Finding a graphics card at MSRP has been basically impossible for the last couple of years, but there are signs that the GPU drought is coming to an end. According to 3DCenter, GPUs are the cheapest they have been since it started tracking their prices in January 2021 (note: 3DCenter focused on prices in Germany and Austria).
Nvidia RTX 3000 and AMD RX 6000 cards are “just” 25% over MSRP. It doesn’t sound great, but this is the lowest level in the last 15 months. And there are encouraging comments from OEMs and retailers.
3DCenter’s price chart for GPUs over the last 15 months (in Germany and Austria)
Asus told PCGamer that it has already started dropping its MSRPs across all SKUs. This may be an attempt to get ahead of other OEMs and secure orders as the average prices of cards start to drop.
That’s not all, TechRadar spoke with a representative of one of the UK’s biggest retailers, Box, who said “By the end of April, beginning of May, we should start to see things return to a more attractive price.”
Things are looking up in the US as well. During the US-China trade war, taxes were slapped on imports from China, though GPUs were given an exemption. That expired at the beginning of 2021 and brought on a 25% tax. The US is reinstating the exemption until the end of this year, which should help bring prices back down.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition and OEM versions
As a result of all this, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition launched at $2,000. This number would have been higher if the 3090 Ti launched earlier this year as originally planned. Of course, the 3090 Ti will be the last hurray for the 3000 series and the RTX 4000 generation is on the horizon. This means that cards currently in stock will soon become a generation older, making them less attractive to buyers.
GPU prices have also been affected by crypto mining. To combat this, Nvidia released GPUs whose mining abilities have been intentionally cut down. These Low Has Rate (LHR) cards saw low demand initially, but it soon picked up. The Box representative explains this as a combination of actual demand from gamers as well as crypto miners thinking they can circumvent the hash rate restrictions.
Even so, GPU prices are expected to keep falling. Long story short, this spring may be the best time in two years to buy a new GPU.
Source 1 (in German) | Source 2 | Source 3 | Source 4 | Source 5