Skip to main content

The GPU shortage may finally be ending. Here’s why

The recent trend of improving prices for the graphic cards market appears set to continue, according to a new report, which may finally signal an impending end to the GPU shortage.

3DCenter has been documenting pricing and availability changes for GPUs for over a year now, which has predominantly seen rising costs and fluctuating stock levels. Its latest chart, however, showcases how the video card industry is slowly starting to normalize.

Three Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

From January 23 to February 13, prices for Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 GPUs are now 57% over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), representing a considerable 20% drop from the last survey. Meanwhile, the average price for cards from the AMD RX 6000 series have fallen from 63% over MSRP to 45%. Comparatively, cards were nearly 100% over their MSRPs in November 2021.

As pointed out by VideoCardz, AMD Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards are nearly as cheap as January 2021 prices, while products from Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30 range will now cost you the same as prices seen in July 2021.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Alongside the improvement in prices for these GPUs, availability has also grown as well. Since the start of 2022, the volume of stock has been boosted every week, with the latest report confirming that availability levels reached their highest point since the start of 2021.

Notably, these price drops come at a time when cryptocurrency prices have decreased significantly from their 2021 peaks. Particularly, 3DCenter’s report showcases Ethereum’s price reaching its lowest level on January 23 since July 2021. Interestingly, the slight uptick in ETH’s price during February has not negatively affected the costs and availability of graphics cards.

A chart analyzing the prices and availability of AMD and Nvidia GPUs from January to February 2022.
Image source: 3DCenter Image used with permission by copyright holder

3DCenter’s data stems from GPU prices in Germany and Austria. However, it’s a similar state of affairs in other key markets like the U.S. Tom’s Hardware recent analysis on 3rd-party marketplace eBay shows how the cost of certain flagship GPUs have also declined in America.

While today’s report is certainly welcoming news for an industry where inflated prices have become the norm, consumers will have to wait a few more months to see if GPUs can finally be purchased at the MSRP. By all accounts, however, the market seems set to return to its pre-pandemic state sometime during 2022.

Insiders believe the GPU shortage should stabilize during the summer, which is supported by the fact that AMD and Intel are seeking new substrate partners in order to enhance production. Nvidia has also confirmed that inventory for its GPUs will improve during the second half of 2022. That said, the MSRP of both CPUs and GPUs could grow due to an increase in material costs, among other factors.

Editors' Recommendations

Zak Islam
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Zak Islam was a freelance writer at Digital Trends covering the latest news in the technology world, particularly the…
AMD is finally taking FreeSync to the next level
Two monitors with AMD FreeSync over a dark background.

It took a long time, but AMD has just updated its FreeSync adaptive sync technology requirements, and it was a much-needed change. Previously, the base tier of FreeSync didn't have any refresh rate requirements that monitors had to meet. Now, AMD didn't just add a requirement, but it's pretty massive -- and that's great news for the future of gaming monitors.

When AMD first introduced FreeSync in 2015, the vast majority of gamers and casual users alike were using a 60Hz monitor. While screens with higher refresh rates existed, they were a rarity. That's no longer the case today, and almost all of the top monitors, regardless of their price, offer refresh rates of over 120Hz.

Read more
AMD’s GPUs had a bigger year in 2023 than you might realize
AMD's RX 7700 XT in a test bench.

It's safe to say that 2023 turned out to be a good year for the discrete graphics cards market. According to the latest data, both AMD and Nvidia saw an increase in add-in board (AIB) GPU shipments in the final quarter of 2023, and the year-to-year gains are also massive. While Nvidia still dominates the market, AMD's share is climbing steadily, and Intel remains in the shadows.

Today's round of market insights comes from Jon Peddie Research (JPR), and it's all about discrete GPUs. According to the analyst firm, discrete GPU shipments increased by 6.8% over the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter. This is above the less-than-impressive 10-year average of -0.6%. The year-to-year gains are even more impressive, though, as JPR notes a 32% increase compared to the final quarter of 2022, with a total of 9.5 million GPUs shipped (as opposed to 8.9 million units at the end of 2022).

Read more
AMD finally has a strategy to beat Nvidia’s DLSS
Frank Azor presenting at AMD's RDNA 3 launch event.

AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 (FSR 3) has had an uphill climb so far, but things might get better in 2024. According to a statement from the company's chief technology officer, this year will be a big one for AMD in terms of AI -- and this doesn't just mean large-scale AI, but also upscaling. Are we going to see some major changes in AMD's next-gen RDNA 4 graphics cards?

The tantalizing bit of information comes from Mark Papermaster, AMD CTO, who was a guest on the No Priors Podcast. At the very end of the interview, Papermaster gave a few hints as to what's on AMD's agenda for 2024. It's all about AI, and no surprise -- Nvidia has adopted the same approach.

Read more