It is being hard for the players, especially for those with less purchasing power, but as they said in The Matrix: everything that has a beginning, has an end. And that end is approaching as if it were an oracular prophecy, to the point that many are already beginning to see that end and have launched a series of statements as speculation about when the price of graphics cards will plummet.
The Dantesque scenario that we have lived through for two years seems to have an expiration date and although we do not know exactly when it will happen, we are sure that it is very, very close. The reaction that the market is going to have is going to be of such caliber that it is possible that, like the GPU price rose rapidlysaid price on graphics cards could plummet.
The two factors that produced the price boom
We will not spend much time here, since we have already commented on it twice, but it will be the way to introduce the market analysts’ argument. The COVID at the end of 2019 and the increase in the price of Ethereum with the consequent massive purchase of cards by miners were the cause of the shortage in the first place and the exponential rise in prices to triple its MSRP value at certain times.
As you can see in the JPR graph, the average selling price of graphics cards has plummeted in the last two years, but it has been on the rise since 2010, that is, we have had constant increases during more than 12 yearss and part of the blame lies with what was written above, but they also have a lot to do with the greed of manufacturers and retailers who have pocketed significant benefits with this temporary situation.
The plummeting price of graphics cards, in brief
The records that we showed on Monday show that in the month of February prices have fallen again, but in March they have also fallen (-9%) and as we anticipated, the descent is slowing down and it is possible that it will continue like this until the point of no return, where said nosedive is expected.
According to Peddie, these still-inflated MSRP prices will only plummet when a very specific event happens that we speculated about last month: excess inventory in stores. Why will this happen? Basically because the collection of models is high today and sales due to inflation and high prices are not as expected.
| GPU | MSRP | Price March 2022 | Increase | Maximum price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 3090Ti | $1,999 | $3,820 | 91% | $3,820 |
| GeForce RTX 3090 | $1,499 | $2,129 | 42% | $3,300 |
| GeForce RTX 3080 | $699 | $1,220 | 75% | $1,800 |
| GeForce RTX 3050 | $249 | $349 | 40% | $379 |
| Radeon RX 6900 XT | $999 | $1,299 | 30% | $1,954 |
| RadeonRX6600 | $329 | $379 | fifteen% | $549 |
| Radeon RX6500XT | $199 | $220 | eleven% | $270 |
Analysts say that when stores have so much stock that they cannot sell, they will ask manufacturers for discounts for certain numbers of units and start offering huge discount deals which will bring final prices closer to their individual MSRP.
Each day that passes results in a scratch on the calendar in front of the launch of the RTX 40 and RX 7000, this together with the change in Ethereum’s work mode is causing many miners to put their graphics stock up for sale right now despite the fact that Ethereum is rising, but the ratio of its gain against the loss of value of each GPU does not seem to be compensating for the mining of the cryptocurrency and since the offers are increasing in number, it seems to be the ideal time to sell and not to buy. Curious to say the least.
