The idea of finding an affordable graphics card in today's ever-changing market seems next to impossible, but it seems that prices for highly coveted GPUs are finally starting to pick up in some parts of the world, to the point where new cards have been released. . seen below its original MSRP.
Mindfactory, a reliable technology retailer based in Germany, posted a page full of deals last weekend that included a handful of AMD Radeon 6500 XT cards from other manufacturers.
The ASRock Radeon RX 6500XT Challenger ITX and Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT Eagle were available for €199 (about €225 / €165 / AU€310) when they initially launched, but Tom's Hardware notes on its own cover that the Gigabyte model has grown since so. to €229 (around €255 / €190 / AU€355).
In context, the MSRP for the AMD Radeon 6500 XT benchmark in Germany is €209 (alrededor de €235 / €175 / AU €325) a kit muy updated in its current PC. The 6500 XT struggles to compete with much older graphics cards, so if you're still rocking something like an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 or even an AMD Radeon RX 580, you better stick with what you got for the moment.
Still, it's a great first GPU, especially if you plan on running low-demand games and apps. Better yet, it also points to some other big things happening in the market, like inventory improvements and a general price drop across most graphics cards (although we couldn't find any other accounts of them below their original MSRP). ).
Will it be a GPU you're looking for to play 4K games or run demanding 3D applications? Probably not, but that bodes well for anyone who's been keeping tabs on more expensive hardware, like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or RTX 3060. Hopefully, prices for most of the generation's AMD and Nvidia GPUs will have dropped to an affordable level before we see how RDNA 3 and the RTX 4000 series appear.
Analysis: Will we finally see cheap graphics cards again?
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A TechRadar reader submitted several comparison tables (shown above) showing how steadily Nvidia graphics card prices have fallen on eBay over the past few months.
As for the data, all cards, from the mighty RTX 3090 to the humble GTX 1050, have fallen from the high prices we saw after the chip shortage began, and while prices for new cards are still trading for above MSRP at third-party retailers. , they are more affordable than they used to be, and the stock seems to have improved considerably.
The card that saw the least improvement is the RTX 3060 Ti at 10%, but that's probably because it's more sought after due to its price versus performance and crypto mining capabilities.
Many major manufacturers, including AMD, Intel, and Nvidia, predict that the GPU market will see a big upswing by at least 2023, and the data seems to back this up. There are a good mix of reasons for this, one being that Ethereum (a popular cryptocurrency) will be moving from a proof-of-work model to a proof-of-stake model which is less desirable for mining on a GPU, as new smelters are being developed. of semiconductors to alleviate the current shortage of chips.
Truly "cheap" graphics cards are still a long way off, and may even be a thing of the past depending on what you think a budget GPU is, but at least things are looking up. Who knows, maybe soon you'll be able to get your hands on the card of your dreams without having to sell all your prized possessions to finance it.
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