Those of you who regularly read us will remember that, on more than one occasion, I have told you that the price of graphics cards is influenced, in the market, by the value of cryptocurrencies. I know that this is not the only factor that can make the price of graphics cards go up or down, but It is, without a doubt, one of the most important.
At the end of 2020, when the crisis that has dragged on the general consumer graphics card sector since then began, Huge growth of major cryptocurrencies took place, something that, together with the shortage of semiconductors, the problems caused by COVID-19 in the supply chain, and the impact of resale and speculation, created the perfect cocktail for the price of this component to inflate to a level we haven’t seen before.
With that in mind, we are not surprised that the price of graphics cards has started to drop slightly after the latest bump in the cryptocurrency industry, and that, at the time of writing, accumulates billionaire losses. Ethereum, the most popular cryptocurrency to mine with graphics cards, went from a peak of $4,080 in December to $2,184.14 at the time of writing. Indeed, its value has almost halved.
Bitcoin is not going through its best moment either, and that is has fallen, in less than a month, from $51,888 to $33,404. The numbers speak for themselves, and show how volatile this sector continues to be. However, it seems that he has already embarked on the road to recovery, and that it will come sooner or later. In the end, another thing that this sector has shown is its cyclical nature, with falls and rises in relatively short periods of time.
Light at the end of the tunnel: Graphics cards with falling prices
I am happy to be able to give you this good news, since it marks the beginning of a slow recovery that could be completed by the middle of this year and that, in theory, should allow us to buy graphics cards of this generation at their recommended retail prices. I don’t want to be optimistic, especially since we have already seen signs of recovery that were frustrated by a change in trend, but now the situation could develop in a totally different way.
In the attached graph, courtesy of 3DCenter.org, we can see the evolution of the prices of NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards in two very important European markets, Germany and Austria, and also the value of Ethereum. There is a clear correlation between the variations in the value of Ethereum and the sale price of graphics cards that only confirms what I have already told you so many times, that influence of the cryptocurrency sector in the graphics card market.
Click to enlarge.
The correlation is not proportional, but it is evident. With the last drop in value that Ethereum has experienced, we see that there is also a drop in the price of graphics cards that, on this occasion, has affected AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 more, which they go from 178% to 167%. The NVIDIA RTX 30 down from 185% to 177%.
In Spain, it is already possible to find some graphics cards at slightly less crazy prices. For example, the MSI AMD Radeon RX 6600 MECH 2X is available for €459.26. The recommended price of the RX 6600 is 339 euros, so since it is a personalized model with a good finish, the extra cost is even “acceptable”, especially considering how the panorama is in the graphic sector. Unfortunately, in the case of NVIDIA, things look worse, since the RTX 3060 around 700 euros.
