Price fixing of GPUs?

[TStevens]

It seems like ever since the GPU shortage related to bitcoin mining that the GPU manufacturers have been limiting stock and holding the prices high? Or are we seeing real inflation?
Even the midrange of the RTX 1070 line are still $300? Even though it is now two generations back?

 

[Nemesia]

It seems like ever since the GPU shortage related to bitcoin mining that the GPU manufacturers have been limiting stock and holding the prices high? Or are we seeing real inflation?
Even the midrange of the RTX 1070 line are still $300? Even though it is now two generations back?

To see the real price of that GTX 1070 go on ebay ;p You will see them at 120 dollars used.

 

[Eximo]

Yep, no one should be buying a new GTX1070, those will be old listings that had high prices even when they were current. People will occasionally buy them not knowing any better, or as direct replacements for existing GTX1070.

Real inflation, coupled with a significant increase in GPU performance per dollar.

It was kept remarkably stable for many years, $300 mid-range GPU, became $500.

50% inflation since 2005 as well, and look at what you got back then. A tiny 30W card with a few megabytes of memory, still cost you $300, that would be about $450 today.

I would say up until the 20 series it was basically this is what people are willing to pay for mid-range cards. They tested the waters with the Titan series, and people paid it. When Nvidia lost competition, they decided to pass their increased GPU manufacturing costs onto the consumer. Probably rightly so. The fabs were all busy making SoCs for smartphones and tablets. Memory was getting expensive, GPUs were getting physically larger to show generational improvements.

Still, RTX3070 is reasonably priced. When the next step down comes out, it will destroy all the RTX 20 series cards, except maybe the 2070 Super, so unless the existing stock of RTX 2060, 1660Ti, etc have all run their course you will see the exact same problem. High priced cards now, will still have those listings.

 

[Eximo]

I should add that the aberrant pricings were the 1080Ti, 2080Ti. Performance per dollar was terrible. 2070 to a lesser extent, the Supers were put in place to punish AMD, but made previous non-super purchases look like bad investments.

GTX1070 was $400 at launch, which was somewhat against inflation, but still riding that high end price point. GTX1080 was a little over-priced, but not terribly so when compared with the 1070.

All in all, they've done a decent job. And if you are stuck at that $300 price point, still very competitive cards that will get you gaming at 1080p.

These bigger cards are catering to an audience that is moving rapidly towards 4K gaming. So quadruple the need at 'less then' quadruple the price.

I can tell you I am not super interested in spending $1200 on a card, why I didn't go for a 20 series upgrade (and I am sure lots of people were in my shoes, which is why the pricing is so favorable this go around)

 

[TStevens]

To see the real price of that GTX 1070 go on ebay ;p You will see them at 120 dollars used.

sure, and then when it lasts 30 days because it was used for mining or overclocking?

 

[USAFRet]

sure, and then when it lasts 30 days because it was used for mining or overclocking?

Risks you take when buying used from some dude on flebay.

 

[Nemesia]

sure, and then when it lasts 30 days because it was used for mining or overclocking?

I'm not telling you to buy one. I'm just showing you what the GTX 1070 is worth now. No one will buy a GTX 1070 at 300 dollars new. You can get a 1660 super which is the same as a 1070 and it's 240 dollars new or 100 dollars used on ebay.

 

[TStevens]

I should add that the aberrant pricings were the 1080Ti, 2080Ti. Performance per dollar was terrible. 2070 to a lesser extent, the Supers were put in place to punish AMD, but made previous non-super purchases look like bad investments.

GTX1070 was $400 at launch, which was somewhat against inflation, but still riding that high end price point. GTX1080 was a little over-priced, but not terribly so when compared with the 1070.

All in all, they've done a decent job. And if you are stuck at that $300 price point, still very competitive cards that will get you gaming at 1080p.

These bigger cards are catering to an audience that is moving rapidly towards 4K gaming. So quadruple the need at 'less then' quadruple the price.

I can tell you I am not super interested in spending $1200 on a card, why I didn't go for a 20 series upgrade (and I am sure lots of people were in my shoes, which is why the pricing is so favorable this go around)

I have never bought the latest and have always come in at the second generation and it has always been fine. I guess due to that I noticed the changes in the secondary market more than what may be happening with the primary market.
Electronics usually holds price due to continuing efficiencies and it was only in the last 10 years that the secondary market jumped. Up until then I was always able to get "last year'" technology for $100-200.

 

[TStevens]

Yep, no one should be buying a new GTX1070, those will be old listings that had high prices even when they were current. People will occasionally buy them not knowing any better, or as direct replacements for existing GTX1070.

Real inflation, coupled with a significant increase in GPU performance per dollar.

It was kept remarkably stable for many years, $300 mid-range GPU, became $500.

50% inflation since 2005 as well, and look at what you got back then. A tiny 30W card with a few megabytes of memory, still cost you $300, that would be about $450 today.
u will see the exact same problem. High priced cards now, will still have those listings.

I thought there was hardly any inflation over the recent decades 😉
I would agree except that in general margins have always been pretty high on electronic components and newer technology almost always increases efficiency.
Just look at CPUs? If I avoid the very latest iteration I can get a very competent CPU for less than $200. That is almost the same price that I spent for a similarly competent CPU 20 years ago.
Same thing with Storage. As long as one stays away from early adoption prices are near in value to 20 years ago.
But for some reason GPUs act differently?

 

[TStevens]

I'm not telling you to buy one. I'm just showing you what the GTX 1070 is worth now. No one will buy a GTX 1070 at 300 dollars new. You can get a 1660 super which is the same as a 1070 and it's 240 dollars new or 100 dollars used on ebay.

Yes, the 1660 seems to be about the best value to a budget buyer.

 

[Eximo]

Very small minority of PC gamers out there which makes high end GPUs more specialized and larger pieces of silicon. And you are seeing the exact same effect happening with CPUs. Sure your average quad/hex core is about $200. Want more, prepare to pay. 10 cores and up, $500, 16 cores, $800, 32 cores... and so on.

CPU also doesn't include memory (fast memory at that), and a full PCB. GPU is basically a standalone computer that interfaces with the CPU. So if you count the CPU/RAM/Motherboard as a unit, costs aren't as comparable.

 

[hotaru.hino]

It seems like ever since the GPU shortage related to bitcoin mining that the GPU manufacturers have been limiting stock and holding the prices high? Or are we seeing real inflation?
Even the midrange of the RTX 1070 line are still $300? Even though it is now two generations back?

Video cards of previous generations being sold as new were manufactured back when they were relevant. I'm pretty sure production for Pascal GPUs has stopped, save for the few OEMs that have contract orders.

I'm pretty sure stores have to purchase said video cards to sell and they would really like to recoup as much as they paid for at some point.