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AMD supply issues may be ending, as R9 graphics card prices are falling to original rates

Though they’ve been on the market for a while now, according to The Tech Report, the prices for AMD’s lineup of Radeon R9 graphics cards have only recently dropped to or below their launch prices.

We took a look around on Newegg.com to see for ourselves, and the rates for the company’s R9 cards have indeed fallen to their originally intended prices; in some cases at least.

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For instance, there are a handful of Radeon R9 270 cards going for $180, some of which also offer promo codes that slash 10 percent off their asking prices. The same goes for the 270x; though most are priced above $200, some are available at that rate, or even lower. We saw at least one going for $190. However, only one Radeon R9 280 card is priced at its intended price of $250 as of now.

Radeon R9 280X-based cards, which are meant to sell for $300, can actually be had for less than that right now on Newegg. For example, a 280x-based card from VisionTek is selling for $290 as of this writing, while a 280X card from HIS is offered for even less than that; $280. Though most of the R9 290 cards are priced significantly higher than the $400 mark that these cards are supposed to go for, we do see at least a couple from Asus and Gigabyte that match this price.

Finally, there are AMD’s high-end R9 cards; the Radeon R9 290X and 295X2. 290X-based cards are supposed to retail for $550, and some are being sold at or even below this rate. One Sapphire card is offered for $550 and is coupled with a 10 percent off code, while a PowerColor variant costs $550 flat. Another PowerColor model goes way below that, selling for $520, which is a pretty good bargain considering that the 290X is one of the best single-GPU cards on the market today. As for the 295X2, most of the ones being sold on newegg.com right now are priced at the original $1,500 rate.

So why were prices elevated to begin with? The altcoin mining trend may have contributed to a drastic shortage of cards in recent months. When speaking with AMD, we were told that the Chinese New Year, which results in a shutdown of the facilities that make these cards for two full weeks, also played a factor.

There’s no telling if these rates will stand pat though. So if you’ve been on the hunt for a decently-priced AMD Radeon R9 card, you might want to jump on one right now.

Konrad Krawczyk
Former Computing Editor
Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…
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