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The frustrations of the GPU market

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Reply 21 of 191, by Claris

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imi wrote on 2022-01-19, 18:07:

just play old games, they're usually better anyways ^^

That would normally be a "boomer" opinion, except its actually kinda-sorta true. There's a whole library of amazing retro and older AA games that don't require much GPU power to enjoy these days. You don't have to limit yourself to overpriced AAA modern stuff.

Although i do enjoy some COD Warzone and Apex Legends from time to time.

Reply 22 of 191, by The Serpent Rider

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Hanamichi wrote:

Don't quite understand how retailers are allowed to scalp a graphics card but not a PS5/Xbox ?

Who said that PS5/Xbox aren't scalped?

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 23 of 191, by drosse1meyer

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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-01-19, 18:17:
Hanamichi wrote:

Don't quite understand how retailers are allowed to scalp a graphics card but not a PS5/Xbox ?

Who said that PS5/Xbox aren't scalped?

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P1: Packard Bell - 233 MMX, Voodoo1, 64 MB, ALS100+
P2-V2: Dell Dimension - 400 Mhz, Voodoo2, 256 MB
P!!! Custom: 1 Ghz, GeForce2 Pro/64MB, 384 MB

Reply 24 of 191, by Hanamichi

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The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-01-19, 18:17:
Hanamichi wrote:

Don't quite understand how retailers are allowed to scalp a graphics card but not a PS5/Xbox ?

Who said that PS5/Xbox aren't scalped?

In the UK no PS5 or Xbox series X or is above RRP from a 'reputable' retailer (maybe Apple products too) it seems.

But the same retailers and others seem free to raise computer parts way above the RRP.

e.g. Currys
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/search-keywords … x-criteria.html RX6800 - £999
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/xbox-series-x/c … x-criteria.html Xbox Series X with a 'lite' version of the same GPU inside - rrp £449 + extras(albeit pricey bundles with extras you might not want)

Of course individuals are scalping.

Last edited by Hanamichi on 2022-01-19, 18:58. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 25 of 191, by BitWrangler

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IDK if it's good now, but regular retailers were completely out of stock here with month plus waiting lists before Christmas, scalpers were listing them on local sales forums for near double MRSP.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 29 of 191, by The Serpent Rider

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Basically, your current GPU will be used by your (grand)kids, if it survive that long. Oh well, good thing I have a stock of working GeForce 8800GTX!

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 30 of 191, by BitWrangler

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Heh, gave a kid in the fam a HD6870 for a build in 2018, he has stuck/been stuck with it since, still been doing okay for the 1080p stuffs, mostly he's been into stuff that's not super demanding. He might have some grumbles now it's been dropped out of driver updates if he gets any new new games that need better support.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 31 of 191, by drosse1meyer

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BitWrangler wrote on 2022-01-19, 20:35:

Heh, gave a kid in the fam a HD6870 for a build in 2018, he has stuck/been stuck with it since, still been doing okay for the 1080p stuffs, mostly he's been into stuff that's not super demanding. He might have some grumbles now it's been dropped out of driver updates if he gets any new new games that need better support.

My brother has been limping along with a 7970 for a while now... myself, I did a 'budget rebuild' in 2019 using a secondhand 6700k and 1660ti which I got on sale for 250, now this budget card is going for almost double. Works well enough for 1080 and many games do 1440 at 60fps...

P1: Packard Bell - 233 MMX, Voodoo1, 64 MB, ALS100+
P2-V2: Dell Dimension - 400 Mhz, Voodoo2, 256 MB
P!!! Custom: 1 Ghz, GeForce2 Pro/64MB, 384 MB

Reply 32 of 191, by Hoping

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Like many other things, as long as there are people willing to pay a high price, the price will remain high, as someone already mentioned, this was started by Nvidia with its $1000 Titan graphics cards.
When they found that they were selling well for $1,000, they decided that they could ask for $1,500 and when they found that they were selling well again, they decided that they could continue like this, the lack of stock is an excuse to increase prices since the real cost of manufacturing a graphics card I do not think it has increased so much. An HD 7970 retailed for around $650-$700, and was a complex card at the time.
In short, even if the problem with the manufacture of the chips is over, it is possible that the prices will continue to be high as long as there are users willing to pay them.
This is also largely the fault of many YouTubers who, since they have money, buy lots of these expensive graphics only to say that they spent that money on them because they had it. This gives a lot of publicity and encourages price increases.
This is how I see this problem, it will hardly have a solution, the $3000 desktop graphics are already here and it is difficult for them to disappear.
But... they can keep their graphics cards and give them kisses if they want, but they won't sell me any new graphics cards, only used ones, what do they do when they have warehouses full of unsold graphics cards?. Will see.

Reply 34 of 191, by TheMobRules

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I purchased a 5700XT in late 2019 (along with an X570 motherboard), after not upgrading since 2014. Just before the pandemic started! And then this whole GPU price shit show became this current insanity, where that same GPU costs twice of what I paid 2 years ago!

I feel lucky about that, but if my GPU croaks in the near future then neither AMD or nVidia will see another cent from me unless prices are reasonable again. I can use my work computer for daily use, and my retro gear for gaming needs. I fully agree with the post by Hoping: they jack up the prices and people keep buying them, then they come up with an excuse to raise the prices again(first it was the miners, then the virus, now it's the component "shortage") and people buy even more, then the scalpers buy out all the already overpriced stock and the same drones buy from them at 3x, 4x, 5x the original price.

And yet I feel that less and less people are actually buying these things. Clearly these companies have realized that there is no problem selling to a smaller audience since right now there is no upper bound to the prices they can set. However, I think one of the reasons this happens is because even though it's not a fully-fledged monopoly it's basically a cartel where both companies are in total agreement about this pricing strategy and there's enough money for both. Of course, having a FOMO-based customer base that will buy anything they put out regardless of quality or price surely helps a lot!

Reply 35 of 191, by Sombrero

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I'm getting off easy as the newest game I have and like is Stardew Valley from 2016 and you could play that on a potato. The newest demanding AAA title I have and like is The Witcher 3 from 2015 and my GTX 1660 Ti runs that great, happened to get that card about an year before the prices started to skyrocket.

But since NVIDIA dropped Windows 7 driver support last september I find myself in need of a backup card for the future, I'd rather get one while you still can get new cards that support Windows 7 instead of used one in the future that might have been mined to charcoal. But I sure as hell ain't paying 600€ for a 1660 Ti.

Reply 36 of 191, by TrashPanda

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Funnily its only a certain segment of the GPU market that has seen stupid price hikes ..I recently bought a 3080ti for the same price I bought my 2080ti for 3 years ago the thing I have noticed is that the halo products haven't moved in pricing, the X080 ti GPUs are about the same, the titan class GPUs 3090/ti and previous RTX Titan are about the same in price. The low tier and mid tier GPUs however .. Jesus Christ they got hit hard by the hikes and I figure its the area in the market that normally sees the most sales.

There are a few factors causing the hikes

-Shortages in electronics manufacturing, from components to silicon everything is short
-Massive consumer demand for new components far more demand than would have normally been seen (Blame Covid lockdowns for this)
-Shortages in workforce, from fabbing to delivery networks
-General price hikes for components, fabbing, delivery, fuel costs etc from lack of workforce downstream - this alone is more than half the problem
-Mining .. god damn fucking miners
-Shitty retailers thinking they can raise price beyond what the market can bear, it works in the sort term but long term it always fails, just remember the Fabricators dont set the retail pricing, they also cant enforce the MRSP. AMD and nVidia both sold and sell their GPUs at MRSP from their own stores.

All together its put the whole market into a state that is going to take years to sort out and it may never return to pre-Covid pricing, mining is also not going away.

Reply 37 of 191, by appiah4

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TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-20, 06:00:

Funnily its only a certain segment of the GPU market that has seen stupid price hikes ..

No. A Radeon RX6500XT retails for 270-300 USD today. This is a card that is roughly on par with an RZ480 4GB released in 2016 for 200 USD. 6 years old, same performance, almost 50% markup. The ENTIRE product range is fucked up.

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Reply 38 of 191, by The Serpent Rider

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Hoping wrote:

this was started by Nvidia with its $1000 Titan graphics cards.

N0. It started with GeForce 6800 Ultra 512, which was a basically a reskin of Quadro FX 4400, but for gaming crowd. Followed by paper launch of very expensive GeForce 7800GTX 512.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 39 of 191, by TrashPanda

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appiah4 wrote on 2022-01-20, 06:16:
TrashPanda wrote on 2022-01-20, 06:00:

Funnily its only a certain segment of the GPU market that has seen stupid price hikes ..

No. A Radeon RX6500XT retails for 270-300 USD today. This is a card that is roughly on par with an RZ480 4GB released in 2016 for 200 USD. 6 years old, same performance, almost 50% markup. The ENTIRE product range is fucked up.

Yes a certain segment, in this case two Low Tier and Mid Tier which is what I said in my post, GPUs at the top end are selling for prices very similar to what they did 3 years ago.

The RX6500 XT is a trash tier GPU, its not worth the components its made from and NO ONE should be buying that gpu under any circumstances, a RX580 is better. AMD really fucked up with the RX6500XT in every respect, I for one would stop any of my friends, family or acquaintances from buying it, even at 50 USD it would be too expensive.