How impactful have scalpers, miners, and the automotive industry been on graphics card prices?
Introduction to the madness
With the arrival of NVIDIA‘s 3000 series and AMD‘s 6000 series a couple of months ago at ridiculously low MSRP (e.g. 3070 RTX at $499) compared to the previous generation, everybody got excited because who wouldn’t want double the performance for almost half the price. Right?
Well, that was the initial consensus, and it wasn’t long before everybody made fun of older graphics card model owners just before the circulation of the new ones. However, the same people soon found out that things just started to get worse.
Quick navigation
- The overall situation
- The current prices
- Prices in the EU
- How did Covid-19 affect the price?
- How did the automotive industry affect the price?
- How did miners and scalpers affect the price?
- What about gaming laptops, then?
- Will the craze be over soon?
- What should you do until then?
- Conclusion
The overall situation
For the sake of keeping the article simple and short, the focus will be on NVIDIA‘s graphics cards as a reference for comparison. First, the price started to increase dramatically within the first weeks of NVIDIA‘s cards. We saw the 3070 RTX going from $499 to $1000 in a short time before rising to higher levels. In the meantime, the 3090 RTX was already north of $1,500. The supply wasn’t meeting the demand, and scalpers made things worse by purchasing all the available cards in a flash by using bots or buying in bulk, and then selling them at ridiculously high prices on eBay or other similar platforms.
Comparatively, the demand was quite high for the previous generation, but not as bad because supply was on decent levels. Now, by adding the increased interest in cryptocurrency mining, COVID-19 lockdowns, and the demand of semiconductors from the automotive industry, things became extremely difficult, if not impossible, to acquire any card of the RTX series at a reasonable price within 2021.
The current prices
We’ll try to give an idea of the minimum and maximum price ranges with the following examples. A quick look on Amazon.com regarding the 3080 RTX showed us that most of them are out of stock, and the one that was in stock was rated at $1,599. Simultaneously, the prices for the 3090 RTX were $3,000 or higher. Yes, you heard that right! At least triple its MSRP and is still on the rise.
Prices in the EU
But, what about the European market? A quick look showed us that things are worse than in the US.
Wow! Just wow! €2,799 for the 3080 RTX, and is mostly out of stock. That means that it costs $3,344 in US dollars or $1745 more than its North American counterpart, which is about x7 of the MSRP price. As you can see I don’t need to go any further to give you a glimpse of how bad things really are.
How did COVID-19 affect the price?
It wasn’t a surprise that COVID-19 lockdowns would create a spike in demand. Being forced to stay indoors almost 24/7 would make the use of a computer mandatory for work and entertainment. Even hardcore gamers used to go out once in a while. Call it a coincidence, but the limited supply of the new generation graphics cards in combination with the pandemic made it impossible for the majority of people to get their hands on the new sweet tech.
How did the automotive industry affect the price?
The transition from ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) to electric vehicles as well as the overly-complicated systems in the current gen of vehicles, has caused a huge drought of semiconductor chips. Chip manufacturers have a limited rate of production and cannot simultaneously satisfy all the segments. This is foreseen to worsen in the future as “electrification” is being pushed on a global scale, and it’s expected that by 2025-30 at least 50% of all vehicles will be electric (in the EU market).
How did the scalpers and miners affect the price?
Crypto-currency mining is getting a lot of attention as the price of digital coins is skyrocketing. The improved performance-to-price ratio of the next-gen graphics cards can make mining more profitable, and if we take into account that the average mining rig will have at least 5-10 graphics cards for this resource-intensive work, then you can guess why shortages happen so quickly.
Scalpers (AKA people who buy and resell at a higher price) simply took advantage of the whole situation and made sure to at least double the MSRP prices when selling their newly purchased cards as second-hand goods on eBay or other platforms. Even if you tried to fight them in their own game, you would never succeed because the purchasing of the cards happens automatically upon the availability of stock by bots. I guess online shopping can have some disadvantages.
What about gaming laptops then?
Nope! The 2021 laptops powered by the new RTX series are no longer on the shelves as they have been scooped by scalpers and miners long before you even thought about it. So, if you were waiting for an RTX-powered laptop, now you are going to get even more desperate as things will remain stagnant for quite some time.
Will this craze be over soon?
The increase of prices outside the US market almost doubles every month that passes. It sounds like an exaggerated story, but that’s what happened from January to March 2021. Logically, you would expect that some legal measures would have been implemented to prevent the current situation, but to no avail. It’s a free market.
NVIDIA claimed that it would make its 3060 RTX cards under-perform if used for Ethereum mining in an effort to discourage miners from buying it. But considering how many algorithms and crypto-currencies exist, this does not seem to be effective at all, especially when the locking software has already been breached by hackers and NVIDIA “accidentally” releasing an unlocked version of the software just a few days after its initial announcement. It’s obvious that NVIDIA‘s efforts are at most satirical if not outright offensive to its customers, but who could blame them?
Overall, it’s said that the market will see some stock resupply by the end of this year and the beginning of next year. Hopefully, the supply will finally meet a large part of the demand, and the prices will drop to a reasonable level.
What should you do until then?
If you’re lucky enough to have a decent graphics card, just don’t let go of it, yet. You may not be able to find a replacement for a long time. If you have checked the online stores and eBay, you’ll find that older graphics cards are worth much more now, even when compared to unopened-box ones. You can see NVIDIA‘s 2000 RTX series selling north of $1,000 dollars. Likewise, if you have more than one graphics card, and you are ready to take advantage of the current demand, I believe it’s a good time for you to make some extra cash. Another thing you could do is visit the stores nearby you in person. Everybody is aware of the situation, including the sellers, and this is why some of them have already started selling them only in person and in limited numbers. Currently, this is your best bet.
Conclusion
Scalpers are going to scalp, miners are going to mine and gamers are going to be “thirsty” for at least a year given the current situation. As I mentioned before, there isn’t much an individual person can do. All you should do, for now, is wait. Just avoid buying from scalpers, so you won’t ramp the prices even higher. There is a point where you have to consider if gaming is worth that much.
What is the situation in your country? Are the prices as ridiculous as we showed you here?
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