- Aug 15, 2015
- 23
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- 4,510
Cryptocurrency mining has completely destroyed the GPU industry for the average Joe like me just trying to upgrade from old hardware (GTX 560).
Every high end card on every major retailer is out of stock and has been out of stock. Price scalpers/gougers are charging well over $1,000 for cards that MSRP at less then half of that. It has gotten so bad that Nvidia has asked retailers to stop selling to miners so guys like me (the gamer) can finally get a card.
https://wccftech.com/nvidia-instructs-retailers-stop-selling-miners-sell-gamers/
I have been waiting for Crypto currency to die down and experience a severe crash/bubble that bursts. After about a year of watching Crypto currency hoping for this crash, Ive come to accept that while there has been fluctuations in Crypto currency I think it is actually here to stay and has a degree of stability too keep it afloat and funded. I base this on the fact that major players like Amazon and large banks (not just individuals looking to cash in) are jumping on board and crypto currency is being bought in groups much like mutual funds. This will buffer against any major crash. No major crash and people will keep investing in it. Basically, crypto currency and subsequent mining is here to stay. This is terrible news for the PC gaming enthusiast. It is terrible news for the average Joe looking to upgrade their GPU now and in the future.
The problem with GPUs staying in stock is twofold:
First, Miners, either current (that have a blown/melted card) or those looking to get into the game have “in stock” alerts from websites set up to get notified when new cards come in at a major retailer. When they do come in stock, this group swoops in to buy them up.
Second, people who have no interest to mine but are looking to capitalize on the situation also have these in stock alerts set up. Like the first group, they get notified of in stock alerts, swoop in and buy them only to go on eBay or third party sites to sell them for outrageous profit because of the demand. People will pay it because people are going absolutely crazy right now with digital currency and the money/greed lust that it is providing (both with mining and with profiting from buying the currency).
This leaves guys like me at a tremendous disadvantage because I am competing not just with other gamers but with miners and scalpers too. This is the case, even though I too have alerts set up from multiple websites. The problem is as soon as I get an alert, go to the site, the card is gone. I talked to New Egg on a phone call discussing this and they said they have never seen anything like this. That literally as soon as they scan just one card in, its sold. So people are either camping the site or have apps/programs set up to do that outside of these “in stock” websites notifications that are also doing this.
Like Nvidia stated above, this needs to stop as it is hurting those who are enthusiasts, gamers and loyalist. The question is how can this be done?
I have some ideas:
1. Limit only one card sold per household and per customer
a. No having the wife log in buy one then the hubby log in to buy one too just because a different name or CC is used.
2. Setup a “pre order system”
a. Yes the card has already been released so it is not actually a regular pre order but with the limit to one card per person (and household) the preorders will actually let Nvidia and New Egg/Amazon etc. know the demand and actually produce adequate numbers of cards and can get the cards out to more individual people rather then just people looking to hoard them to either mine or scalp.
3. Lobby/contact in mass NVIDIA to actually produce more cards
What do you guys think? What are some of your ideas?
This is an open discussion.
Every high end card on every major retailer is out of stock and has been out of stock. Price scalpers/gougers are charging well over $1,000 for cards that MSRP at less then half of that. It has gotten so bad that Nvidia has asked retailers to stop selling to miners so guys like me (the gamer) can finally get a card.
https://wccftech.com/nvidia-instructs-retailers-stop-selling-miners-sell-gamers/
I have been waiting for Crypto currency to die down and experience a severe crash/bubble that bursts. After about a year of watching Crypto currency hoping for this crash, Ive come to accept that while there has been fluctuations in Crypto currency I think it is actually here to stay and has a degree of stability too keep it afloat and funded. I base this on the fact that major players like Amazon and large banks (not just individuals looking to cash in) are jumping on board and crypto currency is being bought in groups much like mutual funds. This will buffer against any major crash. No major crash and people will keep investing in it. Basically, crypto currency and subsequent mining is here to stay. This is terrible news for the PC gaming enthusiast. It is terrible news for the average Joe looking to upgrade their GPU now and in the future.
The problem with GPUs staying in stock is twofold:
First, Miners, either current (that have a blown/melted card) or those looking to get into the game have “in stock” alerts from websites set up to get notified when new cards come in at a major retailer. When they do come in stock, this group swoops in to buy them up.
Second, people who have no interest to mine but are looking to capitalize on the situation also have these in stock alerts set up. Like the first group, they get notified of in stock alerts, swoop in and buy them only to go on eBay or third party sites to sell them for outrageous profit because of the demand. People will pay it because people are going absolutely crazy right now with digital currency and the money/greed lust that it is providing (both with mining and with profiting from buying the currency).
This leaves guys like me at a tremendous disadvantage because I am competing not just with other gamers but with miners and scalpers too. This is the case, even though I too have alerts set up from multiple websites. The problem is as soon as I get an alert, go to the site, the card is gone. I talked to New Egg on a phone call discussing this and they said they have never seen anything like this. That literally as soon as they scan just one card in, its sold. So people are either camping the site or have apps/programs set up to do that outside of these “in stock” websites notifications that are also doing this.
Like Nvidia stated above, this needs to stop as it is hurting those who are enthusiasts, gamers and loyalist. The question is how can this be done?
I have some ideas:
1. Limit only one card sold per household and per customer
a. No having the wife log in buy one then the hubby log in to buy one too just because a different name or CC is used.
2. Setup a “pre order system”
a. Yes the card has already been released so it is not actually a regular pre order but with the limit to one card per person (and household) the preorders will actually let Nvidia and New Egg/Amazon etc. know the demand and actually produce adequate numbers of cards and can get the cards out to more individual people rather then just people looking to hoard them to either mine or scalp.
3. Lobby/contact in mass NVIDIA to actually produce more cards
What do you guys think? What are some of your ideas?
This is an open discussion.
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