Graphics card prices plummeted overnight

Jin Lei Bowen from Aofei Temple
Qbit | Official Account: QbitAI

I spent 18,599 yuan on two graphics cards, and lost over 8,000 yuan in two months .

This is a real experience revealed by a netizen - a huge collapse in graphics card prices .

Moreover, this netizen bought the high-end one, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090.

However, this is not an isolated phenomenon.

According to the current graphics card quotes in the overseas market, the price of graphics cards like Nvidia RTX 3080 dropped from 2,299 Australian dollars (about 10,000 yuan) to 1,499 Australian dollars (about 7,000 yuan) in just one night .

The price has plummeted, falling by as much as 35% .

Except for the 3080, the prices of the entire NVIDIA series of 3050, 3060, 3070 and even the upcoming RTX 3090 have generally dropped, with an average drop of 10% .

And AMD is also quite exaggerated.

For example, the price of RX 6600 dropped by 22%, and the price of RX 6700 XT dropped by 16%... Most graphics cards are dropping in price, with an average drop of 13%.

Avalanche, a really big avalanche.

Therefore, facing this situation, netizens were helpless and expressed their feelings of "crying in the toilet":

Price cuts are concentrated on mid-to-high-end graphics cards

How much has the graphics card price dropped now?

According to data from the US e-commerce platform NewEgg, the prices of Nvidia and AMD have been falling since the beginning of the year.

Nvidia's 30 series currently has an overall premium of 72% , with an average drop of 10% :

AMD currently trades at an average premium of 47% and has an average downside of 13% :

The price reduction momentum in China is also not small. Graphics cards that were priced at an average of 8,000+ last month have now fallen to the initial price (more than 6,000), and some models have even fallen below the initial price:

The prices of graphics cards in Huaqiang North Market, known as "China's No. 1 Electronics Street," have been falling since the beginning of the year and are currently at their lowest level in nearly two years.

Some store owners even said that prices will continue to fall.

However, this wave of price cuts is currently only affecting mid- to high-end graphics cards . Low-end graphics cards like 1650 and below are currently seeing little change in market prices.

And how did the players react to this?

Don't buy .

One type is the ultimate wait-and-see party, who believe that prices will definitely continue to fall, and may even be reduced to "selling by the kilogram . "

These players believe that this round of mining boom has lasted for more than 20 months, nearly two years, so the number of graphics cards entering the mining farm must be far greater than the total number of ordinary players.

Prices will inevitably go lower and lower before a complete collapse.

△ Image source: Zhihu answerer "Durian Meteor Hammer"

The second group is in a wait-and- see phase, believing that unless they have design or computing-related work, mid-range and low-end graphics cards are more than enough to meet the daily needs of ordinary gamers.

For example, when it comes to playing games, on the foreign forum Quora, under the question "What games can I play on my 1660?", the vast majority of answers are:

If you're at 1080p and don't have high requirements for image quality, then mainstream games should be fine.

The third type clearly inherited the spirit of last year's "Graphics Card Players vs. Scalpers" and ran around shouting:

I won’t give it to you even if the money grows moldy.

△ Image source: Zhihu answerer "Fox Little Demon DIY Installation"

Why the decline?

So the next question is - what exactly caused this avalanche of graphics cards?

"Mining" may be one of the reasons.

As early as 2020, due to the continued surge in Bitcoin prices, a "mining boom" was set off.

Many miners purchased large quantities of graphics cards to "mine", and there was a time when it was difficult to get a card.

In addition, at the end of 2020, Ethereum (ETH) upgraded to Ethereum 2.0, requiring miners to invest in more powerful hardware.

At that time, the RTX 30 series graphics cards became the first choice of miners.

Nowadays, as the craze for virtual currency has subsided, the demand for graphics cards used for mining has also declined.

And just recently, Ethereum successfully tested a technology that it claims can reduce energy consumption by 99%.

That is, miners will likely no longer need powerful hardware to complete transactions.

Because of this, there are voices in the market saying that "'mining accidents' are an important reason for the price drop of graphics cards."

In addition, production capacity is also an important factor.

For example, an industry insider believes:

In fact, there are two main reasons for the initial price increase of graphics cards. One is mining, and the other is that production capacity cannot keep up.

The price reduction is now because the situation has reversed. People are not mining as much, and the production capacity has also caught up.

Previously, JPMorgan Chase executive Gokul Hariharan said:

In 2023, there will be sufficient global semiconductor supply to restore a certain degree of supply and demand balance, or even overcapacity.

Of course, the "second-hand market" is also a big impact.

Many people bought graphics cards to mine during the mining craze, and then chose to sell them second-hand after using them.

The price of this "retired" graphics card is obviously much lower.

There are even claims that graphics card manufacturers will recycle “mining cards” and sell them after refurbishing them:

In addition, Nvidia's RTX 40 series is about to be launched, and it is said to have a "shocking" performance improvement.

Many people who are "waiting to see" may also be waiting for the release of new graphics cards.

……

So what do you think about this avalanche of graphics card prices? Feel free to leave a comment in the comments section to discuss.

Reference Links:

[1]https://videocardz.com/newz/gpu-prices-are-falling-march-2022-update-shows-10-13-drop-on-ebay-listings
[2]https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404750847727763475
[3]https://fortune.com/2022/03/22/ethereum-is-one-step-closer-to-solving-a-major-criticism-and-beating-bitcoin/