the RTX 3000-series and the Radeon RX 6000 cards at major German retailers are above their MSRP by 41% and 35%, respectively. That’s still more than what you should be paying for the GPUs, of course, but it’s the lowest prices we’ve seen since January 2021, when they were 42% (AMD) and 34% (Nvidia) over MSRP.

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Prices for both companies’ latest cards have been falling since December 12, when they were more than 80% over MSRP. The new figures are also a far cry from May 2021, when the GPUs were at their worst: 218% over MSRP for Nvidia and 116% over MSRP for AMD.

Also see: GPU Availability and Pricing Update: February 2022

Availability at German retailers has improved, too. All of Nvidia’s items have four- or five-star ratings, while AMD, which has long suffered more than Nvidia in this area, also has four- and five-star ratings, the only exception being the three-star Radeon RX 6800.

3D Center notes that availability levels are actually at their highest since it started collating data. Tellingly, the price of Ethereum has fallen in line with graphics cards nearing their MSRPs.

Last month, we heard that graphics card shipments had improved in the fourth quarter of 2021, while our examination of the GPU market shows the lowest new GPU prices in a year, the best availability in some time, and significant drops in the used market. With the RTX 3090 Ti rumored to arrive on March 29, Nvidia reportedly readying two new GeForce RTX 3050 models, and the RTX 4000/Ryzen 6000/Intel Arc cards set to launch this year, it looks like we might have finally turned a corner.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93670-graphics-cards-hit-their-lowest-prices-since-start.html

 

[Dimitriid]

The sad part is that we could be hitting close to MSRP prices in just a few more months but Nvidia (And subsequently AMD since they can't get left behind) will be pushing a new generation and intentionally ramping down production of their current cards so the old ones go back up in price and the new ones of course won't be out in sufficient supply and prices go back up.

I expect almost nobody in the press or even from gamers to put pressure on Nvidia to delay the release of their 4000 series because sadly everyone follows the consumerist mentality of "This is already outdated" and Nvidia's planned obsolescence goes unquestioned.

 

[Achaios]

Ethereum Difficulty Level has gone down for the first time in a year or so which means that the much hated Miners have finally stopped buying GPU's by the palette of 150.

https://2miners.com/eth-network-difficulty

Once and if they start buying again, prices will go up to levels like 200% MSRP like before.

 

[yRaz]

My god, I might actually be able to buy a new GPU. At this point I might wait for the 4000 series or 7000 series to come out and snag an older card "at a discount"

 

[R00sT3R]

The irony is that the new 4xxx cards will be even harder to get hold of because there will be so many people who skipped the 3xxx cards due to all the problems with price & supply, scrambling after them.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The irony is that the new 4xxx cards will be even harder to get hold of because there will be so many people who skipped the 3xxx cards due to all the problems with price & supply, scrambling after them.

Supply chain issue stend to cascade into each other.

 

[yRaz]

Supply chain issue stend to cascade into each other.

I think the used market will make up for that. Games haven't really been getting harder to run the last 4-5 years. The added performance of a new graphics card is certainly nice it's not really necessary. Why there have always been used graphics cards I think after the great GPU shortage of 2021 people will be more likely to sell their old ones and I base this on absolutely nothing.

But I plan on getting an 8kTV to use as a monitor so I'm going to have to get a graphics card to match. I don't even think my 1070ti can output 8k60.

In my apartment I can only have room for 1 monitor or 1 TV so I use just use a TV as a monitor.

on a side now I have a 65" 4kQLED that I use as a monitor and over the last few months the blacks have dulled and turned blue allowing bleed through of the backlight. Blacks were great when I first got it but after almost 6 years the panel is again. I was considering going OLED but after some deeper dives into burn in with my specific use case it's just out of the question, unfortunately. Well I got ~6 great years out of this and I'll give it to my mother when I'm done with it. She's getting older and and don't think she'll be as picky about image quality as I am. All she'll know is I got her a giant TV and be thrilled!

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Hopefully the governments will pass laws to hurt crypto - specifically based on trying to keep their sanctions unescapable and make crypto so pointless and unprofitable that no one will bother wasting cards for that nonsense.

 

[fadingfool]

Whilst the supply issues appear to be alleviating, the prices are still well above MSRP in the UK.

 

[EdmondRC]

Don't expect prices to return anywhere close to what they were 2.5-3 years ago. They are going down because supply is catching up with demand, but the tariffs, fuel prices, inflation, etc, will keep the prices inflated for years to come. The 4080 will not be $699.00, we'll be lucky if its $799

 

[Tantor]

This has nothing to do with mining. Card availability was intentionally and artificially throttled down, just like bullet availability.

Notice how this happens almost exactly at the same time that AMD and NVIDIA are shutting off supply to Russia? What you're seeing here are the cards intended for the Russian market. It punishes Russia and rewards China. Divide and conquer.

They're doing this for political reasons. Enjoy it while you can.

 

[Thretosix]

The sad part is that we could be hitting close to MSRP prices in just a few more months but Nvidia (And subsequently AMD since they can't get left behind) will be pushing a new generation and intentionally ramping down production of their current cards so the old ones go back up in price and the new ones of course won't be out in sufficient supply and prices go back up.

I expect almost nobody in the press or even from gamers to put pressure on Nvidia to delay the release of their 4000 series because sadly everyone follows the consumerist mentality of "This is already outdated" and Nvidia's planned obsolescence goes unquestioned.

Exactly no point in buying one now with a newer model right around the corner. But if they don't find a way to make sure they get in gamers hands, this is all pointless either way. Nvidia and AMD are why I'm not a PC gamer anymore ironically.

 

[Watzupken]

I am excited to see what the next gen GPUs will bring to the table in terms of feature and performance. But I feel the prices won’t be pretty. Consider the fact that Nvidia is using some discounted Samsung 10nm now to produce Ampere chips and we are seeing a very high price tag. Moving to TSMC 4/5nm (which all the big companies are stuck on right now), that will likely elevate the cost quite significantly. Not to mention that rumours of very high TGP/TDP for these new cards will also mean more costly board, board components and cooling solution. So I feel there will be a sticker shock for us in stall.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I am excited to see what the next gen GPUs will bring to the table in terms of feature and performance. But I feel the prices won’t be pretty. Consider the fact that Nvidia is using some discounted Samsung 10nm now to produce Ampere chips and we are seeing a very high price tag. Moving to TSMC 4/5nm (which all the big companies are stuck on right now), that will likely elevate the cost quite significantly. Not to mention that rumours of very high TGP/TDP for these new cards will also mean more costly board, board components and cooling solution. So I feel there will be a sticker shock for us in stall.

If a 3080 12GB retails at around $1300+....I can imagine that a 4080 would come in at $2k for a 4080. Plus requiring a hefty power draw of what could be upwards of 450W+, which would require a lot of people to look into a beefier PSU and folks will probably be spending upwards of maybe $200+ on a new PSU, too.

Sure, prices are starting to settle at the moment for current gen, but we can see that the 3080 12GB has no listed MSRP and with it currently in the $1300+ range, I don't see it really going below that. I feel, that if the 40xx series launches and the prices are just fricking stupid, we may see people flocking back to the 30xx series and seeing prices stay kind of high on them.

Anyway....just speculation. I'm not in any rush to move on, but I am curious what kind of outcome we'll see once the next gen hits the shelves for that 2 seconds before they're scalped.