Question GPU pricing should clearly be higher across the board, but by how much?

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moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
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The 6600XT is sold out everywhere with pricing between $4-600 roughly. That card would normally cost roughly $2-250. I think gamers are buying these. They aren't getting all snapped up by miners. Also, gamers have shown a willingness to pay $2000 for a 3080Ti on ebay. I think it's clear that if Nvidia and AMD simply increased prices across the board by 2-4X, they'd still sell every card instantly.
What price range do you think people would buy cards at? I propose the following for honestly being perfectly reasonable and acceptable (meaning, people will pay it). If a product instantly sells out, that means people spend no time deliberating. It's a no-brainer purchase which means there is a lot of room left to increase prices until sales start to flatten out a little and normalize. If something sells out instantly you can charge more easily.

I think the following prices moving forward, pandemic or not, would still see every model sell out instantly.

Low-end (X50 class) - $400 (faster than integrated solutions, so should cost more than a high end APU)
X60 - $800 (not a stretch considering 6600XT sold out at $600)
X70 - $1500
X80 - $2000
X80Ti - $2500
Titan - $3000-$5000
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
Jokes aside though, I think gaming GPUs should have mining completely disabled. They could charge gamers normal prices and charge miners 4X the price and everyone would be totally fine with this. A device used to play games should have no overlap with a device used to literally print money. It's bad for a lot of reasons. If it catches on in a huge way, you'll have everyone stay home and do nothing.
Who in their right mind would sit in traffic for 4 hours a day and force themselves to pretend like they give a crap about making some other dude rich while their employer holds a metaphorical gun to their head in the form of health insurance and the threat of halting payments needed for outrageous rent costs so their kids have a place to live? Geez, now that I think about it, maybe everyone should quit their jobs and just mine instead...

Hey... nothing is stopping you from spending $100K on overpriced scalper GPU's to earn $50 a day mining on them after you pay for electricity.

There are probably better ways to invest your money, though.
 

nosurprises

Member
Jan 4, 2021
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I blame Intel. If they had kept their promises we would all be using 5nm Intel CPUs, nobody would want AMD server or desktop chips, Apple would not have moved away from Intel, and there would be plenty of TSMC capacity to go around for GPUs.
There will never be enough GPUs for miners when crypto is at the current price.
 
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moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
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There will never be enough GPUs for miners when crypto is at the current price.

Agreed. There is literally no limit to what the miners will buy because more GPUs literally = more money. They could triple supply overnight and they'd all be sold to miners and end up in a warehouse somewhere and the leftover scraps will end up on ebay.
 
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gk1951

Member
Jul 7, 2019
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moonbogg, remember when you started the thread asking our estimate of what the 3080TI would cost and I put at least $1,500.

Unfortunately for all gamers I was way low.

My buying a RX6800 with a MSRP at the time of $549 for $689 doesn't feel so bad in the current market.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,839
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My buying a RX6800 with a MSRP at the time of $549 for $689 doesn't feel so bad in the current market.

*whistling*

6900-XT-recipt.jpg


i was fortunate that no one wanted one except a couple few when i went there out of the blue to pick up that switch on an emergency.

Needless to say, you can bet my brother got one hell of a xmas gift... lol.
 
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MrPickins

Diamond Member
May 24, 2003
9,011
558
126
I'd be willing to bet that for every gamer willing to pay high over MSRP, there are are at least 2 or 3 waiting and making do with what they have. I know I am.

I don't expect the prices to stay high forever; it'll drive away a lot of less hardcore gamers, and neither AMD nor Nvidia want the PC gaming market to shrink.
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,508
586
126
Looks like microcenter came to their senses. A few weeks ago my local microcenter had several 6900XTs that weren't selling because they were still charging $2600 for them, which was even worse than ebay at the time.
 

nosurprises

Member
Jan 4, 2021
76
39
61
I'd be willing to bet that for every gamer willing to pay high over MSRP, there are are at least 2 or 3 waiting and making do with what they have. I know I am.

I don't expect the prices to stay high forever; it'll drive away a lot of less hardcore gamers, and neither AMD nor Nvidia want the PC gaming market to shrink.
I agree some gamers will pay over MSRP for GPU, some more casual gamers will probably change to console.

Currently gamers don't affect the price of GPU, and price will stay high as long as crypto price is high which could be a very long time or forever lol. GPU price is set by how much miners are willing to pay -- right now it looks like it's limited to 10 months ROI (about $1800 for RTX 3080).
 

nosurprises

Member
Jan 4, 2021
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39
61
These are false statements.

Supply and demand affects BOTH gamers and miners.
Sure gamers can outbid the miners at $1800 if they want to mine more than 10 months with the GPU full time.

The miners will buy up all supplies at a certain price depending on crypto price -- which is way above MSRP. Sure some gamers can always pay that price.

I'm wondering why nvidia doesn't start a mining operation themselves. Just mine with all their current gen GPU and then sell them used after a new gen is released. With their capital, they can build a power plant next to a coal mine for cheapest power. Maybe build the plant next to a lake to kill some fishes while they're at it.
 
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aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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These are false statements.

Supply and demand affects BOTH gamers and miners.

no... its Miners and Scalpers.
Miners because of the infinite greed in having more MH/s with ROI.
Scalpers because they can fuel those miners in that greed as well as the select few gamers who have the budget large enough to mitigate scalpers.

Gamers can't get their hands on the cards.
90% of the Gamers will just wait it out.
They can't justify the price increase over staying on the videocard they have now.
So how the hell can they affect the supply?

At best, gamers would probably fill a small ladle in the 5 gallon bucket which scalpers and miners have their head in.
Gamers who have a 30 series, either got them earily when the MSRP wasn't so marked up, though some lottery or queue system.

If someone told me i had to pay 2600 dollars for my current GPU as a gamer, id say nah, i'll wait for the RTX9000 / RX9000.
Because im only going to pay that much if the GPU is "OVER 9000" *insert Vegita Meme here*
 
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moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
136
These are false statements.

Supply and demand affects BOTH gamers and miners.

Yeah, I'd like to think that gamers wouldn't pay ridiculous prices for these things, but I've been pretty shocked and proven wrong as hell about what they are willing to pay. I saw the EVGA forums loaded with people during the 3080Ti release and they were all excited about the cards coming in around $1300-$1500. For the vast majority of people on those forums, those prices didn't faze them at all. Maybe a few people said it was too much, but that was it. These are the top enthusiast buyers though, so I'd expect that most of them would easily pay even $2000 for next gen. I'm not sure this crowd has any sort of practical limit to what they'd pay if there was no other choice.
Of course tons of gamers are going to be completely priced out, but no one cares about them and never did. People who usually pay $700 for a Ti card will settle for an X60 or X70 card for that price and the foaming-at-the-mouth enthusiasts will buy anything at any price north of $1500 without even thinking about it. Next gen is going to be hilarious. Not only will it be unavailable, but prices will have to be much worse all around. No matter though. They'll still fly off the shelves before your screen has time to refresh.
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,508
586
126
I wouldn't even mind the high top end prices (and may even buy them myself) if there were also good midrange $200-400 cards available without any markups. You don't really need the top video cards, they are luxury products like sports cars or audiophile speakers. Nobody needs the $20000 speakers either, but there is a market for them. But there need to be solid midrange cards for PC gaming to thrive.
 

Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member
May 6, 2012
4,971
1,691
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I wouldn't even mind the high top end prices (and may even buy them myself) if there were also good midrange $200-400 cards available without any markups.

I've done very well over the last 25 years upgrading a mainstream card to another mainstream card every 2-3 years, when there has been a compelling option to upgrade to.

The one time I've caved was with my new 6600XT. Already had a 5600XT, but I wanted a backup card, since the current situation doesn't seem to end until at least '23. My 1060 6GB is getting awfully near being the absolute minimum requirement for newer titles.

Oh, well. At least I can afford it. Plenty people can't. That's what worries me.
 

gk1951

Member
Jul 7, 2019
170
150
116
aigomorla, can I be your brother?:D Just joking.

I see that AMD 5900xs are finally starting to be more plentiful so perhaps there is a ray of hope that supply chains and production are ramping up.

The problem with gpus is there appears to be no end in sight.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I think with all the crazy gpu pricing im done with PC's and my next gaming purchase will be a ps5 when my ps4 pro and PC finally kick it.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,839
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I think with all the crazy gpu pricing im done with PC's and my next gaming purchase will be a ps5 when my ps4 pro and PC finally kick it.

waiting for you to discover the PS5 has a crazy scalper markup as well, because people all agree like you do to go console and realize, those are over run with bots too.

Or some guy is hording them to mine FIFA Tokens like that one guy in the Ukraine.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
waiting for you to discover the PS5 has a crazy scalper markup as well, because people all agree like you do to go console and realize, those are over run with bots too.

Or some guy is hording them to mine FIFA Tokens like that one guy in the Ukraine.

It will be a few years hopefully it calms down by then, and if ive learned anything over the years with sony its never buy launch hardware wait for a few revisions.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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It will be a few years hopefully it calms down by then, and if ive learned anything over the years with sony its never buy launch hardware wait for a few revisions.

lol see you back in the PC GAMER MASTER RACE line by then as GPU prices will also probably fall down again.
 

AnitaPeterson

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
5,942
388
126
Yes. In times of global crisis, corporations make money by the truckload, while consumers are suckered into paying higher and higher prices for the same products being offered over and over again (see the recent revival of the GTX 1050), during a partially-manufactured scarcity.

A perfect scenario. Makes you wonder how it's going to end.


___
Meanwhile, in the streets:
... I thought I was lucky to find a 2GB DDR3 HD5450 for CAD35 on Amazon ...
 

Mopetar

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2011
7,797
5,899
136
Honestly if you buy one of those SNES classic things that come with 20 of the best games that originally released you've probably got something that would tide you over for quite a while.

Oh wait, those are like $300 now too. WTF?
 
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nosurprises

Member
Jan 4, 2021
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lol see you back in the PC GAMER MASTER RACE line by then as GPU prices will also probably fall down again.
With the RTX 3060 more expensive than a PS5, the value proposition is not there if you want to game, but for competitive FPS, mouse/keyboard is still king.

Whether the GPU price will fall or not depends on the crypto market. Ethereum is moving to proof of stake that don't require a GPU in 2 years (assuming they'll follow through since they have been talking about it forever), so that might help with the GPU price -- it also might not do too much because some miners won't move to the new version.
 

nosurprises

Member
Jan 4, 2021
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The chance of getting a PS5 is higher than getting a GPU. You only need to compete with scalpers for PS5 (vs scalpers and miners for GPUs). And Sony has a greater incentive to get more PS5s out to gamers than nvidia.
 

NTMBK

Lifer
Nov 14, 2011
10,208
4,940
136
Honestly if you buy one of those SNES classic things that come with 20 of the best games that originally released you've probably got something that would tide you over for quite a while.

Oh wait, those are like $300 now too. WTF?

I've got a huge pile of free indie games off the Epic Store, which don't need a high end GPU. I've got enough gaming to keep me busy for years at this point.
 
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