Asus Prepares for Another Round of Graphics Card Price Hikes

Asus
(Image credit: Asus)

Shortages on the best graphics cards — and really, any graphics card — as well as other components will persist through the end of the year, which is why GPU vendors are preparing to hike the prices of their products once again. Asus reportedly intends to increase its prices for the second time this year.

Demand for graphics cards is increasing both because gamers want to play the latest titles and because of demand from cryptocurrency miners. Meanwhile, neither AMD nor Nvidia can increase the supply as their partners, TSMC and Samsung Foundry, are busy making other chips. According to DigiTimes, this situation won't change any time soon as production capacities are 100% filled.

Asus already increased GPU pricing earlier this year, citing increasing tariffs. Later, the company admitted that Nvidia had reduced GPU supply in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. MSI followed suit and also raised the MSRPs of its graphics cards in late March.

Asus is reportedly looking to increase its graphics card prices once again, partly because it has to pay extra to source components and partly because demand is so high. Whether or not its industry peers follow their bigger rival remains to be seen, but in a world where companies cannot get chips, they need to increase prices to keep production running.

Asus did not comment on the story and did not confirm any plans concerning prices.

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • Nemesia
    PC without GPU - 1000 dollars.

    PC with GPU - 5000 dollars.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    Are gamers really buying Asus cards anymore? I know of miners who are running Asus 30-series cards, but no gamers. ROG (Republic of Gamers) really should be referred to as ROM (Republic of Miners) or ROMS (Republic of Miners and Scalpers) from now on. Asus appears to have abandoned gamers.

    I remember trying to get an Asus GPU back in December and January, but the Asus store would never let me complete checkout without a quantity or weight error. Asus went wild with their prices after that, so I stopped paying attention to their products. They can keep raising their prices -- doesn't affect me anymore.
    Reply
  • Phaaze88
    They're serious..? After the already absurd pricing from the previous one?
    https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/asus-officially-increases-prices-of-graphics-cards-and-motherboards.276796/ASUS store has listed the following components at their respectable prices:

    ROG-STRIX-RTX3090-O24G-WHITE: $2,109.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3090-O24G-GAMING: $ 1,979.99
    RTX3090-24G-EK: $2,014.99
    TUF-RTX3090-O24G-GAMING: $1,839.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3080-O10G-WHITE: $1,049.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3080-O10G-GAMING: $ 929.99
    RTX3080-10G-EK: $999.99
    TUF-RTX3080-O10G-GAMING: $859.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3070-O8G-WHITE: $779.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $699.99
    RTX3070-8G-EK: $729.99
    TUF-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $649.99
    KO-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $639.99
    DUAL-RTX3070-O8G: $599.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $599.99
    TUF-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $ 529.99
    KO-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $519.99
    DUAL-RTX3060TI-O8G: $ 499.99
    These^cards are going even higher? All I can do is just LOL...

    The other AIBs are, without a doubt, going to follow Asus' example.
    All this jacked up fudge, and FE cards are still being sold at MSRP from Best Buy - if you're lucky enough to checkout with one. Too bad BBs aren't everywhere.

    bigdragon said:
    Are gamers really buying Asus cards anymore?
    Oh definitely. It's thanks to them the name 'Republic Of Gamers' has gotten as big as it has. None of the other brands have a fanbase like it.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    bigdragon said:
    Are gamers really buying Asus cards anymore? I know of miners who are running Asus 30-series cards, but no gamers. ROG (Republic of Gamers) really should be referred to as ROM (Republic of Miners) or ROMS (Republic of Miners and Scalpers) from now on. Asus appears to have abandoned gamers.

    I remember trying to get an Asus GPU back in December and January, but the Asus store would never let me complete checkout without a quantity or weight error. Asus went wild with their prices after that, so I stopped paying attention to their products. They can keep raising their prices -- doesn't affect me anymore.
    Asus produces 2 of the most sought after cards, the TUF and Strix, so not surprising you will face stiff competition trying to get one. Asus products were never chip to begin with, and known for the infamous "Asus tax".

    Not too sure about miners, but again because of the good cooling solution, it is one of best choice for miners. As for scalpers, objectively I have to say that it may not be in their control. Because cards like the TUF/ StriX RTX 3080/70/60, are so popular and also limited, they are prime targets for scalpers.

    But like you rightfully mentioned, as prices starts going up, its like putting a brake on demand. Eventually people will lose interest and demand will wane. I suspect at given the shortage and price increases, at least a good 50% of the potential buyers since last year would have postponed their purchase. Just because supply is very weak, so there appears to be some opportunity for manufacturers to continue increasing prices.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    They are Tehinselälle to find out what is the right price for these. Peitä old prices everyth8ng goes, so they are too cheap. Maybe with these new prices the stock starts to build up to the level they. Ole closer to what was before the lasten price hike. If these still fly out of shelves... they still are too cheap considering the demand...
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    Nemesia said:
    PC without GPU - 1000 dollars.

    PC with GPU - 5000 dollars.
    Actually for me it was:
    RTX 3080 only for ~$1700-1800

    (HP Omen 30L) i9 10850K, Liquid Cooled AIO, DDR4 32GB 3200Mhz, 1TB Western Digital NVME, 2TB 7200rpm HDD, RTX 3080, Wifi 6 for $2199 from Amazon.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    And I wasn't even exaggerating the price for the RTX 3080 at $1700-1800. There are a bunch of listings currently on Ebay with the price averaging $2200. I was also trying to find an RX6800xt and they also were in the $1800-1900 range. Crazy times !

    rtx 3080 | eBay
    Reply
  • Third-Eye
    Phaaze88 said:
    They're serious..? After the already absurd pricing from the previous one?
    https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/asus-officially-increases-prices-of-graphics-cards-and-motherboards.276796/ASUS store has listed the following components at their respectable prices:

    ROG-STRIX-RTX3090-O24G-WHITE: $2,109.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3090-O24G-GAMING: $ 1,979.99
    RTX3090-24G-EK: $2,014.99
    TUF-RTX3090-O24G-GAMING: $1,839.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3080-O10G-WHITE: $1,049.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3080-O10G-GAMING: $ 929.99
    RTX3080-10G-EK: $999.99
    TUF-RTX3080-O10G-GAMING: $859.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3070-O8G-WHITE: $779.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $699.99
    RTX3070-8G-EK: $729.99
    TUF-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $649.99
    KO-RTX3070-O8G-GAMING: $639.99
    DUAL-RTX3070-O8G: $599.99
    ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $599.99
    TUF-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $ 529.99
    KO-RTX3060TI-O8G-GAMING: $519.99
    DUAL-RTX3060TI-O8G: $ 499.99These^cards are going even higher? All I can do is just LOL...

    The other AIBs are, without a doubt, going to follow Asus' example.
    All this jacked up fudge, and FE cards are still being sold at MSRP from Best Buy - if you're lucky enough to checkout with one. Too bad BBs aren't everywhere.
    This is old news. Most of the cards from all the brands, if not all the cards, have already had a price increase for the last 3-4 weeks at least. I managed to snag a 3070 Tuf OC from Best Buy on Friday for it's new "msrp" of $749.99 and that is after trying for 5 months everywhere.
    Reply
  • Phaaze88
    Third-Eye said:
    This is old news. Most of the cards from all the brands, if not all the cards, have already had a price increase for the last 3-4 weeks at least. I managed to snag a 3070 Tuf OC from Best Buy on Friday for it's new "msrp" of $749.99 and that is after trying for 5 months everywhere.
    I'm aware. Just pointing out the obvious.

    I was watching Best Buy too, but for the FE 3080.
    The FE 3070 was there temporarily for 499.99.
    Screw those jacked up aftermarket cards - I'm gonna put an Eiswolf on it anyway.
    Reply
  • Trustdesa
    PC is pretty much dead as gaming platform for future titles, for now, us enthusiast may even spend £650 for a xx80 with only 10gb vram, despite being very much "old gen" and with a big price increase over 1080 (20xx was a daylight robbery so unless one has no clue what analytical analysis is should refrain from comment on this, go watch Kardashian Tech Tips), if we look at xx70 there is literally no reason, is truly a scam at MSRP for what it is.

    Looking at PC Gaming trends, it flourished with 7xx 9xx and 10xx before that if we look at 2003/2004 was nearly gone due of how bad the hardware fragmentation was, now we are there again despite the amazing revival thanks to decently priced hardware we had.

    New consoles can do the fancy reflective puddles too, as much as with current level of hardware they aren't exactly ground breaking anyway, perhaps in a few years they will, so the asking premium for 30xx isn't even worth it as if we will get Raytraced games is because they will be released with this tech on consoles, proof we did not get any if not a small bunch with 20xx - also high price > low adoption > little support - again as much as it was with PC Gaming in early 2000s with very few ports. Let alone a glorified super sampling which is even proprietary, they are giving you the illness and sell you the (bad) medicine for it....They give you less vram so texture have no space to go, HOWEVER if you use our super DLSS you can play lower resolution so the little vram we gave you for more money will be okay-ish.
    Thankfully cards like RX580 or 1080 are still very capable even at 1440p (except for people buying into the 8989890890908htz marketing who only play rubbish online game 24h for which an upgrade is anyway not needed) however I can see masses going to console for triple A games, I do not see an average family saying yes to a £500mid range GPU when this GPU has even so little ram not to last a few years, clearly on purpose as Nvidia knows how to troll its customers. Even having the money the price increase YOY is totally unjustified even if these were a different product than GPU, commercially you do this when you know your average customer can be trolled, see Apple, however a PC platform for gaming matching Apple = niche, and niche in gaming = no support.

    Asus is similar, is a brand that knows some of its customer have zero common sense, in the big scheme they are just hurting themselves, not that they do much outside PC Gaming, consoles are closed system and offer, this time around, an amazing value compared to even a mid range PC, cannot see so many people (big scheme not 300k people) upgrade to 30xx - MSRP is horrible plus inflated prices is really a PC GAMING BUBBLE which is about to explode.
    Reply