Graphics card prices continued to drop over the past month, although AMD is faring much better in the battle to stay under the MSRP than Nvidia.
This is the situation according to regular numbers compiled by Tom’s Hardware (opens in new tab) on GPU prices in both the retail and second-hand markets for the US.
The key figure is that current-gen GPU retail prices dropped 7% on average over the course of July, although once again, many of Nvidia’s graphics cards still remain stubbornly above their MSRP (manufacturer recommended price).
It’s the same story as the previous month in this regard, with only the RTX 3090 Ti, RTX 3090, and RTX 3080 Ti under their MSRPs, although they are considerably below the recommended level by 30%, 20%, and 21% below, respectively.
Nvidia’s RTX 3070 is the next best performer, and while above the MSRP it’s at least close(ish), with a 10% premium currently applied. The RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 aren’t too far from it either, being 12% and 14% above the MSRP respectively.
Low-end Nvidia graphics cards are where prices are considerably above the recommended level, with the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti variants subject to an 18% increase and the RTX 3050 taking a 20% premium in early August.
As for AMD’s RX 6000 models, the best news is that they’re all at MSRP or below, except for one exception – the RX 6800 XT, which is just 3% above the recommended price, so it’s hardly a bitter price to swallow. such.
The RX 6800 is at its MSRP now, and the other RDNA 2 graphics cards are all below MSRP, with the RX 6900 XT leading the way at 25% below. All RX 6000 graphics cards below the RX 6700 XT are now between 13% and 18% below the MSRP, so this is a good part of a reduction below recommended levels.
As mentioned, this all adds up to an average price drop of 7% from early August, and eBay prices have seen a very similar decrease on the order of 6% on average.
Analysis: Bigger reductions are certainly on the way for Nvidia
While it’s disappointing to see that only the top three Nvidia RTX 3000 GPUs are still below the MSRP – exactly the same as it was a month ago – at least they’re considerably lower compared to the recommended price now. In fact, the RTX 3090 Ti, 3090, and 3080 Ti are down a further 13%, 17%, and 11%, respectively, in the past month, which is a considerable decrease.
The stubborn refusal to drop below the MSRP seen elsewhere in the Ampere range is a little frustrating, although things are heading in the right direction, with the RTX 3070 hitting 10% above the MSRP (up from 16% last month). And while the RTX 3050 may still be 20% above its MSRP – and the worst performer overall in that regard – remember that a month ago it was 31% above.
So while this is at least something, we were expecting a little more than that in terms of price reductions given everything we’ve heard in the rumor mill recently about allegedly excessive levels of RTX 3000 stock that will need to be changed before the RTX 4000 launches. state-of-the-art – and the time frame for doing so is quickly running out. Also, the Chinese market has shown some big drops in retail prices recently, with all Nvidia graphics cards dropping below the MSRP in that region, which is a pretty clear sign of the prevailing price winds.
What this means, in a nutshell, is that we’re certainly expecting some bigger price drops for Team Green’s GPUs away from the top-tier models, so it’s still worth waiting to see if that will be realized in the near future, at least. in our books.
As for AMD graphics cards, they have exhibited a more constant rate of downward motion, with some GPUs dropping a lot – like the RX 6900 XT, which is now 25% below MSRP compared to 15% a month ago, and the RX 6400 (now 13% down compared to the same MSRP last month), plus the RX 6600 XT (now 18% down compared to 5%).
There are definitely some reasonable prices, and even some relative bargains for high-end graphics cards – although that’s to be expected, as people are less likely to spend a lot on a GPU when the next generation (of arguably much more powerful cards) ) is not far away.
The used market is still something of a minefield – thanks to auctions driving ex-mining GPUs that should be viewed with extreme caution given their previous heavy workloads – and price drops anyway. are calming down on that front. The 6% drop in eBay prices seen this month isn’t nearly the same as the average 14% drop recorded a month ago, but for now, we’d be moving away from the second-hand market for reasons we’ve discussed in plenty of depth. in recent articles.