If you've been trying to get your hands on a new graphics card in the last few months, chances are you've been met with price disbelief on some of the latest offerings from Nvidia and AMD. While this isn't exactly surprising, it turns out that people who are lucky enough to find GPUs that are actually available for purchase are desperate enough to pay those delicious markups to upgrade their rig (or build their own). First gaming PC). A study by Jon Peddie Research reports that Add-In Board (AIB) graphics card shipments grew 24,4% year-on-year, which is a staggering number in itself, until you also see GPU manufacturers gain around of €12.5 billion in the first quarter. , a crazy 370% increase over the previous year. Inflated graphics card prices have been a problem for several months now, and 3DCenter previously reported that coveted products like Nvidia's RTX 3000 (Ampere) series were selling for almost three times their recommended retail price, making GPUs an entry level. -level- GeForce RTX 3060 unaffordable for its target market.
Why are GPUs so expensive?
Jon Peddie analysts say: “We believe home orders created demand in 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. Personal computers and workstations have become the center of work life and often the main source of entertainment during lockdowns. continued to gain popularity.” In short, this situation arose due to a “perfect storm,” with continued shortages of silicon and components needed to make graphics cards, a crypto mining boom forcing people to buy the available stock in bulk For mining builds and of course resellers taking advantage of the high demand and using bots to bypass website restrictions and purchase the limited inventory available, with this existing demand we are seeing GPU vendors inflate the price of popular models like the GeForce RTX 3080 and Radeon 6800 XT are selling significantly higher than the base price of original reference cards from Nvidia and AMD.
(Image credit: Jon Peddie Research) Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about it. It's irritating to gamers and PC building enthusiasts alike, but until something finally gives way in the crypto market or supply chain, your best chance of getting yourself a shiny new graphics card. To play the latest AAA titles is to buy a gaming laptop or pre-built system. Not only is this a more affordable option than trying to go the DIY PC route right now, uptime doesn't suffer as much as the larger GPU market. Another alternative is to use a streaming service like GeForce Now until the market calms down, though this is only suitable for gaming and won't help anyone in a creative field trying to upgrade their hardware to meet the demands of design software. If you're determined to try and get a new GPU regardless of the dismal prices, we've created dedicated pages on where to buy the RTX 3080, where to buy the RTX 3070, and where to buy the RTX 3060, among others. who will keep you informed of the arrival of stocks. The best graphics card deals right now
Through Tom's Hardware