GPU Availability and Pricing Update: September 2021

[Scorpus]

It'd be great if GPU pricing was normal and we didn't have to update you on the state of the market, but tracking GPUs is useful if you're wanting to jump the gun. Also, this month we can celebrate a rather unfortunate anniversary.

Permalink to review.

https://www.techspot.com/article/2330-gpu-pricing-2021-update/

 

[Sausagemeat]

I don’t like this idea of “blame” for the miners. They have if anything a more valid reason to own a GPU than a gamer does. Making money is more important than playing games. They could say “blame gamers” when looking for cards. It doesn’t get us anywhere.

Also if you want a 6600XT, come to the U.K. they are the only modern card in stock at MSRP (or maybe 10% above it).

But if you want a 3060 expect to pay about double it’s MSRP and wait for it (who are these lunatics!?). Actually I’ve seen 3080ti going for close ish to MSRP. That’s it though. 3070 and 3080s are hugely marked up.

This whole situation isn’t going to change for a while, PC gaming is for the wealthy only for the foreseeable.

 

[Sherwoodnt]

I don’t see why retailers can’t just add an age verification at checkout…. It can’t be that hard.

 

[Dimitriid]

Of course, it's now clear that GPU pricing is directly linked to mining profitability. It’s not related to supply, it’s not related to the pandemic, or anything like -- GPUs are being priced in line with how much money you can make mining on them. That’s the guide that AIBs and distributors are using when they set pricing, and prices clearly change in step with changes to mining profitability.

Yes, I've been saying for a while now that the days of blaming the pandemic are so far away it's actually been several months since it's just AIB and Distributor complicit behavior that follows mining. It's probably been that way for close to all of 2021 or at least since Q2.

The issue isn't just waiting: each new mining craze is stronger, last longer and Nvidia and AMD learn 0 lessons from it and nothing will change, this is the new normal: you can always expect GPU prices to briefly touch back maybe 30 to 40% above MSRP if you're lucking before Ethereum raises again or some other coin replaces it and more miners jump into that one. There is absolutely nothing consumers can do at this point other than well, not being GPU consumers: just don't buy them anymore, play something else. Something that can easily run on existing GPUs and specially on APUs and Iris Pro chips if you got em on laptops and NUCs

 

[AIC1Drew]

Yes, I've been saying for a while now that the days of blaming the pandemic are so far away it's actually been several months since it's just AIB and Distributor complicit behavior that follows mining. It's probably been that way for close to all of 2021 or at least since Q2.

The issue isn't just waiting: each new mining craze is stronger, last longer and Nvidia and AMD learn 0 lessons from it and nothing will change, this is the new normal: you can always expect GPU prices to briefly touch back maybe 30 to 40% above MSRP if you're lucking before Ethereum raises again or some other coin replaces it and more miners jump into that one. There is absolutely nothing consumers can do at this point other than well, not being GPU consumers: just don't buy them anymore, play something else. Something that can easily run on existing GPUs and specially on APUs and Iris Pro chips if you got em on laptops and NUCs

I'd have to agree on playing new/current/older games with your current setup. I've found many indie games that have peaked my interest way more in recent years than the latest AAA titles at half the required specs. As always, to each their own. Play what you want at whatever the cost. But I have a feeling this may cause a rubberbanding effect for game makers on considering whether or not to push for bleeding-edge graphics versus maximizing player base.

 

[Dimitriid]

I'd have to agree on playing new/current/older games with your current setup. I've found many indie games that have peaked my interest way more in recent years than the latest AAA titles at half the required specs. As always, to each their own. Play what you want at whatever the cost. But I have a feeling this may cause a rubberbanding effect for game makers on considering whether or not to push for bleeding-edge graphics versus maximizing player base.

Yep. Don't get me wrong big budget titles still have their place and this is going to be sacrilegious on a PC centric site but if you ask me, because of subsidies and economies of scale, those big budget titles are better suited for the consoles: they can afford to get AMD to pay special attention to them and make sure they keep making their hardware and they can weather the storm of supply issues far easier than the PC gaming market that was born and it's more suited for indie games and niche titles.

The measure of the viability of a platform shouldn't be ideal conditions, it should be the worst case scenario which is what we have right now and sorry to say but there's nobody stepping up to say "We need to invest in PC gaming so it doesn't crumbles under the weight of hardware constrains" and so far nobody is doing that. Maybe only Valve but their Steam deck is clearly oriented to well, what we're discussing: indie games, older titles, easier to run stuff. Screen is small and low res enough that you wouldn't mind anyway and can dock into basically a cheap APU based rig replacement on a pinch.

 

[Kristof]

It's about time to ban mining. I'm not against crypto in general but what good does mining do? Nothing. It destroys the planet and keeps prices up.

 

[yRaz]

Price is only going to go up considering people are going to be moving back indoors during the winter. Fortunately for me, my 1070ti still performs wonderfully for my needs.

 

[terzaerian]

It's about time to ban mining. I'm not against crypto in general but what good does mining do? Nothing. It destroys the planet and keeps prices up.

It's about time to ban gaming. I'm not against video games in general but what good does gaming do? Nothing, it's an inherently selfish activity involving self-gratification. Old consoles are environmentally destructive e-waste that destroys the planet and wastes rare earths.

The axe that beheads the goose will come for the gander soon enough.

 

[captaincranky]

In all my years of toy shopping, I've never considered paying list price, (if at all possible to avoid), for any of the things I purchase. Since I'm not a religious person, I hold to the value system, "he who dies with the most toys wins".

So, for me, "MSRP" is ther place to start and work DOWN from, definitely not UP from it. Final answer..

In fact, I shop so constantly and vigorously, I think I was a trophy wife from the upper east side, in a former life. Either that, or roaming Rodeo Drive maxing out my husbands credit cards, while he was banging wannabe actress/nymphs at the daily casting call.

 

[shark975]

You can blame it on crypto all you want and that's partially true, but dont ignore that Trump and Bidens massive stimulus made the US dollar (even more) TP than it already was. Prices are reset at new sky highs on everything, contrary to what the lying feds will say publicly. Try buying a house, or a car (avg new car price hit $41k), or hell groceries right now. Prices are at new highs for everything and I for one rather doubt this is anything but "the new normal".

I'm old I remember when $99 was the "mass market" target price for consoles, and a "mid range" GPU price range was ~$200. Now mid range GPU new normal is literally $1000 (and you're still going to get less VRAM than my 3 yr old phone if it's an Nvidia card), and mass market console is 499 arguably. Again, your money is made out of paper, dont forget it.

When I was a kid my mom told me when she was a kid candy bars where 5 cents. I was amazed because candy bars were ~35 cents at the time (often 3 for $1). Last time I was at the gas station my candy bar was $1.72. Granted it may have been king size I dont recall. For that matter I remember .87 gas.

 

[Bp968]

Honestly its hard to "blame" miners. I sold my 1080ti for 400$ the day nvidia announced the 3080 and then got super lucky with evgas ownership reward program that prioritized previous owners. I paid 750$ for a evga 3080 ftw3 ultra about a month after release.

Since then (so around a year now?) Ive averaged 200-300$ a *month* mining on that card whenever I'm not playing games (or mining in the background when im playing lower spec games). So I paid 350$ out of pocket for the 3080 and made about 5000-6000$ from the crypto (since I usually took half the bitcoin payout from nicehash and reinvested it into newer cheaper coins with more room to move. Overall ive seen around a doubling from that).

I'm medically disabled and on SSD (fixed income). So an extra 250$ a month is a pretty tremendous amount. The exact same thing happened in when I bought my 1070ti in 2017. So in 2018 I used the crypto earnings to buy the 1080ti and give the 1070ti to my wife.

Essentially crypto has *paid* for both me and the wifes top gaming PCs for the last 4 years (3 upgrades to the CPU and 4 GPU upgrades).

Whats crazy is looking back anyone who paid a scalper for a 3080 back in 2019 early 2020 would have easily paid for it plus some if they had it mining whenever they weren't playing.

 

[Bp968]

I wanted to say one more thing but figured id put it in another post.

The biggest problem with crypto is power consumption. I honestly think its a missed opportunity. Legislators should require large-scale mining operations to use renewables and invest in building new ones if necessary. They can afford to pay a higher rate and still be profitable and because its continuous consumption they could even use it to offset nuclear during the day (since current nuclear can't be "turned off" when solar or wind are producing its more difficult to merge the different generation sources).

 

[Markoni35]

Well, at least we can say that mining work conditions have significantly improved in the last 200 years. It's not so dangerous to be a miner anymore.

One thing didn't change though..... underground tunnels are very hot, you can easily suffer from a heat stroke, same as when entering a room full of ETH mining rigs. I think miner unions should address this issue.

 

[Bp968]

Well, at least we can say that mining work conditions have significantly improved in the last 200 years. It's not so dangerous to be a miner anymore.

One thing didn't change though..... underground tunnels are very hot, you can easily suffer from a heat stroke, same as when entering a room full of ETH mining rigs. I think miner unions should address this issue.

Lol. Your not kidding. My pc is fairly close to my thermostat so it has a tendency to confuse it and then creates cold spots in the house (since it keeps the hot pc rooms the correct temp). Of course in the winter its not so bad.

 

[godrilla]

I don’t like this idea of “blame” for the miners. They have if anything a more valid reason to own a GPU than a gamer does. Making money is more important than playing games. They could say “blame gamers” when looking for cards. It doesn’t get us anywhere.

Also if you want a 6600XT, come to the U.K. they are the only modern card in stock at MSRP (or maybe 10% above it).

But if you want a 3060 expect to pay about double it’s MSRP and wait for it (who are these lunatics!?). Actually I’ve seen 3080ti going for close ish to MSRP. That’s it though. 3070 and 3080s are hugely marked up.

This whole situation isn’t going to change for a while, PC gaming is for the wealthy only for the foreseeable.

More like if gamers use their gpu to mine which is fine, but greedy miners using endless energy to the point to causing inflation across the board not only in graphics cards but in, hard drives, energy prices by flocking to low energy price locations like upstate NY causing prices to skyrocket as well as buying Energy plants outright. What is the ending of greed? There is no end to greed! Cryptomining is causing inflation exponentially.
The question still remains are crypto currencies quantum encrypted? If not what are people putting there futures in?

 

[Sausagemeat]

More like if gamers use their gpu to mine which is fine, but greedy miners using endless energy to the point to causing inflation across the board not only in graphics cards but in, hard drives, energy prices by flocking to low energy price locations like upstate NY causing prices to skyrocket as well as buying Energy plants outright. What is the ending of greed? There is no end to greed! Cryptomining is causing inflation exponentially.
The question still remains are crypto currencies quantum encrypted? If not what are people putting there futures in?

No I don’t agree. Miners are just as entitled to mine as gamers are to play games. Actually I would say miners needs are more important. Income is more important than games.

Also, cryptocurrency doesn’t cause inflation. Inflation causes cryptocurrency to grow. If you didn’t want people pouring money into cryptos then you should be annoyed with governments for printing money during the pandemic.

 

[Paul Dougherty]

There's a fixed amount of mining rewards being distributed at any given time. If you want mining to be less profitable: start mining.

 

[godrilla]

No I don’t agree. Miners are just as entitled to mine as gamers are to play games. Actually I would say miners needs are more important. Income is more important than games.

Also, cryptocurrency doesn’t cause inflation. Inflation causes cryptocurrency to grow. If you didn’t want people pouring money into cryptos then you should be annoyed with governments for printing money during the pandemic.

I didn't say crypto currencies cause inflation I said crypto mining!

 

[godrilla]

There's a fixed amount of mining rewards being distributed at any given time. If you want mining to be less profitable: start mining.

Not unless the mining currency goes up in value also there is always something new to mine. Miners will simply mine alternative coins and exchange them if needed.

 

[EatTin]

Sorry miners for making you a scapegoat, but don't screw with our market. You can pay the prices to fuel your work for nothing scheme but some of us can't.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I don't just blame miners. I also blame the AIB partners who are selling DIRECT to them. This is nothing more than manufactured scarcity.

 

[BadThad]

Another great monthly report, keep 'em coming! Thanks!

 

[ddferrari]

It's about time to ban gaming. I'm not against video games in general but what good does gaming do? Nothing, it's an inherently selfish activity involving self-gratification. Old consoles are environmentally destructive e-waste that destroys the planet and wastes rare earths.

The axe that beheads the goose will come for the gander soon enough.

This is one of the silliest and uninformed comments that I've ever read on any tech site. Sorry, bro.

 

[Gastec]

I see another culprit, that might have slipped between your fingers, for such preposterous prices for graphics cards: game streaming services.

Yes, I've been saying for a while now that the days of blaming the pandemic are so far away it's actually been several months since it's just AIB and Distributor complicit behavior that follows mining. It's probably been that way for close to all of 2021 or at least since Q2.

The issue isn't just waiting: each new mining craze is stronger, last longer and Nvidia and AMD learn 0 lessons from it and nothing will change, this is the new normal: you can always expect GPU prices to briefly touch back maybe 30 to 40% above MSRP if you're lucking before Ethereum raises again or some other coin replaces it and more miners jump into that one. There is absolutely nothing consumers can do at this point other than well, not being GPU consumers: just don't buy them anymore, play something else. Something that can easily run on existing GPUs and specially on APUs and Iris Pro chips if you got em on laptops and NUCs

Yes, stop "consuming" graphics cards and start thinking about alternatives. And what alternatives are there? Game streaming services. You see where this is going? More and tighter leashes on the necks of "consumers".