Graphics card prices continue to fall, and it looks like the decline is accelerating. If this trend continues, GPUs will soon be available at their RRP and we can announce the end of the GPU crisis. We’re not quite there yet, but there are promising signs. If Australian market pricing is any indicator, these signs are looking better than ever.
In the Australian market, Asus has come out with very aggressive price cuts on many RTX 30-series cards – in some cases, over 25%. Let’s take the RTX 3080 10GB as an example. Asus’ price cuts are so aggressive that premium cards like the RTX 3080 TUF and Strix are now the cheapest of all RTX 3080s, undercutting more budget brands like Galax. It’s not just one retailer. Popular Australian PC parts sellers such as Scorptec, PLE as well as PC case everyone is listing new prices and most cards were in stock at the time of writing.
Prices for the Asus RTX 3070 Ti and 3060 Ti models have also dropped, although for now, it looks like AMD cards aren’t dropping, at least not today. Now that Asus’ premium cards are among the most affordable RTX cards, it’s only a matter of time before other vendors follow suit. It will be very difficult for any retailer to change cards if they sell for 20% or more than a premium card like the Asus Strix.
Australians are especially lucky
In the wider global GPU market, prices are coming down, but not to the level of Asus Australia’s drop. According to 3DCenter latest analysis of the German market, Nvidia GPUs are currently 41% above MSRP and AMD cards are 35% above MSRP. The latest data is from March 5, and given the rate of price decline, it is certainly out of date.
Our sister site Tom’s Hardware Guide published an analysis based on eBay price data. It is always interesting to look at the private market, which includes the prices of speculative speculators. In the first half of March alone, overall GPU prices dropped by as much as 9%, according to Tom’s. It’s time for gamers to deliver some good news after a dismal couple of years.
This is not a flash sale to capture traffic. World stocks are improving and many cards that were constantly out of stock a few months ago are now in abundance. Hopefully, this means that scalping prices will no longer be used, and this makes us optimistic that the downward price trajectory will continue.
What is driving this price drop?
There are a number of factors that cause prices to fall. Production is gradually ramping up, demand for GPU mining is falling, and gamers are likely to refrain from buying in hopes of getting a good deal at some point in the future. However, there are headwinds, including the recently introduced Chinese Covid shutdowns that have effectively brought production to a halt in factory cities like Shenzhen, the war in Ukraine, and oil prices driving up shipping costs, so we’re not out of the woods yet.
The impact of Ethereum mining cannot be overestimated. As the price of Eth drops, it becomes harder for miners to get their GPU investment back, resulting in fewer purchases. There is also a slowly approaching move towards proof-of-stake and phasing out proof-of-stake GPU mining altogether. Mining difficulty and profitability for a given hash rate are dropping, and perhaps even ASICs will appear. All this indicates that GPU mining is becoming irrelevant, as it was with Bitcoin. At least until another profitable coin appears.
Take a look at the list of our favorite graphics cards. Perhaps that update you’ve been putting off is starting to look a lot more attractive.
