The past couple years haven’t been the best for PC gamers, namely due to the hardware crisis we are going through thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in lower availability and astronomical price rises for graphics cards and processors. Although 2022 was starting to look a little more optimistic, it turns out that prices could increase even more this year.
TSMC is one of the biggest Semiconductor Manufacturing Companies out there, and is used by some of the biggest names in the tech industry. Following record profits as well as continual shortages, they have apparently informed customers that they will soon be raising their prices for chips by around 20%.
Both Nvidia and AMD rely on TSMC for manufacturing. Nvidia uses it for graphics cards, and AMD uses it for both GPUs and CPUs. Both companies currently use the 7nm node from TSMC, and for their next-gen tech will be using the smaller and even more expensive 5nm node.
The difference there is that Nvidia has already paid upfront to secure their chips for the RTX 40 series, which could explain why they’re so hopeful for graphics card shortages to improve in the second half of 2022. So it is possible that Nvidia won’t be affected too much by the price rise, but that doesn’t mean to not expect more expensive GPUs in the next generation.
Although this could turn out well for Intel and their customers, as they mostly manufacture their chips in-house. So we might not see as drastic a price rise for their 13th gen Intel Core processors. But Intel is also looking to compete with their new Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards, and we have yet to hear official pricing for those GPUs.
So Intel could sneakily price their GPUs along with projected prices for Nvidia and AMD later this year, in order to score a higher profit margin due to lower manufacturing costs. But they also could undercut the competition by selling cheaper cards than Nvidia or even AMD, knowing those two would not be able to lower their prices without losing out on their profit margins.
Either way, it’s pretty terrible news for PC gamers who were looking forward to the hardware crisis easing up over the next couple years and returning to normal. Unfortunately, it looks like we may never go back to ‘normal’ GPU prices like we saw pre-pandemic. Sure, graphics cards will start to sell at MSRP again, but that MSRP will be marginally higher than a few years ago anyway.
Then again, other manufacturers (as well as TSMC) have been spending a lot of money on increasing production capacity. There’s no stopping AMD or even Nvidia from switching over to another manufacturer in the future if they want. I guess like much of the news surrounding these situations, we’ll just have to wait and see.
What do you think? Will we see a major price hike for next-gen GPUs and CPUs? Do you think Intel will undercut competition or will their prices be fairly similar? And could you ever see Nvidia or AMD moving to another manufacturer? Let us know your thoughts!
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I spent time waiting and waiting but didnt want to wait any longer. So I found a very good heavily reduced offer for a customizable pre-built on around the time of Black Friday and finally got my new decent Gaming Rig, no more struggle with this stuff haha...Crazy times we live in, where a pre-built is commonly the cheapest way for playing games in high quality lol
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For anyone that has been holding out, now might be the time to bite the bullet and just buy whichever video card you can afford that gives you decent performance. The 4000 series prices are going to be insane after launch and with the 3000 series already being so scarce as it is you can expect them to get more expensive too. It is true what they say now, wanna get into PC gaming? Buy a pre-built.
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Good thing I was able to buy a gaming desktop with an RTX 3060 12GB Video card at a stable price. Otherwise, I won't be able to get this.
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They soon will learn the same lesson as Samsung and Apple did, you can't just up the prices non stop and expect people to buy your product
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Glad I could find a gtx 1650 super,not great but good for 1080p
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The rate at which MSRP has been rising is quite alarming. Usuakky we saw MSRP hikes once every few generations but that period has shortened drastically. In Nvidia's case we saw a price hike with the 20 series cards and are expected to see another hike with the 40 series. That's just one generation apart. AMD and Intel are also guilty of this.
Well gaming was good while it lasted. Time to learn painting or something as a hobby.
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Exactly. I just started learning to cook a few months ago. At this point I just prepare myself for the apocalypse.
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Cooking is great. I ,yself have been cooking for the past year or so and its so much fun and satisfying.
Gaming is due for a recession as it hasn't happened since the mid to late 90s. Its time now for it to happen so these prices can come crashing down and these companies can come crawling back.
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I think my 1070 is good enough for now..it will last me 3 more years..I guess by then GPU prices may be under control
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I'm happy with my RTX 2070 super. Plenty of life in her yet
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Man this is looking more and more like buying the 3080 / 5900x that I got today in 11/2020 was the best decision I made in tech in a while. If DLSS keeps improving, then this GPU might easily last me 3-4 more years.
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Good thing my 1070’s still going strong :)
And if open source upscaling tech like AMD FSR continues to improve, it’ll add a couple more years of gaming :)
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From rumors I hear, they definitely will be higher. nVidia already wants to keep high prices till next gen, so they can soften the blow. AMD is doing nothing to really hard compete on price, so they will just price it accordingly, so you pay bit more and get bit more. So they won't help. All we are left with is Intel, if their stuff is good enough and they use that situation to sell at lower prices, they could be the good thing. At least till they are incentivized to take market share. I guess we will see. I still think thanks to graphic cards PC renaissance is over. But I guess we can all hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
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Let's be honest...what's there to even play these days but old titles? What's coming that is hard on the hardware and exciting and good? Nothing...arguably total war, but I can wait that out for as much as few years, cause it's a singleplayer, by then any gpu out there will be able to max it much like any today can max wh2...so, jumping for gpu because of gaming today is idiotism.
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Now, I kind of want to try and get a 3090 ti when it drops. It might actually be cheaper to get it at launch.
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With what's happening buying an Xbox Series S/X would be the most sane choice right now.
I also feel like all companies don't want people to own games anymore.. Going subscription models/DRM/Cloud Gaming
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Sad to say, but they can raise prices and get away with it
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Be it miners or gamers we have shown intel/amd/nvidia that we are prepared to pay even these inflated GPU prices and quess what companies love to make...money.
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Not surprising.