Question are video card prices headed down yet?

[Dannar26]

It's not just Software. NVidia added dedicated HW ML cores to it's consumer GPUs in 2018. 5 years later and AMD still hasn't. At this point ML cores are everywhere. Smartphones have them.

Since the Phoenix APU has them, I'm fairly confident the RDNA 4 GPUs finally will, but that will be too late for me.

It's unfortunate, but it would take a fairly massive discount to consider an AMD part given the feature deficit.

AMD really needs to pay more attention to the feature gap, so they aren't just losing sales to buyers that are interested in more than just Raster performance.

Bottom line: It's much better, to get feature parity, than it is to try and take market share with pricing.

Are we talking about the Tensor cores? The things that run DLSS?

What does it matter that smartphones have machine learning cores? Is my sock drawer somehow deficient because there's not a clock built into it?

If AMD releases a better product tomorrow, why would that be "too late?" Is the momentum of your past purchases physically pulling at you or something?

I buy GPUs based on price/perf. Even with these BS prices, AMD still comes out ahead more often than not. I just bought at 6950XT for $600...where's the nvidia card that beats it for that price? I've built rigs for my kids as well, all on AMD GPUs. Again, not because I love team red, but because people are selling 2060s/3050s for the price of 6600/6600XT/6650XTs. You'd have to be mad to buy a 2060 thinking it's a better deal than a 66xx card.

I think things like Ray Tracing and DLSS are cool, but let's be real, it just isn't there yet. With the possible exception of Minecraft, I don't see ray racing making a big enough impact to justify the absolute murder it does to FPS, and even then we're taking a game that should get 200FPS and dragging it down to 60. DLSS, while a really neat way to get some frames, isn't quite ubiquitous either.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Are we talking about the Tensor cores? The things that run DLSS?

What does it matter that smartphones have machine learning cores? Is my sock drawer somehow deficient because there's not a clock built into it?

If it's 5 years since a competitor added a feature, that even phones have added in that time, then they really have no excuse being so late to market.

If AMD releases a better product tomorrow, why would that be "too late?"

Too late for me in this buying cycle, as I'm buying a card before RDNA 4 comes out, and I'm probably going to use it for 5+ years. I'll check back what AMD is doing in 2028 or so... Maybe they will catch up on features by then.

 

[pcslookout]

Just got my RTX 4090 from Amazon.

Packaging was great.

 

[Saylick]

Just got my RTX 4090 from Amazon.

Packaging was great.

But you're selling it, no?

 

[igor_kavinski]

Too late for me in this buying cycle, as I'm buying a card before RDNA 4 comes out, and I'm probably going to use it for 5+ years.

4070? Viable for 5+ years? I hope you are right, for your sake.

 

[Dannar26]

I follow a lot of deals boards with regard to computer parts. I like to budget shop and build PCs. It's a sickness -- if I had any sense I'd probably be gaming on a 4090 like the rest of you. Instead I've made just about everybody around me a decent mid-range rig.

But here's the thing -- it seems like the deals*** are retracting. Is it because AMD is going to release new cards? You know, it used to be that when new cards dropped, that you'd see decent price reduction on previous gen hardware. I feel like nVidia and AMD have become masterful in market manipulation such that they never seem to compete with their last generations...usually by just pricing their new stuff to absurd levels.

There's another rumor going around that AI acceleration is something that one could utilize a GPU for, putting us back into the situation we had with mining.

Am I being alarmist here? Or are prices heading back up again? Were June and July as low as things were going to get? I know that pricing for computer hardware is pretty volatile...

***almost all the deals were for AMD cards, specifically in the 6000 series.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

@Dannar26

I think this is the post Amazon Prime Day and all the other sellers that responded to it action. "Deals" will be back. They have to slowly raise the prices, so when they drop them to where they were at, it looks like a deal again.

 

[jpiniero]

@Dannar26

I think this is the post Amazon Prime Day and all the other sellers that responded to it action. "Deals" will be back. They have to slowly raise the prices, so when they drop them to where they were at, it looks like a deal again.

I doubt it. It looks like AMD is trying to clear out the remaining RDNA2 inventory, and that will be it. The 7800 XT will be released to replace N21 once that happens, even if it's not any faster than the 6800 XT.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Agreed with @jpiniero, the deals were here to get RDNA 2 cards gone. There was also some natural pricing drift on 7900XT's to fill the void left by dropping N21 prices.

But that should all be done within the next month or so with the release of the N32 cards.

I have been shopping to replace the 980Ti in my spare PC with something more performant and energy efficient. Used prices on stuff like the 6600XT and 6700XT is just in straight up stupid territory now. Used prices are crushed between $150 and $350 for AMD cards and its making the lower end stuff really stupidly bad values, but for those of us not looking for a 6800 the good value cards are sort of irrelevant right now.

 

[SteinFG]

I doubt it. It looks like AMD is trying to clear out the remaining RDNA2 inventory, and that will be it. The 7800 XT will be released to replace N21 once that happens, even if it's not any faster than the 6800 XT.

Wouldn't call it clearing out, they were lowering prices very gradually after the end of mining, until supply would meet the demand. But I agree that it seems like they found that point. We'll be lucky to see one more big sale of 6800XT (maybe when 7800XT launches)

 

[mastertech01]

Do you think maybe they have been holding prices high to give their mining clients time to resell their inventories without major losses? Ive found a LOT of scamming going on facebook market place. People taking photos and descriptions of cards being listed on Ebay and listing them on Facebook marketplace, showing in many different locations around the country, scamming people out of their money using hacked Facebook accounts. Their prices are about HALF or less than the item that is selling on Ebay. They also use many accounts with no user history but all the sellers names are foreign usually arabic names. I have reported some of them to sellers on Ebay.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Do you think maybe they have been holding prices high to give their mining clients time to resell their inventories without major losses? Ive found a LOT of scamming going on facebook market place. People taking photos and descriptions of cards being listed on Ebay and listing them on Facebook marketplace, showing in many different locations around the country, scamming people out of their money using hacked Facebook accounts. Their prices are about HALF or less than the item that is selling on Ebay. They also use many accounts with no user history but all the sellers names are foreign usually arabic names. I have reported some of them to sellers on Ebay.

Nah why do that mining is dead for the foreseeable future. Why would a graphics card maker or vendor owe the miner any loyalty. Basically what’s in it for nvidia or AMD or even distribution partners.

 

[jpiniero]

Aparently EVGA just had some hot? deals with some Ampere (and earlier) B-Stock. Like an 3060 Ti for $100 and 3080 Ti for $400. Didn't last long because the server crashed from the load.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Regarding nvidia poisoning their own well paving the way for AMD comeback, I find that very very unlikely. Look at what had to happen in the CPU scene for AMD to take over the mindshare from intel. It took 6 years of Intel offering same 4c8t configuration for around $300 mark offering 5% generational improvement for 5% bump in price, it took about 4 years of Intel being stuck on 14nm node which led to insane power consumption and heat issues, and it took 4 years of AMD flawlessly executing while offering much better value for money compared to intel.

I just don't see that happening with the GPUs. For one, nvidia isn't handicapped by the foundry, and two, nvidia is still executing pretty well. Nvidia doesn't have talent/foundry issues like Intel had, their only issue is price. All nvidia has to do is drop the prices a bit and everybody who was waiting on sidelines will happily go back to buying team green.

I'll keep buying whatever is offering me better value for money, which right now is AMD, but most people are solidly team green value be damned.

 

[mastertech01]

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Nvidia records another quarter of record profits, as they transition to AI technologies.

 

[Heartbreaker]

I'll keep buying whatever is offering me better value for money, which right now is AMD, but most people are solidly team green value be damned.

Not that simple. I'm buying a new generation card soon (waited to see 7800/7700XT).

It's 95% likely to be NVidia, but it's for the superior features and being ahead on features, while AMD plays catch up. If AMD was a screaming deal I would consider it. But AMD only prices slightly lower than NVidia, so with NVidia feature lead, I don't consider AMD to be the better value. People talking about AMD better value, assign zero value to NVidias superior features, and only consider raster performance.

 

[KompuKare]

Not that simple. I'm buying a new generation card soon (waited to see 7800/7700XT).

It's 95% likely to be NVidia, but it's for the superior features and being ahead on features, while AMD plays catch up. If AMD was a screaming deal I would consider it. But AMD only prices slightly lower than NVidia, so with NVidia feature lead, I don't consider AMD to be the better value. People talking about AMD better value, assign zero value to NVidias superior features, and only consider raster performance.

Maybe, or the don't like Nvidia's VRAM stinginess. Very important to me as someone who doesn't upgrade often.

Things is, at a relatively low cost to margins, Nvidia could stop being VRAM stingy almost overnight so AMD have to be very cautious with their "we'll undercut Nvidia by 10%" strategy. Guess the 16GB 4060 Ti was a test of Nvidia trying to see what people are willing to pay for extra VRAM. Well, maybe but it is unlikely to lead to a higher VRAM version option for 2nd or 3rd tier cards like the 4070 Ti.

 

[igor_kavinski]

The real dark horse is Intel, providing 16GB VRAM at $300, if you go with ASROCK A770. An undisputable value leader for the average gamer (one who just wants to play, rather than demanding 60 fps at Ultra settings and/or 120+ fake fps).

 

[gdansk]

The real dark horse is Intel, providing 16GB VRAM at $300, if you go with ASROCK A770. An undisputable value leader for the average gamer (one who just wants to play, rather than demanding 60 fps at Ultra settings and/or 120+ fake fps).

I'm not buying VRAM I'm buying real world game performance and it doesn't give that consistently. It randomly craps the bed when you play the wrong game.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I'm not buying VRAM I'm buying real world game performance and it doesn't give that consistently. It randomly craps the bed when you play the wrong game.

@DAPUNISHER
Care to enlighten us?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

@DAPUNISHER
Care to enlighten us?

He's right. While the drivers continue to improve and XeSS gets added to more games, performance isn't as consistent as Teams green and red.

I saw another ARC user had Watch Dogs 2 running well with DXVk. I asked how they pulled it off since easy anti cheat blocked it. And adding the launcher argument to stop EAC kept the game from starting. He said he was using the pirated version of the game. Those are the kind of hoops you have to jump through with ARC.

 

[Aapje]

It's 95% likely to be NVidia, but it's for the superior features and being ahead on features, while AMD plays catch up. If AMD was a screaming deal I would consider it. But AMD only prices slightly lower than NVidia, so with NVidia feature lead, I don't consider AMD to be the better value. People talking about AMD better value, assign zero value to NVidias superior features, and only consider raster performance.

It really depends on where in the stack you are looking. For me the 6700 XT at 350 euro's was a much better option in that tier, since the only 12 GB alternative from Nvidia around that price is the also last-gen 3060, which is about 25% slower. And then you don't get DLSS 3 anyway.

And that low in the stack many of Nvidia's features are not as useful. For example, I'm not going to run RT.

 

[Heartbreaker]

It really depends on where in the stack you are looking. For me the 6700 XT at 350 euro's was a much better option in that tier, since the only 12 GB alternative from Nvidia around that price is the also last-gen 3060, which is about 25% slower. And then you don't get DLSS 3 anyway.

And that low in the stack many of Nvidia's features are not as useful. For example, I'm not going to run RT.

Mostly agree. 4070 and up is where Ray Tracing gets MUCH more usable in more games.

Though DLSS 3 still works on older gen, you just don't get Fake Frame Generation that I wouldn't want anyway. DLSS 3.5 is coming out and it's headline new feature (Ray Reconstruction) works on all RTX cards.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

My buddy is interested in building a steam box to game with his kids since he really likes the idea of PC backwards compatibility and not having your whole game library become obsolete because a console gets old or dies.

Trying to keep costs way down. Dude is the only breadwinner in his house and he's got 3 kids. He's not new to gaming but is new to gaming PCs, so I'd don't want him putting a ton of money into something he might not even take to.

Gonna be able to get a super basic PC together for him using a combo of used parts and some new.

I'm giving him the following:
2200g CPU + cooler
Asrock B420 mobo
500w Thermaltake modular PSU
A couple wired 360 controllers

He's buying (I got these picked out for compatability and cost control):
Case $30
16gb RAM $30
1tb SSD $30

Now the million dollar question is a GPU. If we was only interested in side scrolling beat-em-ups and stuff than the onboard GPU of the 2200g would be fine. But since he downloaded the Steam App he has been SALIVATING over RDR2, Fallout 4, TLOU, etc basically not iGPU friendly games.

So I started looking at some older cards, trying to keep the price around $100 used. Let me tell you, the market around $100 is a complete mess. I figured NV 2K series and AMD 5700's would be at or below the $100 mark but nope. People are asking for, and they are selling at, $150 and more.

I've started looking at 1660S, which seems to sell around $75 generally, but throw on shipping and tax and you're back above $100 again for a very basic card.

I'll keep slogging in the muck looking for a deal @ $100 but damn it's slim pickins down there fo sho.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

My buddy is interested in building a steam box to game with his kids since he really likes the idea of PC backwards compatibility and not having your whole game library become obsolete because a console gets old or dies.

Trying to keep costs way down. Dude is the only breadwinner in his house and he's got 3 kids. He's not new to gaming but is new to gaming PCs, so I'd don't want him putting a ton of money into something he might not even take to.

Gonna be able to get a super basic PC together for him using a combo of used parts and some new.

I'm giving him the following:
2200g CPU + cooler
Asrock B420 mobo
500w Thermaltake modular PSU
A couple wired 360 controllers

He's buying (I got these picked out for compatability and cost control):
Case $30
16gb RAM $30
1tb SSD $30

Now the million dollar question is a GPU. If we was only interested in side scrolling beat-em-ups and stuff than the onboard GPU of the 2200g would be fine. But since he downloaded the Steam App he has been SALIVATING over RDR2, Fallout 4, TLOU, etc basically not iGPU friendly games.

So I started looking at some older cards, trying to keep the price around $100 used. Let me tell you, the market around $100 is a complete mess. I figured NV 2K series and AMD 5700's would be at or below the $100 mark but nope. People are asking for, and they are selling at, $150 and more.

I've started looking at 1660S, which seems to sell around $75 generally, but throw on shipping and tax and you're back above $100 again for a very basic card.

I'll keep slogging in the muck looking for a deal @ $100 but damn it's slim pickins down there fo sho.

check your PMs