GPU prices are slowly dropping at long last

Just recently, we reported that graphics card prices may take a big plunge in the coming months. While that is still unconfirmed, we are definitely seeing a decline in GPU pricing.

The prices of some of the best graphics cards noted an 11% month-over-month drop from January to February, with some GPUs dropping as much as 25% compared to the previous month.

Pricing chart for the Nvidia RTX 3090. — Image source: Tom’s Hardware

The prices were taken from eBay, mostly because it offers historical pricing information, which is something that many online retailers don’t do. The past two generations of graphics cards were taken into consideration, including the best that Nvidia has to offer, such as the GeForce RTX 3090, as well as low-end offerings, such as the (still new) AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT.

With a full comparison of pricing from month to month, we can now say with certainty that, at least on eBay, the prices are slowly going down — and due to that, it’s safe to assume that this change is indicative of the market as a whole. However, this is nowhere near the drastic drop that known hardware leaker Greymon55 predicted for March. It’s more of a slow and steady decline, which we’ve already seen to an extent in the past few months.

Fast or slow, it’s still good news. Every single graphics card from the past two generations, be it Nvidia or AMD, noted a drop in price. Out of 33 graphics cards, 20 saw a pricing drop that was in the double digits. The GPU with the biggest drop was the less-than-impressive AMD RX 6500 XT, although the 25.5% plunge it took could stem from the fact that it was released recently and the prices were initially inflated. The second biggest drop was on a recent budget graphics card: Nvidia’s RTX 3050.

The real decline can best be seen on older GPUs. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super saw the third biggest decline with a 15.2% price drop, going from $498 in January to $422 in February. Moving back to current-gen cards shows that the RTX 3070 Ti dropped from $1,179 to $1,001, for a 15.1% decline.

Chart of prices for the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT. — Image source: Tom’s Hardware

The price of Nvidia’s RTX 3090 went down by around $250, but since that GPU is expensive, this only amounts to a 10.2% decline. The AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB and 8GB both noted the lowest price drops, 2.1% and 2.6% respectively, which only results in a few dollars worth of savings.

Tom’s Hardware analyzed the market and compiled the prices of GPUs, comparing January to February, and then published the findings. We’ve previously received similar market reports from Germany and Austria, courtesy of 3DCenter, which have also shown a steady decline. However, the data collected by Tom’s Hardware speaks directly about the U.S. market, clearly highlighting that the prices are going down globally.

This is certainly good news, but we’re still a long, long way from being able to score a graphics card at a reasonable price. Even if all the speculation results in nothing and we’re stuck waiting for the slow and steady decline, good times may be ahead for the GPU market. With Nvidia, AMD, and Intel all releasing new graphics cards this year, we may see an abundance of GPUs near the end of the year. The only worry is that these graphics cards may cost a pretty penny right from the get-go.

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