GPU prices went low by 11% last month

It was about two years ago, just before the pandemic, when you could get one of the most incredible graphics cards for anything close to MSRP. We mistakenly assumed that…

By Nivedita Bangari

March 2, 2022

3 min read

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It was about two years ago, just before the pandemic, when you could get one of the most incredible graphics cards for anything close to MSRP. We mistakenly assumed that the GeForce RTX 3080’s initial high demand was temporary, and we advised against paying $1,000 or more to scalpers. In retrospect, we were utterly wrong. However, with recent downward trends in GPU prices showing a further 11% month-over-month decline, there may be some hope at the end of the tunnel.

The good news is that it appears we’ve passed the top and are on our way down, at least for the time being. The bad news is that there is still much more work. It’s fantastic to see that not a single GPU has managed to maintain its previous price. Usually, there is some variation in pricing, with a few GPUs going up in price while the majority go down, but that isn’t the case this time. The GTX 1660 Super, RTX 3070 Ti, GTX 1650 Super, and RTX 2060 were the most significant losers, albeit we don’t consider the RX 6500 XT and RTX 3050 because they were released in January and only had limited availability throughout that month.

The bulk of GPUs saw price decreases in the double digits, with 20 of the 33 cards falling into that category. Only two GPUs, the RX 5500 XT 4GB and 8GB cards, had a price decrease of less than 7%. Perhaps it’s because they were already near the bottom of the price scale, or maybe because the RX 6500 XT proved to be a sluggish performer, frequently behind its predecessors.

The above gallery illustrates the eBay pricing trends for all 16 current generation RTX 30-series and RX 6000-series graphics cards if you want a more detailed look at prices. Some have a clear downward trend for the entire month of February, while others are more fluctuating. However, the patterns become evident when we look at the total number of GPUs sold for the month.

Overall, this is excellent news, but costs remain astronomically high. When comparing current eBay prices to official AMD and Nvidia MSRPs, the best “bargains” are still at least 35 per cent higher than the MSRPs. Even still, the MSRPs on several of the cards are significantly higher than we would expect. For example, the RX 6500 XT costs “only” 36 per cent more than the $200 MSRP, yet a budget design with a 64-bit memory interface would have sold for closer to $120 in the past. The MSRPs for the 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti are also exorbitant.

The RTX 3080, RTX 3060, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6600 are the most coveted theoretical price and performance cards. Only the RX 6600 has a slightly more fair price, only 40% higher than the MSRP. The RX 6800 XT is 80 per cent more expensive than the MSRP, while the RTX 3060 and 3080 are more than twice as expensive as Nvidia’s official price.