What you need to know
- GPU prices dramatically fell from May to July but have since leveled out.
- In May, NVIDIA prices peaked at 304% of their recommended price in Germany.
- NVIDIA prices are now down to 150% of MSRP in Germany, while AMD prices rest at 156%.
Prices of the best graphics cards may have dipped a bit lately, but the price drops appear to have plateaued, at least for now. 3DCenter recently published an analysis of GPU market prices in Germany (via Tom's Hardware).
Due to high demand and a supply cut by a global chip shortage, prices for graphics cards can vary quite a bit from week to week. People looking for the best mining GPU also affect the market as crypto prices can rise and fall dramatically.
In a four-week span in May, prices for NVIDIA GPUs went from 238% MSRP up to 304% and then back down to 233% of their recommended price.
Earlier this month, German prices for high-end GPUs fell from inflated prices as high as 304% of MSRP down to comparatively affordable prices as low as 153% of MSRP. Of course, when you consider the price of powerful graphics cards, adding 53% on top of the recommended price is a sizeable difference. That being said, current NVIDIA prices are around half of what GPUs cost at their peak in May.
Graphics Card Prices in 🇩🇪🇦🇹 July 18, 2021
👉 Party is over, price reductions hit full brakes.
👉 Availability is the same or slightly better.
👉 Without any notable movement, it's difficult to predict when retail prices will come close to MSRP.https://t.co/x8VWKEZIEr pic.twitter.com/xIuOcYEDzSGraphics Card Prices in 🇩🇪🇦🇹 July 18, 2021
👉 Party is over, price reductions hit full brakes.
👉 Availability is the same or slightly better.
👉 Without any notable movement, it's difficult to predict when retail prices will come close to MSRP.https://t.co/x8VWKEZIEr pic.twitter.com/xIuOcYEDzS— 3DCenter.org (@3DCenter_org) July 19, 2021July 19, 2021
While the graphics card market showed promise as of earlier this month, the drops seem to have stopped. Since the beginning of July, AMD prices have gone up by three percent, while NVIDIA prices fell three percent. Overall, the GPU price trend has flattened out.
As explained by Tom's Hardware, market prices are complex. Because businesses have to offset the cost of previously purchased stock, there's often a delay between events that can affect pricing and actual price drops.
The analysis also only looks at German pricing. These prices are a good indicator of market trends but could vary from other regions.
Even though prices have been relatively flat for a couple of weeks, it's still a better time to buy a GPU than it has been in months.
