The fact that graphics cards have been poorly available and extremely overpriced for gamers for months is nothing new to ComputerBase readers. An analysis of the 3D Center website illustrates how far prices in online retail have deviated from the manufacturer's recommended retail prices.
How the prices of the new graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia have been developing online retail since mid-January, has shown an overview of 3D Center. The price range prevailing at the Geizhals price comparison service and a selection of retailers was recorded at irregular intervals between mid-January and mid-May.
Tripling of the RRP is not uncommon
The trend is clear and at the same time frightening: In the worst case, customers had to shell out double the recommended retail price (RRP) in January, now they often have to pay three times as much. The difference is particularly extreme with the GeForce RTX 30xx cards from Nvidia. The RTX 3070 (519 euros RRP) already cost between 769 and 1,049 euros in January, now (as of May 16) 1,495 to 1,649 euros are due. The flagship RTX 3090 (1,549 euros RRP) was only available from 3,199 euros yesterday. In the meantime, prices of up to almost 4,000 euros have also been called. The RTX 3080 (719 euros RRP) was therefore not available at the beginning of the year, but yesterday it cost almost four times as much at 2,999 euros. The later launched GeForce RTX 3060 (329 euros RRP) was still available in mid-March for 559 euros to 1,199 euros, yesterday it was 999 euros to 1,122 euros, which also corresponds to at least three times the recommended retail price.
The price increases for the Radeon RX 6×00 from AMD are also large. The fastest model in the form of the Radeon RX 6900 XT (€ 999 MSRP) cost between € 1,699 and € 2,999 yesterday. The RX 6800 XT (€ 649 RRP) was charged at € 1,299 to € 1,799, while in January it was € 999 to € 1,199. The RX 6800 (€ 579 RRP) costs around three times as much, with prices ranging from € 1,499 to € 1,699 on May 16. The RX 6700 XT (EUR 479 RRP) is also miles away from the recommended retail price at EUR 909 to EUR 1,580.
As of today
Because the prices fluctuate daily, ComputerBase has checked the current status of retailers in the price comparison. A similar picture emerges, only RTX 3090 and RTX 3060 Ti are currently not available at all.
Causes: Mining, manufacturing and Corona
There are several reasons why graphics cards are so scarce and expensive at the moment. The “soldiers of fortune”, among others, who want to earn a golden nose by mining the crypto currency Ether (ETH) and need many fast graphics cards to do so, are generating increased demand. But the gaming boom and the generally high demand for computer hardware in times of lockdowns and home offices are also depressing inventories. In addition, there is the general shortage of chips, since contract manufacturers like TSMC can hardly keep up with meeting the demand from a wide variety of industries. There is currently no improvement in sight.
If you already have an RTX 3000/RX 6000, what did you pay for?
- The RRP
- 101 to 125 percent of the RRP
- 126 to 150 percent of the RRP
- 151 to 200 percent of the RRP
- More than 200 percent der RRP
- abstain (show result)
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It remains to be seen whether measures such as Nvidia's next attempt at a “mining brake” to make GeForce graphics cards less attractive to players for mining will bear fruit.