Now is not the time to buy a new graphics card

Published: 29th March 2022 | Source: Various Sources | Author: Mark Campbell

GPU prices are getting lower, and we expect big reductions to arrive soon

Good news! GPU prices are getting lower, but does that make now the time to purchase a new graphics card? We don't think so. Big changes are coming to the GPU market, and we expect them to come within the next few weeks.

If you have been looking at most major retailers, you will be able to see that many in-stock graphics cards are remaining unsold. Gone are the days where all graphics cards were "out of stock". This factor alone means that buyers no longer feel the need to instantly purchase a new graphics card. When stock is readily available, gamers aren't rushing to buy graphics cards at any price.

Over the next few weeks, we expect GPU prices to drop dramatically, especially within the high-end market. Consumers are not willing to pay as much for graphics cards, and contrary to popular belief, these price reductions are not due to huge increases in production from AMD and Nvidia.

GPUs are now in stock - Demand is not outstripping supply

The rules of supply and demand are simple. If demand is larger than supply, products will increase in price due to their relative scarcity. If demand is too low, pricing may increase to encourage increased sales. Within today's GPU market, GPUs are becoming more readily available. Beyond that, second hand sales on eBay and other websites are increasing.

Within the used GPU market, prices are already falling, and the same thing is happening within the retail market. Over the next few weeks, we expect manufacturers and retailer to become more aggressive with their prices. GPUs can no longer be reliably sold at higher prices, and that means that prices need to become lower.

With inflation rising, and energy costs increasing, many consumers are now economising. This is another factor to consider when thinking about supply and demand. With energy costs increasing, cryptocurrency mining has become much less profitable, lowering demand. For gamers, these factors limit expendable income, and make many would-be buyers less willing to pay high prices for products.

Incoming Competition

Intel's planning to launch their Arc Alchemist series graphics cards soon, and that means that the gaming GPU market will soon become a three horse race. AMD and Nvidia will not want Intel to easily gain market share, and lowered GPU prices will help to lower the value proposition of Intel's ARC series products.

Rumour has it that AMD plans to release RX 6650 XT, RX 6750 XT and RX 6950 XT products in the near future, boosting the performance of their RDNA 2 graphics chips to better compete with Intel and Nvidia. Nvidia are also launching their RTX 3090 Ti graphics card soon to better secure their position as the creator of today's strongest gaming graphics card.

Competitive products need competitive pricing, and the introduction of Intel to the GPU market will force AMD and Nvidia to change their tactics.

Next-generation GPUs are coming

Gamers should know that AMD and Nvidia are working on next-generation graphics architectures to succeed RDNA 2 and Ampere. AMD has already confirmed that they are launching RDNA 3 products this year, and that means that today's graphics cards are due to be replaced in the near-term future.

The incoming launches of new products gives AMD and Nvidia a reason to encourage the sale of their existing GPUs. AMD and Nvidia don't want to launch their next-generation graphics cards while store shelves are filled with today's high-end Ampere and RDNA 2 products. At a minimum, gamers would expect huge price decreases for last-generation products, as their value would be diminished by the release of newer products.

If AMD and Nvidia don't want to write-off any graphics cards as unsold products. That means that they need to make sure that most of their products sell before they have next-generation graphics cards to replace them.

GPU prices are getting lower, as we should expect price decreases soon

A lot of factors must be considered when looking at today's GPU price decreases. To make a long story short, all of these factors are set to push GPU pricing downwards, and GPU prices are not currently as low as they are going to be in a few short weeks. The GPU supply crisis is coming to an end, and that means that pricing will soon become normalised.

You can join the discussion on incoming GPU price reductions on the OC3D Forums

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