Founders Edition versions of Nvidia’s current-generation graphics cards were back in stock on its official store for the first time in a long time, but Nvidia’s supply quickly depleted. Considering the prices there are much closer to launch prices than most third-party models, if you’ve wanted a new desktop graphics card for some time but haven’t been able to afford it, this was a good time to invest.
But shortly after Nvidia’s re-stocked supply went live, three of the five GeForce GTX 10 Series cards sold out: The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti ($699), the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti ($449), and the GTX 1060 ($299). At the time of this writing, Nvidia still had supplies of the GeForce GTX 1080 ($549) and the vanilla GeForce GTX 1070 ($399). Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and 1050 desktop graphics are only sold through third-party manufacturers.
Graphics card prices have been crazy for the past year, often reaching heights of two or even three times the launch price of the hardware. While there are a lot of factors to consider in pointing out who’s to blame, Nvidia has at least offered cards directly to consumers at a much more reasonable cost. Those cards have always been snapped up quickly, and the latest depletion of Nvidia’s stock is a prime example.
Still, are we starting to get clear of the pricing and availability issues that have plagued consumer graphics cards sales for the past year? It may also be an indication of people preferring to wait for the expected impending debut of Nvidia’s next-generation graphics cards. Whether they’re called Volta or Turing, as more details become clear, it’s likely that we’ll see some sort of official announcement in the next month or two.
Unfortunately, Geforce GTX 10 Series cards are still on sale at much higher prices through third-party sellers on platforms like Newegg and Amazon. A GTX 1080 Ti will still set you back close to $1,000 and GTX 1070s are still on sale for $500-plus, despite recent falls in pricing across the internet.
We can’t say for sure how long this latest batch of stock will last, when Nvidia will refresh its stock again, or whether the recent resurgence of some cryptocurrency values will lead to further shortages later this year. But what we do know is that graphics cards are finally available at reasonable prices again. It may not be true forever, but it is true for now.
