Graphics Card Price Wars: How to Score a Card (If You Must)

[kyotokid]

...yeah a real pain if you are just upgrading. Was putting aside funds for a 1070 which is now on hold unless Nvidia gets some back in stock in their store (on that watch list). Not going to bother with used as quite likely there are already cards that were "retired" from mining out there and with the torture they've been put through, you would be working on "borrowed time" particularly if you plan to use them for CG rendering.

Last week Titan Xp's and even Titan Vs were out of stock at Nvidia, so seeing them available again might be a ray of hope that their stock of the other models will be replenished. Maybe what Nvidia needs to do is limit purchases to only one card per month so the rest of us have a shot at getting one.

The situation is really out of hand as when I went to Newegg to check on 1070 availability, most were 800$ to 900$ (with a few over 1,000$) and all were from third party sources, some located overseas (one I could not even find the exact location of other than it is somewhere in Asia). Clicking "Newegg Only" only a handful of cards were listed and all were "out of stock". I saw no combo deals listed when I clicked on an individual product. However for one, on the list of "other items" customers have bought, there was a GPU riser for mining rigs and a 6 pack of 1070s. Even they caved into the craze.

 

[croc]

Personally I upgrade my system by halves, sort of. One half is the GPU, the other is the CPU (plus RAM, MB, possibly other peripherals... This year was GPU time, although my old 7 series Titan was still no slouch. So as soon as reasonable, I bought a 1080 Ti. Now I need to save up to replace my 3930k CPU. I think I will wait until I can get a CPU without any (known) kernel bugs... My mates always say that I am lucky... My 'luck' comes from long-term planning and patience.

 

[Zlatko Flajpan]

Any Hybrid-Crossfire option in the future on AMD new APU?

 

[InvalidError]

Any Hybrid-Crossfire option in the future on AMD new APU?

That never worked particularly well before. Both AMD and Nvidia are slowly withdrawing from supporting implicit multi-GPU (SLI/CF) so the most likely answer is no, and you can expect SLI/CF to vanish altogether in a few years.

If you want multi-GPU scaling, you'll have to hunt down games that support explicit multi-adapter where the game takes on the burden of splitting load between available GPUs and stitching the results back together.

 

[delaro]

Not a single thing listed about the used market? Reddit Marketplace has been a great place to find a deal on used hardware.

 

[Tanyac]

The problem with store built PCs, at least where I live, is that the retail stores skimp on quality of as many parts as they can. They will use the cheapest of everything except "selected" parts that they use as the linchpin part to sell the system, such as the GPU.

The only way to get consistent quality is to configure the system yourself, and there goes any perceived savings.

if you're going to put a top end graphics card in a system, then who wants a cheap $70 case, with a $1000 graphics card, or a 'H' series motherboard where a 'Z' should be used...

Now that the retailers have settled themselves in with high margins on almost every component I don't think we're ever going to see prices return to some form of sanity, and ultimately, the fate of DIY-PC building with be seriously affected very long term.

 

[James Cygnus]

The situation is ridiculous ... No one is buying DIY-PC hardware right now ... new or used. You can't sell your old hardware, and can't get a new GPU to accompany new hardware. I think I'm just gonna skip this upgrade year altogether and get a new MacBook Pro instead, once the 2018 models are available.

LoL. "GPUs are ridiculously overpriced. So I'm going to buy a ridiculously overpriced system instead"

Darwin Award Candidate here folks...

 

[sincreator]

I was pretty surprised that the used market wasn't mentioned. I used a 7970/7950 combo for a couple years and both cards were used mining cards. I never had an issue with either card, and both are running still today in the systems that they landed in when I sold them. One was a powercolor, and the other MSI.

Actually the guy I bought the two cards from had three systems with 4 GPU's in each. When he sold the 12 cards, the only issue he had was a couple of dead fans. Not one card died while mining and the fans were fixed under warranty before he sold them.

 

[abubaker.m.elhassan]

Interested to see an article on inflated GPU effects on the sales of other PC components (Hard Drives, Ram, Motherboards, Cases, PSU and peripherals) I guess it's influencing the market in a very bad way in general and when you loose momentum sometimes it gone forever.
Abubaker Ali

 

[alan_rave]

Waiting ou used hardware..

 

[johncrawford412]

Definitely time for an Xbox X. I'm exiting the master race. This isnt worth the trouble when an updated PS4 or Xbox can run the games 4k and 60 fps without spending 1400 dollars on a video card.

 

[mischon123]

Toms best advice is to spend more Dollars on on a pile of parts than you actually can afford?
Crazy world - where the objectively best path is to not shop till the gouging stops

 

[bit_user]

Toms best advice is to spend more Dollars on on a pile of parts than you actually can afford?
Crazy world - where the objectively best path is to not shop till the gouging stops

The article's very title does seem to imply that one should wait. Also, #4 - Wait It Out (But Keep Checking Prices) - indeed addresses the waiting game.

 

[berezini.2013]

There is another solution to this problem. Dont buy anything at all.. if all vendors no matter if they make graphics cards or not feel financial effect on sales, they will step in and do something about it. Hell they might even invest in RD and make new video cards... think of the good things NOT buying will bring?

 

[johncrawford412]

There is another solution to this problem. Dont buy anything at all.. if all vendors no matter if they make graphics cards or not feel financial effect on sales, they will step in and do something about it. Hell they might even invest in RD and make new video cards... think of the good things NOT buying will bring?

I wish that would work. But right now miners are making up the difference and then some. Makes me absolutely hate all those get-rich-quick jackasses

 

[cilliers]

The laptop prices have largely remained unchanged since 2015/16. You can still get a loaded GTX 1070 laptop for around $2000 (US). I know it doesn't really address the desktop GPU price problem, but at least there is another avenue to consider.

 

[InvalidError]

Ethereum is about to pass the 3GB mark, that will soon be one less popular currency that works on 3GB GTX1060. With some luck, that may be enough to let those remain on shelves a while longer.

 

[18goldr]

I got really lucky. I searched facebook market place and found a deal on an evga 1070 hybrid for $440. I was so ecstatic.

 

[18goldr]

I suggest looking in places like Facebook marketplace. They have suprisingly good deals sometimes. I was extremely lucky because I found an EVGA 1070 hybrid for $440 a couple weeks ago. I snatched it up right away.

Another option is wholesale. There are a lot of stores selling large quantities of graphics cards for like half the msrp price.

 

[bit_user]

Another option is wholesale. There are a lot of stores selling large quantities of graphics cards for like half the msrp price.

What are some of these wholesalers and how would ordinary users purchase from them?

And wouldn't they only sell in larger quantities? I don't know about ordinary users, but I'd imagine miners would be all over that.

 

[Rexer]

I suggest looking in places like Facebook marketplace. They have suprisingly good deals sometimes. I was extremely lucky because I found an EVGA 1070 hybrid for $440 a couple weeks ago. I snatched it up right away.

Another option is wholesale. There are a lot of stores selling large quantities of graphics cards for like half the msrp price.

Yeah, good deals are out there. Just gotta kiss lady lucky and hope for the best. I hunt down or find new item deals every once in a while. Found a steal on an Asus R9 390x Strix for $200 a few years back and while I had Nvidias, I kept it as a back up.

 

[velocityg4]

Ethereum is about to pass the 3GB mark, that will soon be one less popular currency that works on 3GB GTX1060. With some luck, that may be enough to let those remain on shelves a while longer.

Unfortunately, that GPU can make just as much money in Nicehash mining any number of other alt coins or just mine them directly. Sometimes it can make more on others than Ethereum. Last I saw Ethereum won't hit the 3GB mark until November this year. Unless the timeline has been updated. If the market is still good. I imagine most will just switch to another coin. If they mine Ethereum directly.

Switching to proof of stake will probably have a big impact on the profitability of other coins. As they get flooded by Ethereum rigs switching over.

 

[Jagwired]

I think most gamers are going to be forced to use integrated graphics in the future. Discrete GPU's are going to be for cryptocurrency mining or professional use.

 

[13thmonkey]

I think most gamers are going to be forced to use integrated graphics in the future. Discrete GPU's are going to be for cryptocurrency mining or professional use.

I really don't think so.

 

[ibjeepr]

I think most gamers are going to be forced to use integrated graphics in the future. Discrete GPU's are going to be for cryptocurrency mining or professional use.

I'm not going to say you're wrong because it depends on a lot of variables.
If mining / cryptocurrancies are here to stay then as the popularity of it grows, so will the GPU shortage.
But if that happens I would hope that card production/products will eventually adjust. Even then I could argue either way that card prices will stay high or become even more affordable.