Why it matters: When AMD launched the Radeon RX 6500 XT earlier this year, it didn't exactly pique the interest of casual gamers looking for an entry-level GPU for 1080p gaming. Now that pricing has gone down and Nvidia's RTX 3050 can only be found in small quantities at well over its MSRP, the RX 6500 XT might find its way into many more PCs.
The GPU market has been a nightmare for the past two years or so, but things look like they're at least headed in the right direction. Availability has improved quite a bit, and a decrease in mining profitability is slowly pushing down pricing, especially for lower-end graphics cards.
The folks over at Tom's Hardware did some scouting for GPUs that were on offer this past weekend and their findings are encouraging for people who have been waiting to upgrade to a more modern graphics card at a more palatable price.
It looks like German retailer Mindfactory has been running a special offer for AMD graphics cards (among other things), some of which sold below MSRP on Sunday. There were around 70 ASRock ITX models being offered at a price of €199 (including the 19 percent VAT), and most of them were snapped up before the price increased to €259.
That said, there are still some models that are on sale at prices close to the €209 MSRP. For instance, the ASRock Phantom Gaming D OC and Powercolor Fighter variants of the 6500 XT are listed for €229 as of writing this. The MSI Radeon RX 6500 XT Mech can be had for €235, while the Sapphire Pulse Gaming and the XFX Black Gaming models cost €239.
While the RX 6500 XT is a product where AMD sacrificed too much for the sake of cost-cutting, seeing it priced so low provides a glimmer of hope that this trend could apply to higher-end GPUs in the coming months.