Is it that time already? Every three weeks we get an insight into European graphic card pricing trends and insight from 3DCenter. The latest survey data, which considers a host of prices across Germany and Austria, marks a milestone this time around as the average AMD graphics card is now 5% cheaper than MSRP. Nvidia's cards have kept a tentative grip on MSRP+ pricing, with the green team's average graphics card at 2% above MSRP.
The last time we reported on the 3DCenter data, three weeks ago, we noted that graphics cards were slowly descending to their MSRPs. The averages were helped by some big price cuts to premium products, but some 'core offerings' remained stubbornly overpriced, by as much as 30%. In the latest survey there is still imbalance in pricing. These prices are focused on European countries, but they give us a general insight into which direction they are going.
Probably the worst place to be as a GPU buyer in late June 2022 is one looking for the traditional sweet spots for good value performance gaming from the best GPUs. Those pondering buying an AMD GPU will see that the most 'overpriced' examples are centered around the Radeon RX 6600 (~20% over MSRP). Nvidia fans will find the most 'overpriced' GPUs are the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (17%), RTX 3060 (11%), and RTX 3050 (13%). Of course these prices are the result of supply and demand, which indicates people are still willing to pay more for this level of performance, or shortages persist across these mainstream products.
If it is indeed shortages keeping the mainstream gaming cards over MSRP, by the time of the next survey there could be some more dramatic movements. The Tom's Hardware graphics editor Jarred Walton is of the firm opinion that the GPU deluge has begun.
The phenomena we are observing now is largely due to the collapse of cryptocurrencies as speculative capital takes flight to less risky assets. This follows typical investor / speculator behavior when faced with a recession. If you are interested, please check out our article with logic and reasoning backing up our assertion that things are starting to go south rapidly in the GPU market. Our article on the GPU deluge includes consideration of both new and used graphics card prices (data from June 15).
For extra fuel on the GPU pricing bonfire, please also consider that the next gen GPUs from AMD and Nvidia are expected to launch within the next four months. Traditionally, tech markets go cool ahead of a refresh, causing retailers and used sellers to cut prices deeper.
