As the chip shortage continues to rattle the consumer electronics industry, a new graphics card remains a distant dream for most gamers and DIY PC builders. The past year has been a difficult one for PC enthusiasts, with graphics cards remaining almost impossible to buy. The supply crunch has also led to stratospheric prices, making it even more difficult for end-users to buy GPUs for their rigs.
The lack of availability of GPUs is a direct result of the ongoing chip shortage and the cryptocurrency boom that have combined to create a perfect storm for buyers. Rampant scalping and price gouging are not only preventing end-users from buying their favorite graphics cards, but the situation is now so bad that even scalpers are finding it hard to get their hands on cards as well.
While graphics cards remain a hard-to-find commodity, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. Speaking at the 24th Annual Needham Growth Conference in January, Nvidia's Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said that the company expects its graphics card supplies to improve by the second half of 2022. However, that still means at least several more months of status quo with high prices and low availability. As for the pricing, both Nvidia and AMD have said that they'd like for the prices to come down, but neither have actually done anything about it. In fact AMD recently received a lot of flak for launching the RX 6500 XT GPU at $200 even though it struggles to compete with cards like the RX 570, which was launched back in 2017 for $169.
Prices To Remain High For The Foreseeable Future
With the chip shortage proving so problematic, prices of high-end cards like the RX 6900 XT and the RTX 3090 have hit astronomical levels. Although the latter carries a staggering MSRP of $1,499, it is still impossible to find at its already-exorbitant price, with scalpers selling it for well in excess of $2,000 a pop. At these artificial prices, it makes more sense to buy pre-build rigs than standalone components.
One of the issues that have compounded the problem is the cryptocurrency boom that's making miners sweep up all almost all available GPU stock. In a bid to slow the crypto gold rush, Nvidia did introduce an Ethereum hash limiter that reduces the mining performance of its 3000-series graphics cards by up to 50-percent. The company also launched several CMP-series cards aimed at crypto miners, including the top-of-the-line CMP 170HX. However, despite all that, prices of graphics cards are unlikely to come down until supplies improve, possibly towards the end of the year.
Source: Seeking Alpha