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High-end graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD were expensive in 2020 (if you could find them), but their prices are only going up. And you can thank the government for that.
As of December 31, 2020, GPUs and motherboards are now included in the tariffs that the Trump administration has applied to Chinese imports. These PC components were previously exempt from these tariffs, but these exceptions expired at the end of 2020 and no extensions were applied. That means prices have gone up 25% for high-end GPUs, including Nvidia’s new RTX 3090, 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti, and AMD’s RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT.
The latest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD were nearly impossible to buy in 2020 to begin with, because COVID-19 has affected manufacturing and supply chains, leading to more limited products even available for purchase. And retailers would generally sell within seconds of every replenishment, thanks to scalpers and cryptocurrency miners using bots to buy as many graphics cards as possible.
The shopping experience got so bad that many retailers implemented anti-bot tactics like waiting lists, more aggressive human verification systems and strict limits on the number of GPUs customers can buy. However, these tariffs will only make the process more difficult – and expensive –if you have the chance to score a card.
Pricing doesn’t just affect GPUs; SSDs, processors, power supplies and other PC components could all see price hikes between seven and 25 percent, depending on their price. As Notes on Tom’s Hardware, the price increase for these probably won’t be as severe as for GPUs, but if you buy or build a new PC, or upgrade several parts of an existing platform, you will definitely notice a difference.
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Our best advice for anyone looking to build or upgrade their PC is to make smart and careful purchases. You can’t avoid price increases, but you don’t have to buy a scalped Overpriced GPUs on eBay or Facebook Marketplace simply because they are available.
Resources like VideoCardz.com, GPUBoss, Reddit (r / GPU, r / Graphics cards, r / nvidia, r / amd), The Google Shopping tab, and even Discord Communities can help you compare specs and prices and find available stock At some point, graphics card quantities will stabilize (hopefully), and purchase a new graphics card from a reseller legitimate at normal MSRP will be easier, even if the GPU costs more than it cost at launch.
It is also possible that new GPUs will be launched cheaper or reduce the price of current high-end models. In fact, Nvidia has a press conference tomorrow and there are rumors that more GPUs will be announced. At the very least, having more models to choose from could improve your chances of buying the card you want. Until then, shop smart, but be prepared to pay a little more because of the policy; if you can wait until we can see what a Democratic-led government is doing about tariffs, if anything, it might be worth doing.
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