Will Mid-Range GPUs Ever Get Cheaper? - February GPU Pricing Update

foreign [Music] welcome back to the hardware unboxed monthly GPU pricing update after a period of pretty consistent graphics card releases from both AMD and Nvidia things have cooled down a bit in February no new gpus to talk about no especially amazing deals or anything but it's still worth taking a look at how the market is faring now that it's settled a bit and what we can expect from here in the next couple of months the main highlights from this month surround two I guess news rumor articles some GPU buyers in the United States were treated to clearance prices at Best Buy for NVIDIA GeForce 30 series cards these prices included the RTX 3090 TI dropping to 880 the RTX 3080 TI falling to 720 and the RTX 3080 listed for an astonishingly low 420 us down from its 700 MSRP while other mid-range cards saw no discounts or a small 30 drop in the case of the RTX 3060 those that were able to pick up the RTX 3080 for 420 bucks did get ripping good deal and that's really one of the only ways to get a good deal in the current GPU Market if you are interested in an Nvidia GPU at this sort of performance team what's interesting about these clearance prices is that for the most part despite being limited time deals at Best Buy they really should just be the normal price of these models in 2023 or perhaps not even the normal pricing above watch would be a normal price several of them like the RTX 3060 they're nearly two years old now take the RTX 3090 TI at its discounted price of 880 that may seem like a great deal considering the card launched at two thousand dollars U.S but on a cost per frame basis it still makes the RTX 3090 TI a relatively poor deal with the new RTX 4070 TI coming in at 820 us these days the 3090 TI at 880 actually has slightly worse cost per frame given that 407 UTI models have been quite abundant and easy to purchase there is no real reason to wait for the 3090 TI to drop to 880 bucks unless you specifically needed the 24 gigabytes of vram versus just 12 gig on the 4070 TI in my opinion the current market of 39 HR like GPU would need to be priced more like 700 to get my interest that would give it Superior value than the RX 6950 XT and for a clearance price it would make it an obvious buy we can apply a similar analysis to the RTX 3080 TI as well with its discounted price of 720 looking like quite a good deal again on face value given the overpriced 1200 MSRP meant you're saving nearly 500 there and while the 3082i is indeed better value than the 3090 TI's clearance price we just discussed it isn't anything special we're looking at just a two percent discount in cost per frame relative to the current price for the RX 7900 XT and just a six percent discount compared to the RTX 470 TI and it also falls short of the value delivered by amd's RX 6950xt the worst clearance discount provided here though was the RTX 3060 even a 300 us it simply isn't worth buying this GPU compared to the RX 6650xt which delivers similar performance at 265 dollars right now and that prices remained steady for several months a true clearance price for the 3060 would have to be more like 250 or even 230 dollars because this Best Buy discount isn't even where the RTX 360 should be sitting in the current market to be competitive however those that did snap up the RTX 3080 for 420 us got a great deal at this low price the 3080 is clearly the best graphics card on the market in cost per frame delivering the performance of the RX 6800 XT which AMD is saying these days for about 570 but giving that to you for a 26 discount that's a true clearance price and it's no surprise to see that model sell out instantly I think these clearance prices and the new surrounding it highlights an important thing to keep in mind when purchasing a new or discounted GPU even if the price is slashed compared to the original MSRP from 2020 or 2021 it still may not actually be a good Buy in 2023 as many gpus have fallen in price particularly on the AMD side and we've got new offerings in the market in the rtx40 series and Radeon 7000 series it's always worth assessing the entire Market before jumping in otherwise you may end up with an RTX 3090 TI when you should have bought a 407 ETI the other story that has been making the rounds has been the rumor that Nvidia are restricting RTX 490 supplies so that gamers are forced into buying the RTX 4080 instead which remains in abundant Supply as no one wants it and this comes from Moore's Law is dead sighting several sources based on my understanding lower RTX 490 supplies really a new thing this has been the case since launch week most retailers receive quite a significant supply of these gpus at launch more than usual for a high-end product while subsequent shipments have been on the smaller side it's unclear to me whether this is specifically a reaction to the RTX 4080 and Nvidia wanting people to buy that model instead or whether it's more a consistent plan from Nvidia that has been in place from day one it certainly could be either I just don't know enough to call it one way or another what I am more sure of is that any plan to restrict RTX 490 Supply in the hopes of Shifting RTX 4080s probably won't work at least at current prices we've actually been in a position for several months now where the RTX 4080 has been easily available at or near the MSRP while the RTX 4090 has been largely out of stock in some countries or priced above its MSRP Gamers have had ample chances since the start of this year to buy the 4080 instead of the impossible 25 find 4090 and have largely chosen not to do that if terrible sales rights or any indication there are more reasons why I don't think this would work very well firstly the Radeon RX 7900 XTX has been slowly working its way back into stock and can currently be purchased for about a thousand fifty dollars US which is fifty dollars above its MSRP but down from last month's price of nearly thirteen hundred dollars if Nvidia are driving people away from their premium RTX 4090 and into the 1200 or less price tier there is actual competition there from AMD and I suspect many buyers will be more interested in the cheaper better value 7900 XTX than the overpriced RTX 4080 typically companies would rather sell high priced products with no competition for example the 4090 rather than Force buys into a toss-up between them and their competitor which they may end up losing so that would be an odd move also the 4090 is actually available in many countries just not so much in the US which tends to be the focus of most of these discussions here in Australia you can actually buy 40 90 right now for below the local MSRP of 2960 Australian so that isn't going to force anyone into buying an RTX 4080 instead if they were interested in the 4090 in countries like Canada and the UK you're looking at just a five percent premium over MSRP to buy a 4090 compared to more like 13 premium in the US which isn't going to make much of a difference to someone who has the cash for a premium GPU like this if you again if you were interested you'd just spend the extra five percent whether or not this will change is still to be seen maybe the models that are in stock raw that is coming for a while but RTX 490 sales have cooled down so I don't expect a huge imminent Supply Crunch at least outside the US plus with the 4090 being significantly faster than the 4080 I imagine those that did want that performance tier would wait until stock is replenished rather than change their mind and buy an inferior product instead graphics card Supply is always a tricky discussion because Gamers want these gpus to flood the market so the prices drop overnight but usually companies will try to manage supplies so that doesn't happen they want Supply to meet demand GPU makers also have to manage their GPU and or wafer allocation across many products for example in the short term while RTX 490 demand has dropped off Nvidia may be choosing to focus on the recently released workstation RTX 6000 Ada card instead which commands a much higher price tag that's just a normal Resource Management sort of thing and isn't anything to be concerned about outside of the occasional discount and Flash sale the unfortunate reality is that new GPU pricing hasn't shifted substantially over the last six months and the release of new graphics cards at largely the same cost per frame as older models has done little to shake up the market for example here we have nvidia's current RTX 30 series gpus on NewEgg noting that cards above the RTX 370 TI have been discontinued in the last couple of months and are no longer available no significant price changes here couple of models fluctuating a bit but generally you're looking at the same sort of price if you had bought at any time from the holiday period to now Nvidia has really made no effort or little effort whatsoever to bring their old ampere gpus back to their msrps despite a relatively weak GPU Market the RTX 3070 has routinely sat above 500 us for the last five months as has the RTX 3070 TI with its 600 MSRP the RTX 3050 is still terribly priced at nearly 300 when it really should be no more than its 250 MSRP okay ideally less the 3060 for the first time in the last year is available at its 330 MSRP while the 36g ti has been the only model that I'd say has had a realistic MSRP for buyers mostly interested in a mid-range GPU this is quite an ugly picture and it's hard to recommend any of these Nvidia gpus except maybe the 36 GTI most of these products are several years old now we're approaching the launch of new RTX 40 series models in the coming months and AMD has dropped pricing for their competing cards below MSRP despite this cards like the RTX 3060 and 3050 continue to sell at a reasonable pace which doesn't bode well for the mainstream market this year if buyers voting with their wallets are saying those cards are good value then it's unlikely we'll see a significant shake up with new models on the Ambi side of things pricing has also generally been flat over the last six months especially for mainstream offerings priced below 400 U.S higher end models have fallen in price as AMD looked to clear inventory for their RX 7000 series though unlike with nvidia's lineup most of these gpus are still available the one outlier here is the 6800 XT which is fluctuated in price more than usual during the holiday period last year there was some very attractive sales for that model whereas these days stock is harder to come by and prices have risen a bit it's easier to make a case to buy an amb GPU in the current market with pricing that fits more appropriately with newer models for example the 6950 XT is still reasonably priced at 700 us offering better cost per frame than the 7900 XT and xdx though at a lower performance tier you could also make a case for most other models as they are typically among the better value products on the market such as the 6700 XT 6650 XT 6600 and the 6800xt however I think you could also say that amb gpus are priced where they are for a reason nvidia's stronger feature set Commander price premium over and equivalently Performing AMD GPU though I do think in lower performance categories that Baseline GPU performance is the most important factor especially as Ray tracing on an RTX 3060 you know isn't something you guys seem to care about AMD have also made a few blunders lately such as not releasing a new driver for the 6000 series for two months while there is a new driver available these days that left rdna 2 owners feeling a bit ignored from the software side of things and it was a bit of a baffling move from team red the used Market has also seen few price movements as a result of the flat New Market RTX 3090 TI prices have fallen since December but outside of that there isn't much going on here to suggest you'll be getting a much better deal a few months from now it's the same whether we look at AMD or Nvidia gpus for the most part Nvidia cards are typically a bit cheaper relative to MSRP on the used Market than we see with AMD as in video cards are more overpriced and abundant compared to AMD but yeah it has been a steady consistent market for the last six months while there hasn't been much price movement I think the used Market does have a few gems depending on what you're after for example I find it very hard to justify spending 550 new on an RTX 3070 these days but you can get one used for just 370 dollars which along with the RTX 360 TI at 320 on average is tempting if you specifically want an Nvidia GPU the Gap in cost per frame between Nvidia and AMD closes on the used market and makes in video options not too bad or at least not as bad the GTX 16 series continues to offer something for people who have less than 150 to spend while truly models also seem okay although the performance on offer here is getting you know harder to recommend for the latest AAA titles used AMD gpus at times are harder to recommend mostly because if you're buying something like an RX 6800 XT you won't be saving that much compared to just buying that model new I certainly wouldn't be grabbing a used graphics card for just a 10 discount I'd want at least 20 off to compensate for lack of warranty and any potential issues so with the 6000 series it's more those lower tier cards that are interesting things like the RX 6600 for just 170 used on average is a pre-ripping deal the RX 5000 series might also be worth considering as prices continue to fall there the 5700 XT for just 164 on average is very cheap as it's a similar price to the RX 6600 used of course while performing more like a 6600 XT you do lose the ability to run Ray tracing but this isn't that relevant on an entry-level GPU where raytracing is probably going to be disabled anyway as things stand right now the GPU Market hasn't really changed all that much over the last six months the middling reception to new graphics cards their similar cost per frame to existing models and generally expensive pricing hasn't shaken up the market really at all aside from a few price drops here and there certainly there has been no pressure on the mid-range and entry-level market so buyers there have been faced with stagnation since the middle of last year that's what happens when new flagships are introduced that only offer their additional performance at higher prices for high-end buyers obviously things are what they are right now both AMD and Nvidia have launched their most expensive models and stock for most gpus is settling to a typical level I wouldn't expect much price movement here Nvidia has held firm on RTX 4080 pricing despite terrible sales volumes and AMD models are too new to start drastically coming down in price as was the case last month the two most in-demand models the 4090 and 7900 XTX are likely to remain at their MSRP for some time barring an unexpected RTX 4080 price drop causing additional competition both AMD and Nvidia have talked about weak demand for Consumer components in their latest earnings reports and the strategy at least for now appears to be hold firm reduce Supply to match demand and keep sailing in the same direction it's a bit of a holding pattern here as well as neither brand is going to want to make drastic changes when the full lineup of products hasn't been released yet for the mid-range and mainstream markets there's really not a lot to get excited about product pricing has been the same for a while now it seems that new offerings are several months away and may not really be mid-range cards anyway plus the rumors surrounding these models don't paint a particularly awesome picture we may see a small Improvement in price to Performance and that's it which yeah would be pretty disappointing but you know that's been the last five years of gpus really especially in that sort of market so yeah I guess on that more somber note that's it for this month's GPU pricing update if you do still appreciate these videos then let me know in the comments below give the video a like and consider supporting us directly via Patron or floor plan links to those are in the description below you gained some cool perks access to cool perks like our monthly live stream coming up soon we've got our behind the scenes videos and our Discord Community if you want to come and chat about all the latest things so yeah thanks for watching I'll catch you in the next one [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Hardware Unboxed

Views: 108,176

Keywords: hardware unboxed

Id: VhPWQyHa1Jo

Length: 16min 43sec (1003 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 21 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/AutonomousOrganism]

The immediately sold out 420$ 3080 clearly shows that demand is there, but not for the absurd prices set by Nvidia and AMD.

[u/TheJoanne]

Lol, if only 6650 XT was 265€. In Germany 280€ is the price for 6600 (not XT).

[u/ledfrisby]

Those flat trend lines and the general 1:1 price-to-performance trend just can't be sustainable. The only problem is, once we are getting, let's say a 5080 for $1200, that will show a positive trend and we will still be getting ripped off. People will say, "Yeah, but it's way better than the 4080," and buy it anyway, more so than this gen.

But a lot of people won't pay more, they will just hold what they've got or wait or buy lower-end than they used to. Even then, manufacturers can sell you a $100 card for $200 dollars, to replace your 6-year-old $200 card, and you still got ripped off.

[u/Firefox72]

How the RTX 3050 continues to be sold at 300$ is beyond me and so are people that are buying that GPU for gaming over something like a 6650XT. The 6650XT isn't just comparably fast. Hell its not even just 1 performance tier ahead. Its 2 whole tiers or 50% faster and literally costs less money.

[u/NKG_and_Sons]

To summarize the current state and trend of GPU pricing: 🤡💩

[u/Apocryptia]

What a great time to find other hobbies I enjoy.

[u/NiTRo_SvK]

A friend of mine sold me 3060ti for 250€ back in 11/2022 (with one year of warranty left as well), I should buy him a beer again. If I didn't get that offer, I'd probably buy RX6600 (or RX6700)... or more likely, still use 1650S I had back then.

[u/Designing_Data]

What's up with this shit posting?

[u/lionellanes]

We love you hardware unboxed ❤️