It’s been very difficult to buy graphics cards these past two years, with new cards being way too expensive or simply out of stock. Fortunately, the RTX 3060 Ti is back in stock in multiple places. Just make sure you act fast because they’re likely to go out of stock soon.
Both Amazon and Newegg are listing the RTX 3060 Ti for sale, though still at inflated prices. The PNY RTX 3060 Ti XLR8 Gaming Revel Epic-X RGB Dual Fan, which is probably the longest name ever for a graphics card, is at Amazon. Asus’ ROG Strix RTX 3060 Ti V2 OC Edition is at Newegg, which is the cheaper and more powerful option.
The Asus card is going for about $670, while the PNY is more expensive at $720. Both graphics cards are more than the $400 MSRP of the 3060 Ti, but at least they’re not nearly as high as they were last year. This bodes well for the rest of the year as component shortages gradually lessen.
Graphics cards are at their lowest prices in months. While some cards like the AMD Radeon RX 6800 are still massively inflated, other cards like the RTX 3060 Ti are overall lower in price than before. That said, you probably still shouldn’t buy a new GPU right now.
Interestingly, Nvidia is talking up the increased GPU prices to its investors. The company noted that customers are now forced to spend about $300 more than they paid for their previous GPU. Granted, part of this is because of the shortage and part of it just the general price increase of graphics cards for each new generation.
That’s likely to be the case for Nvidia’s new Lovelace consumer GPUs. The RTX 4090 itself is rumored to be twice as powerful as the RTX 3090, a card that Nvidia claimed could play games at 8K resolution. All of that power will also likely require customers to purchase new power supplies if their current one doesn’t supply enough wattage.
Hopefully, graphics card prices will continue to fall as manufacturers are able to increase supply for raw components. The cryptocurrency market, a major factor in high GPU prices, has also been in a freefall recently. Lower crypto prices mean less demand for GPUs for mining. The end result may be a boon for PC gamers and enthusiasts in the fall.
