TECH NEWS – It seems that due to the downturn in crypto mining, especially Geforce RTX 3080 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs are easy to find below MSRP.

Is Christmas really here for fans of high-end GPUs? In fact, it’s been a tough year for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has fallen more than 50 per cent since the beginning of the year, from nearly $48,000 in January to just over $20,000 at the time of writing. Celsius, a prominent cryptocurrency “bank”, suspended withdrawals earlier this week, and the crypto exchange Coinbase announced a round of layoffs last Tuesday after pausing withdrawals the previous month.

It may be small consolation to all those who wanted to work at Coinbase or spent their hard-earned money on an ugly monkey picture because a celebrity told them to do so, but there is some good news for PC builders and gamers in all of this.

According to data tracked by Tom’s Hardware, prices for new and used graphics cards continue to fall, down from peak prices in late 2021 and early 2022.

For weeks now, it has generally been possible to buy current-generation GPUs at prices on Amazon, Newegg or Best Buy that would have seemed like a bargain six months or a year ago, and used GPU pricing has continued to fall.

Tom’s Hardware reports that most mid-range Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 series cards are still selling at or slightly above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price – the 3050, 3060 and 3070 series are still in high demand. However, the top-end 3080 Ti, 3090, and 3090 Ti GPUs are all currently selling below their (admittedly astronomical) MSRP – the manufacturer’s suggested retail price – as are almost all of AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 series cards.

Used video card prices have fallen even faster.

Between 1 June and 15 June, the eBay price of used graphics cards fell by an average of 10 per cent as at least some cryptocurrency miners sought to cut their losses and sell their hardware. That’s even as mining software is starting to find ways around Nvidia’s hash-rate-limiting LHR protection – falling cryptocurrency prices and rising energy costs still make the economics of mining tricky.

Nevertheless, buyers of used GPUs should still proceed with caution.

In addition to the scams and frauds that can be inherent in any high-value eBay purchase, cards that have been cryptocurrency mining full-time for months or years can have problems that a new GPU – or one that has been used exclusively for gaming – does not. The heat generated from continuous use in a high-density mining farm can degrade performance (although GPU manufacturers have overstated this risk in the past), as can dust or dried-out thermal paste.

If you buy a used GPU that looks dirty or runs hot, removing and cleaning the fan and heatsink and reapplying fresh heat paste can help restore lost performance and extend the card’s life.

If you’re keen to fight to buy a new graphics card, things could soon get interesting for you. Nvidia’s RTX 4000 series GPUs are reportedly nearing release; however, manufacturing and supply chain issues may conspire to make the supply of new cards very tight.

Source: Tom’s Hardware