NVIDIA and AMD Graphics Cards Experience Biggest Price Drop in Europe Yet

RJ Pierce, Tech Times 20 June 2021, 11:06 am

NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards have been very hard to find at a retail price due to the current GPU-pocalypse, but it seems like things are starting to ease up in Europe lately in terms of pricing.

(Photo : Olly Curtis/Maximum PC Magazine/Future via Getty Images)
A group of PC graphics cards, including (L-R) a Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 AMP Edition, MSI Radeon RX 470 Gaming X 8G and an AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB, taken on July 22, 2016.

GameRant reports that the prices for NVIDIA and AMD GPUs have been on a steady decline in certain European countries, which could suggest that the GPU shortage is going to end much sooner than expected. Average prices for the latest NVIDIA and AMD cards have dropped by as much as 50 percent over there, which is one of the biggest price drops yet.

A certain Reddit user plotted the data on the chart, and the numbers don't seem to lie. As soon as June started, GPU prices are on the downward trend, with several of the latest releases from NVIDIA (i.e. RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3060/3060 Ti) dropping to their lowest asking prices since launch.

Digital Trends also picked up on the trend, stating that the pricing for the NVIDIA RTX 3080 (which has become the "poster child" of the GPU shortage) dropped from around $2700 minimum to around $1700 within a one-month span. That's already a massive $1000 discount, though it's still far from the advertised MSRP of $699.

Graphics cards from Team Red are on a downward trend as well when it comes to pricing. The RX 6700 XT, for one, now sits at an average of 799 (roughly $947 at the time of this writing) as of June 17, from a high of 929 ($1100) a month ago, as reported by Tom's Hardware. Other RDNA2 cards have also seen $100-$300 price drops.

NVIDIA and AMD Finally Keeping Up With Demand?

NVIDIA made headlines earlier this year for claiming that the GPU shortage will last until 2021 ends. Perhaps they didn't really see this trend coming, but maybe they should have.

One of the biggest contributing factors to graphics card prices going berserk is the current cryptocurrency mining boom. Miners have been snagging GPU stocks since last year, which caused street pricing to go bonkers. This is why NVIDIA tried its absolute best to sway miners from buying up stocks by releasing LHR versions of the RTX 3000 line. And these cards actually work, too.

But does this mean NVIDIA and AMD are now keeping up with demand? Not really, though actual GPU stocks are doing fine. Major retailers do have graphics cards for sale right now, even if the prices are still inflated.

Crypto Mining Not As Profitable Anymore

Asrock, a major GPU maker, forecasts that graphics card demand from miners is going to decrease soon. And that's because some major governments (China, specifically) are cracking down at crypto mining, mainly due to its insane power requirements. It also doesn't help that crypto values are becoming increasingly volatile, which means miners aren't earning as much in the long run.

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Alpine Mining co-founder and CEO Ludovic Thomas works at company's main cryptocurrency mining site jam-packed with metal racks lined with hundreds upon hundreds of graphic cards in the tiny southern Swiss village of Gondo on March 9, 2018.

If you're a PC gamer, then you should brace yourself: the GPU-pocalypse could finally end soon.

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Written by RJ Pierce