The GPU shortage was long and troubled. For a little under two years, Nvidia and AMD GPUs were nowhere to be found in stock. Short resupplies were scooped up by bots and these GPUs would end up on eBay for almost double the MSRP. The DIY PC building scenario was a mess. But, the bad times finally seem to be over as GPUs are now readily available at MSRP.
Almost every major graphics card out there hit the MSRP numbers this week. Prices had been on a downward trend ever since the beginning of the crypto winter earlier this summer. The massive fall in cryptocurrency prices has led to a panicked selloff between investors and crypto miners alike. As a result, there is a massive surplus of GPUs in the market currently.
The RTX 3090 Ti, which was readily being sold for over $2,000 was spotted below MSRP this week. So were the GeForce RTX 3090, the Geforce RTX 3080 Ti, the Radeon RX 6900 XT, and the Radeon RX 6800 XT.
However, we are very close to the launch of RTX 40 series and RX 7000 series GPUs, both of which are scheduled to drop this fall. Although the falling prices might be lucrative for a bunch of gamers, keep in mind they are going to become obsolete within months. Also, the newer GPUs are rumored to be much faster than the current-gen, thus making waiting for them a valid option.
The panicked GPU sell-off has flooded the used GPU market with cards that have been sitting in miners’ rigs all this time. This raises another alert for consumers purchasing used GPUs. Some high-end cards like the RTX 3090 and the RX 6900 XT have tendencies to explode after their components have been used continuously for long periods. Thus, make ample research and get enough stress testing results from the seller before you purchase a second-hand GPU.