With MSI’s recent tacit admission that it would be raising graphics card prices across the board due to the surging global demand and widespread shortages of chips, there was one singular question hovering on PC gamers’ lips - by how much?
You only need to take a casual glance over at eBay to see the latest GeForce RTX 30 series and AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards are selling at well over their MSRP. In some cases, these GPUs are selling in excess of 3x their retail value. Whoever’s buying these up is surely feeling some hefty buyer’s remorse a few weeks down the line.
It’s got so mad now that you can sell plenty of previous gen graphics cards for prices in excess of what you paid for originally, years ago.
Let’s take Nvidia’s entry-level Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 as an example. Released in 2019 with an MSRP of $150 / £130, this GPU suffered in reviews for offering poor performance for its price. That was two years ago. Now I can take a look at eBay and see this very same graphics card being sold for £300. The word desperation doesn’t do this justice.
If people are willing to pay £300 for a GeForce GTX 1650, can you even imagine what MSI could get away with selling a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 at, for example. I’ve just seen one of them going for £970 on eBay and I feel like I might be having an aneurysm. We’ve reached peak consumerism.
Evidently, the prices are out of control. But, this is mainly a problem on the reseller side of things. A simple case of supply and demand, and a classic example of where our tried and tested capitalist free market can and will fail us. On MSI’s part (and no doubt other AIB partners will follow suit), they’re a business trying to make money and, right now, it’s the scalpers making the lion’s share of the cash on each graphics card sale. AIB partners want a slice of the action and the only way they can do that is by jacking up the prices.
Which brings us back around to the important bit once again - how much do you think these price increases are going to be? In the case of the GeForce RTX 3060, its £300 RRP is just 33% of what some of these are going for on eBay. There’s enormous scope here for an AIB partner to increase prices. MSI could double the price of its graphics cards and they’d still seem like a bargain compared to picking one up on eBay.
We’re going to deal in percentages here because there’s so many different graphics cards and so many varied currencies we’re dealing with here.
With graphics card prices due to rise, how much, percentage-wise, do you expect them to increase?
Get voting and remember to let us know why below!
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Prices practically doubled here the past 5 months
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in here a 1650 is for 200€
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I bought a 5700 XT for 400 euros 1.5 years ago, sold it for almost 800 2 days ago and got a 2070S for about 700
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Nice, you got an upgrade AND free cash :D
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At this point I am thinking AMD gpus are best for asset investment. They don't depreciate, it seems. (Happened in 2016-17 too) LOL
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Since i bought mine the price has risen 800 euros. It´s nuts!!
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At this point, I just don't give a sh!t. I just stopped following all GPU news and skipped all reviews.
If I wanted to watch something in the fantasy genre, I am going to watch Lord of The Rings, not a GPU announcement.
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i donwloaded them all in blueray and i got some popcorn
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Just finished Lord of the GPUs: fellowship of the scalpers, pretty good.
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lol
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I mean the 1080ti can still get up and boggie in 1440p 60hz+. I could hold out to see what the next gpu generation has to offer im in no real need.
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You absolutely could. I got my 3080 at MSRP through a builder, but would have happily kept my 1080 ti if I had to deal with current prices.
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For those hwo own a card, the solution for higher prices is only one: switch from High to Medium. Problem solved!
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Paid MSRP for mine, so I'm not affected. That being said - I would have just waited (which is what I already had to do anyway to get the card in the first place). Paying scalped prices, be it in shops or from individual scalpers, is stupid. It's the same as the toilet paper shortages at the start of the pandemic - lasted a little bit, TP was like a meme gold and now nobody cares. If you paid a scalped price for your GPU and you didn't need it for work to make money or as an emergency part replacement - you're basically a sucker. Don't be a sucker.
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Also, this video is not a bad watch if you'd like to know why the situation is what it is.
Hint: miners are not as big of a problem as you'd be lead to believe - YOU collectively trying to buy new stuff are the problem to each other :D
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Edit the "you" into "us", because I constantly see you lecturing, yet you go wallet first after same things, so cut the "holier than thou" bs. If you wish to inspire you should lead by example...this way you just come off as hypocritical.
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Really? Yeah, I have the budget for top-end GPUs, but I won't go on and spend more than MSRP - that's the reason I was waiting in the first place! It happened to be only 2.5 months before the stock appeared - that's called "luck", but if it was 5, 10, 16 months - I still wouldn't pay much more than MSRP by choice. Nothing to do with "holier than thou", my values don't suddenly change because I earn more and I "preach" what I believe and practice, lol. I grew up poor, was a poor student too - it's been less than a decade that I can afford the toys at all
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And before you go off again, comments that have replies cannot be edited. [cheeky admin edit: except by admins :p] While me buying a 3090 is hardly impacting the purchases of 3060s, 3060Tis, 3070s, 3080s and AMD cards - I see your point and would have amended that word.
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Feels stupid having to explain myself online like this...
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That's just what he does Raz. Preaches that he's somehow better than everyone and refers to himself as "elite". It's pretty humorous. You get used to it and learn to ignore him.
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took me less then a month to ignore his posts. :) .At least he watches LTT
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When did I ever refer to myself as "elite"? xDDDDD
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You tend to buy the new graphics cards near the launch date. Did you buy the 2080ti's near launch too?
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Yes. In fact, I bought 1080s at launch, 1080Tis at launch, 2080Tis at launch and wanted to do the same with the 3090, but they did not have pre-orders open during Jensen's keynote like they did with the 20 series.
I found that buying at launch is the best way, because you get the highest chance to get MSRP and the prices go up immediately after (this happened notably with the 10 series, as it was very popular).
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That is my point though. You always buy at launch regardless of small gains or not. This makes your comments on this topic seem disconnected and aloof for everyone else; Johari's blind spot. If the MSRP for the 3090 had been set at $1700 you would have bought it because the price does not concern you. You just want the upgrade ASAP, even if the gains are slim and the reason merely compensation.
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You're forgetting the fact that I also use those GPUs for work and even a bit of mining - I don't buy a phone every year or anything like that, because those things I don't need. That being said, what is disconnected about me saying "try to buy at or close to MSRP"? It doesn't matter what the GPU price is - could be £100, could be £2000 - there's just no need to pay over that price unless - and I've said this before - you have an emergency or need one for work. Do you honestly think I'm some rich kid sitting in a mansion on a hill?
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You commenting on how you would wait in some hypothetical situation doesn't mean anything as you are prepared to upgrade within a single generation (9 months apart) for a ណ% gain. Which is why your condescending tone on what buying practices are stupid or not isn't met with positivity. You talking about what price is reasonable has no meaning to you or us, which is clear to all, except you.
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You commenting on how you would wait in some hypothetical situation doesn't mean anything as you are prepared to upgrade within a single generation (9 months apart) for a ណ% gain. Which is why your condescending tone on what buying practices are stupid or not isn't met with positivity. You talking about what price is reasonable has no meaning to you or us, which is clear to all, except you.
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You commenting on how you would wait in some hypothetical situation doesn't mean anything as you are prepared to upgrade within a single generation (9 months apart) for a ណ% gain. Which is why your condescending tone on what buying practices are stupid or not isn't met with positivity. You talking about what price is reasonable has no meaning to you or us, which is clear to all, except you.
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Salt much? No need to triple-post.
You take 1 product and imagine that I never wait or that I'm prepared to pay stupid amounts for everything - whatever helps you sleep at night. The point is that nobody should be paying scalper prices or much more than MSRP of the product (whatever that MSRP is) unless necessary. I wait for such opportunities myself and I don't see how that is "irrelevant". I had a budget for a 3090 FE and that's what I waited for - I certainly wouldn't have bought anything else for that same price if scalped (3080 or lower).
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Normally I'd expect this type of salty nonsense from the jealous types, but you have a kickass system (with a better CPU than mine), Chris, so I'm not even sure what your point here is anymore. Shall we debate next how I never bought a new CPU since I initially built my machine in 2016 using a 2014 chip? Because I'm raining money here and NEVER wait for a good upgrade path with anything, since I buy that 1 type of product that I game and work with (the GPUs)... It pisses me off when ppl see a new GPU and suddenly nothing else matters - that's asinine.
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The triple post is due to website lag. I said your POV was condescending because the users here commenting are very aware of good/bad prices and that buying a scalped GPU is a bad idea. I'd be surprised if a user on this website bought a scalped card. Why do you think I was salty? I was merely relaying to you why your post was not met positively. I am just trying to help you realize why, thats all
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...I tend to be reluctant to extend posts this way, hence the matter-of-fact tone – for efficiency. I am happy that you can buy new cards and use them fully. That is awesome, you're an enthusiast. But the comments regarding the prices/scalping etc. seemed cold and focused on your success in a boastful manner. We all can fall into this trap, sometimes I also have to temper my ego regarding succes
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Eh, I try to state the facts. If the article asks about prices or thoughts on the matter - I'll put them down. And yes, we have people who bought scalped GPUs - just read the comments below, lol. I get what you're saying regarding the "boastfulness", I suppose, but there's definitely none of that, consciously, anyway. I'm enthused about what a 3090 can do for gaming and work for sure, but I really don't care to "rub it in" or whatever. As I mentioned before - I have an old CPU and slow RAM (by today's standards), so it's not like I always buy the best.
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Anyway, this doesn't change the facts and what my beliefs are - I stated them plenty of times on various articles. If all some people want to see is a new GPU and ignore everything else I say, twist it into something I literally never say (like that I refer to myself as "elite", WTF?) or that I can't understand pricing of things - that's their prerogative. I've been on the internet for too long to care about salt. Of course, it is annoying when people misunderstand or twist words, but I'm aware of the fact that none of it matters once I press X :)
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All good dude. Typed words can be harder to soften, unfortunately
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Now hug it out bitches :)
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XD
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GD is best for this . . . yes, hug it out now lol
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All i hope is after 5 years or so when i want to get new gpu i will be able to and at reasonable price
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Me too :P
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Here in Croatia I got my card from a scalper since all of those models if at all are in stock at all local shops have prices way higher then the prices from scalpers. Basically a RTX 3070 in the cheapest shop was 1600€, and from the guy I found out was selling for 1100€. So yeah, for me it was worth it... To shops
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I looked at the MSRP of 520 EUR and the fact that you paid more than double that for a mere 3070 is INSANE O_O
Why? Everyone likes nice stuff, but not like that... I paid MSRP for my 3090FE and that's not that much more than you paid for your 3070, all things considered.
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Same here, purchased a 3070 FE almost at MRP, well I paid 600 USD.. but India has 18% tax so that's the cheapest you get to.
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We also have VAT on top of everything, but the UK region had that included in the MSRP of £1400, which is what I paid + shipping.
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I'm hoping I'm going to get lucky, I have a friend that work for a retail stockist? (the people that Ocuk and Scan get their stuff from) he managed to get a 3070 in Jan for £440 so I'm hoping I wont pay more than £550/600 for one in the coming months
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brate dal si realan za te pare si mogao kupis kola...jedino ako ti treba za posao ili nesto.Strpi se pasce cene.
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@Shuffl2me 440 is below UK MSRP, so that's a darn good deal! Fingers crossed you can nab something around that as well
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Honestly, that's just ridiculous. 300$ more and you could've bought a card that's absolute top of this generation but you spent double on a mid range card. Shops or no shops it's really a heck lot of money wasted.
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Here in Croatia I got my card from a scalper since all of those models if at all are in stock at all local shops have prices way higher then the prices from scalpers. Basically a RTX 3070 in the cheapest shop was 1600€, and from the guy I found out was selling for 1100€. So yeah, for me it was worth it... To shops
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Received 3090 in early November and now its more than £600 and people are still waiting this is just crazy
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it's not just 600 pounds, in Australia it reached 5 grand I think lol
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Got my 3090 FE for MSRP in early December when there was stock. I was not prepared to buy non-FE or pay a scalped rate and, luckily, had to do neither :D
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F*** those greedy scalpers, miners and those who buy for such outrageous prices, my gpu died and I can't even get neither latest nor the last gen gpu for a normal price...and it's been more than 6 months already
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You might wanna watch this before assuming why you (and literally everyone else) can't get a new card... The answer is basically in the mirror.
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Well since mining ethereum requires more than 4GB of vram, right now it is best to look for a GPU that have less than that if you do not want to overspend it too much.
Currently the most optional choice is Radeon RX 400/500 series GPU with 4GB of vram
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Graphics cards is a currency now
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Totally out of control! And now it gets worse by the fact that some stupid Captan let his cargo ship block the Suez canal!!
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You mean the "stupid" captain that allegedly informed MSI that one of their containers full of GPUs 'fell off' his ship during a storm and is now waiting for prices too hit their peak before he remembers how to turn his boat and make an absolute killing with the stolen merch?
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The easy answer is to not buy. Be smart people, what could you do with that much money? Go learn carpentry, play an instrument or learn a new language, way cheaper and fun too. I´ve gotten into carpentry, until some decent game comes along
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I'm with you here!
The levels of hysterical consumerism we see are astounding. You'd think GPUs are made of air, food and water :D