Only a few months in the past, the greatest graphics playing cards remained tough to search out at “cheap” costs. Nvidia launched the RTX 3090 Ti at a then-obscene $1,999 MSRP on the finish of March, for instance. Right this moment, retail costs have dropped as a lot as 43% — near half off! Different playing cards have change into way more reasonably priced as effectively, and solely a handful of GPUs stay above their official MSRPs.
The place 2020 and 2021 have been an ideal storm of converging elements, together with the pandemic, provide chain points, and skyrocketing cryptocurrency costs, we’re now seeing an about-face in practically all areas. Crypto costs and mining profitability are tanking, stock of present era playing cards is “too excessive,” and many of the provide chain kinks are being labored out. With Nvidia RTX 40-series Ada GPUs anticipated to debut within the subsequent month or so, and AMD’s RX 7000-series RDNA 3 elements not far behind, producers are doing their greatest to clear the way in which for the upcoming launches, particularly on the high-end and excessive ends of the market.
Not like our GPU value index, which focuses on eBay costs in month-to-month chunks, right here we wish to look primarily at retail costs on new graphics playing cards. We’re particularly taking a look at US costs, and we largely will not hassle with any earlier era GPUs, although there are a couple of Nvidia Turing fashions (RTX 2060 and GTX 16-series) that stay in manufacturing and are thus included.
This is the total rundown of present retail costs, as of September 6 — do be aware that every one of those are vulnerable to typically massive fluctuations. For instance, short-term gross sales (like Labor Day) can hack off one other 5–10% from the costs proven right here.
In comparison with the August 2022 retail GPU costs (opens in new tab), graphics playing cards have dropped a median of seven%. We have not tracked retails costs for Nvidia’s Turing playing cards, and the Intel Arc A380 is new to the listing (together with the RX 6700 non-XT), however the dearer playing cards present the biggest deltas.
Nvidia’s highest-end RTX 3090 Ti GPU now sells for 45% lower than its official launch MSRP — and Nvidia itself leads the way in which, as the most affordable card is the RTX 3090 Ti Founders Version (opens in new tab) from Finest Purchase. That is one other 21% lower since final month! The RTX 3090 prices principally simply as a lot, whereas Newegg has the RTX 3080 Ti for $809.99 (opens in new tab) (after a $40 instantaneous rebate) — one other massive 15% drop. The RTX 3070 by means of 3080 nonetheless promote for barely greater than MSRP, however they’re getting nearer and may quickly fall beneath that mark, assuming they don’t seem to be merely discontinued to make means for brand spanking new fashions. In the meantime, the RTX 3050 by means of 3060 Ti are nonetheless going for 12–20% greater than MSRP. That is most likely as a result of Nvidia would not plan to switch the funds and midrange choices with new RTX 40-series GPUs till subsequent 12 months.
Flipping over to the AMD aspect of issues, AMD’s GPUs have largely been promoting beneath MSRP for a few months now, however now even the RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 are becoming a member of the enjoyable. The Radeon RX 6900 XT for $699.99 (opens in new tab) seems to be notably tasty — there’s additionally an MSI RX 6900 XT (opens in new tab) with a rebate for that very same value, although we do not notably like mail-in rebates. When you’re hoping to pay lower than $500, or perhaps even nearer to $250, the Radeon RX 6600 for $249.99 (opens in new tab) is nearly unattainable to beat proper now. Nvidia’s closest various is the earlier era RTX 2060 for $229.99 (opens in new tab) — it is really sooner for ray tracing, notably with DLSS, however as much as 20% slower in customary gaming efficiency.
Nonetheless you slice it, the RTX 2060 and RX 6600 make the prospects for something that prices lower than $200 slightly unappetizing. Sure, they value greater than playing cards just like the RX 6400 and RX 6500 XT, however they’re additionally as much as twice the efficiency. In order for you an inexpensive card that may really enhance in efficiency over the approaching months, Intel’s Arc A380 at $139.99 (opens in new tab) has some glorious video codec {hardware}, although it is at the moment backordered — and gaming efficiency is usually a bit iffy at instances.
GPU Costs: What to Anticipate Subsequent Month
Once more, there are a number of GPUs all slated to launch inside the subsequent few months. I feel there is a good likelihood we’ll see Nvidia launch RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 playing cards by October, with the GTC 2022 keynote probably digging into a number of the structure. Nonetheless, it is also attainable Nvidia will begin with the rumored 48GB Ada card, which may very well be a brand new Titan — with a suitably excessive (obscene) value. We’ll discover out on September 20.
AMD’s plans aren’t fairly as clear. It demonstrated working RDNA 3 silicon throughout it is Ryzen 7000 announcement. Whereas the CPUs will go on sale September 27, I feel RDNA 3 graphics playing cards will not land at retail till late November, give or take a few weeks — principally a repeat of the RX 6000-series launch. I would like to be fallacious, although, and it could be much better for AMD to get RX 7000 playing cards out the door in October, so that they are out there for the vacation purchasing spree that takes place all through November and December.
Intel’s not going to be overlooked of the enjoyable this 12 months both, if the most recent indications are something to go by. The drivers proceed to get common updates, and the worst bugs and points are being squashed. Rumors point out an “imminent” launch for the Arc A770 and A750, and presumably A580 as effectively, which may occur earlier than the tip of the month — actually by October. If pricing seems to be something just like the A380, Intel might be aggressive and attempt to get playing cards off the cabinets slightly than stagnating any additional. May we see higher than RTX 3060 Ti efficiency from the Arc A770 for underneath $400? That might take advantage of sense, as Intel’s nonetheless the newcomer to the graphics scene.
All of these upcoming GPUs imply the present playing cards will, if something, must proceed to drop in value. For top-end playing cards that ought to be eclipsed by RDNA 3 and Ada Lovelace choices, we positively advocate a “wait and see” strategy. We could even see midrange playing cards drop additional in pricing to clear stock and maybe hold individuals from shopping for Intel’s new GPUs, however there’s not a lot room to go decrease than the $250 vary.
