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Is the GPU nightmare finally over? Maybe – because there are encouraging signs that Nvidia’s RTX 30 graphics cards, including the excellent RTX 3080 and RTX 3060, may finally drop in price after months of inflation.
The global chip shortage – in part caused by the Covid-19 pandemic – combined with pent-up demand and a boom in cryptocurrency mining, caused a perfect storm that made new graphics cards extremely difficult to handle. get. To make matters worse, when GPUs are in stock, some retailers or resellers sell them at inflated prices.
This made upgrading your PC or building a new one from scratch a real headache, besides being more expensive than usual. So a new report from 3DCenter.org, spotted by Toms Hardware, which suggests that the prices of some GPUs could drop, is certainly good news.
Before we dig into what this means, there are a few caveats. For starters, the report looks at prices in Germany only. However, Germany is one of the biggest markets for PC components, so a trend there could point to broader implications in the market.
What’s also interesting about the report is that while the prices for Nvidia graphics cards seem to be going down, the prices for AMD graphics cards are actually going up. This has led to some better value of some Nvidia GPUs than those from AMD. What world we live in.
According to the report, in May, Nvidia cards were selling 300% above their MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price). However, a month later, inflation had fallen to 191% and is now at 150%. While it’s still above the MSRP, it’s still a substantial drop.
What about AMD?
While these price cuts are great news for people wanting an Nvidia graphics card, for AMD fans, it seems like it’s another matter, as prices haven’t come down as much. The new AMD RX 6000 series cards were selling recently at 214% of their MSRP, and that number has fallen to just 159%.
Of course, AMD card prices haven’t fallen as much as Nvidia’s, but with its rival’s prices dropping faster, AMD’s GPUs might look like a worse value proposition.
So what is going on? For starters, while Nvidia has implemented hash rate limiters to prevent its GPUs from being so attractive to cryptocurrency miners, which could have a ripple effect on miners and scalpers buying into massing its GPUs and inflating prices, AMD has not followed suit. .
There’s also the fact that Nvidia’s GPUs vastly outperform AMD’s graphics cards – with the ultra-high-end RTX 3090 selling better. all AMD RX 6000 GPUs according to a recent Steam Hardware Survey.
This would suggest that there is less leeway (or desire) for retailers to start dropping AMD GPU prices just as quickly.
Now is the time to build or upgrade?
With graphics cards being so scarce or sold for such high amounts recently, many people have delayed building or upgrading their PCs. So does this price drop suggest that now is the time to build the platform of your dreams?
In a way – yes. If you find an Nvidia RTX 30 Series GPU on sale right now at an affordable price, it’s worth buying it. There is a good chance that it will be sold for less than it would have been a few months ago.
GPU stock is always low, so if you don’t buy one now, it may be out of stock and you may not be able to get one for months, further delaying your build.
However, there are also reasons to wait, if you can. The prices are going in the right direction, but they are Again sold above MSRP. Hanging on, you might find that prices drop more, although there’s no guarantee that they will.
This means PC gamers finally have some flexibility. A few months ago, with inflated prices and low inventory, we recommended that you don’t upgrade your PC. However, with the prices coming down, for some people now is a good time.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday arriving later in the year, we might see prices drop a bit more. We’re not expecting any good deals, but we might finally be able to upgrade our PCs without spending obscene amounts of money. We hope.
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