lot of GPUs – the ones we’ve been trying to buy fora fair price
this wholetime – to enter the used market. All these factors
put pressure on both Nvidia and its hardware partners to start
shifting stock, andfast.
Asus was first to takethe jump. The manufacturer
announced in March that it would be
dropping prices “aggressively” acrossall
SKUs, bringing goodnews ontwo fronts.
First, that at least onemanufacturer’s
GPUs are cheaper on storefronts.
Secondly, this statement indicates we’ve
reached asupply chain tipping point.
Graphics cards hold their value based
on demandand scarcity, but also on
their technological relevance and
longevity. We’re deep into the expected lifespan of Nvidia’s
RTX 3-series cards now,and there will come a point at which
they’re outdated either by Nvidia itself with anew product
launch, orby AMD capitalising on itsrival’s hesitancy to do so.
In short, now that supply is building up, there’s a race on to
shift all that stock while it’s still cutting edge. Ordinarily this
doesn’t result in extreme price dropsbetween GPU
generations,ironically since the spikein interest for those
cards about to be outdated is createdby people lookingfor
bargains, andthus manufacturers don’t actually have to
discount the old stock to shiftit. Instead, a higherMSRP on
the new stock is established.
WHY BUY NOW?
For us down at consumer level though, the limited lifespan of
Nvidia and AMD’scurrentcards is something to seriously
consider andgive pause. In many waysthey still feel like new
cards, simply because they’ve hardly beenavailablesince
launch, butboth manufacturers are
already preparing the launchesof their
successors. In Nvidia’s case, the RTX
3090 TI is already here, and at a lower
MSRP than originally planned hadit hit
its initial January release date. That
already puts the squeeze on RTX 3080
TIs and RTX 3090 s
That putsus on shaky footing when
purchasing acard.Evenas prices are
settling down to something close to MSRP,much ofthat value
can be attributed to scarcity and demand. Whathappens
when demandshifts to a newer, more powerful series of
cards?What didwe just spend ourmoneyon?
In short, it’sprudentto waiteven longer before buying that
elusive graphics card you’ve been Jonesing after sincethe
pre-face coverings world. Doing so opens up the possibility of
two beneficial scenarios to you: one, that the current models
will pile upin surplus and manufacturers will have to cut their
prices toshiftthem, or two: you could spendequivalent
money ona newer model just months from now.
Phil IwaniukTHE PRICE IS ALRIGHT Higher or lower? Nvidia MSRPs over timeGEFORCE GTX 970 : £ 259 2014
Ah, the god card. Significantly cheaper
than the previous gen’s equivalent,
insanely powerful.GEFORCE GTX 1070 : £ 4102016
Two years after the 970, a tricky
manufacturing process and lowdie yield
pushed up the 1070’s price.GEFORCE RTX 2070 : £ 4202018
Anyone actually bag a founder’sedition
for this price? Unlikely – even pre-COVID,
crypto mining drove up demand.GEFORCE GTX 770 £ 3292013
Over £ 300 for Nvidia’s ‘sweet spot’ card
seemed pricy at the time. 2013 was a
different world, wasn’t it?FAR LEFT: Nvidia’s
ferocious new 3090TI
had to be introduced
at a lower MSRP than
planned.LEFT: Coming toan
eBay auction near
you? Many crypto
farmers are sellingup.THERE’S A RACE ON
TO SHIFTALL THAT
STOCK WHILE IT’S
STILL CUTTING EDGE
99
Tech Report