Crypto-low makes graphics cards more affordable again
A couple of Redditors have put together an extensive chart on the price development of current graphics cards. Clearly recognizable – prices have been falling since mid-May.
Gamers who have been waiting to purchase one of the current graphics cards from Nvidia or AMD since last fall should be patient. Because currently a trend becomes visible: It does not mark a dramatic U-turn, but it is clear enough to have an impact. Average GPU prices have been falling since mid-May.
GPU prices: a wild up and down with a clear trend line. (Image: Reddit)
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Reasons for the falling price trend could lie in crypto correction
The reason for this cannot be clearly stated. What is striking, however, is the correlation to the massive correction in crypto values, which also started in mid-May and drove the market down by almost 50 percent at its peak.
Improvement is not in sight. The big crypto currencies are bobbing around in value ranges that are 30 to 40 percent lower than before the crypto crash. Only technically or ecologically particularly imaginative values such as Cardano with its Ada-Coin manage to survive stably with a loss of around fifteen percent compared to the maximum values.
Crypto crash has already resulted in full warehouses at Nvidia
Does that lead to a drop in demand from the average miner? The question should be answered with a yes with a certain certainty. After all, there is a precedent for this. In 2018, Nvidia was stuck with well-known GPU stocks when the crypto market corrected downwards.
This year, the effect could be even stronger because large numbers of modern GPUs were bought by so-called scalpers via bot. Their activity should now be massively regulated downwards, which could enable the average PC gamer to buy a modern graphics card in stores at the manufacturer’s RRP. Up until now that was almost impossible.
The used market could put prices under additional pressure
On Ebay and other platforms, current GPUs were traded – if at all – at prices that corresponded to surcharges of up to 400 percent. The demand for these much overpriced offers is also likely to collapse.
The third pillar of a possible price decline in the GPU area could result from the used card market. Mining dropouts could now try to get their hardware off the ground as quickly as possible, which would quickly lead to an oversupply.
It is currently the case that prices are falling, but are still significantly too high. The only trend that could directly reverse that of falling GPU prices would be a reversal of the trend in the crypto market. Opinions are divided on whether that is to be expected.
