Prices on the best graphics cards, and even previous generation graphics cards, continues to decline. We normally look at GPU prices on a monthly basis, but the current situation warrants more frequent updates. This time, we're looking at the first two weeks of March compared to the entire month of February.
We looked at GPUs from the past two generations sold on eBay, and every single card again showed a drop in prices. Some fell by just a few percent, others like the RX 5500 XT dropped by 20%. The overall average decline came in at just under 9%, and a slightly lower 8% dip if we confine our view to just the current generation (RTX 30-series and RX 6000-series) graphics cards.
Here's a look at the data. We've included average fps (frames per second) values for the cards from our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, and also put in Ethereum hashrates from our best mining GPUs article. As you can probably guess, there's a definite correlation between the drop in mining profitability and the decrease in graphics card prices.
| GPU | Avg eBay Price | Average FPS | Ethereum Hashrate | %Change vs. February |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 3090 | $2,126 | 152.7 | 120 | -9.2% |
| GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | $1,579 | 149.4 | 77 | -8.2% |
| GeForce RTX 3080 12GB | $1,425 | 142.1 | 63 | -7.9% |
| GeForce RTX 3080 | $1,323 | 142.1 | 95/66 | -8.1% |
| GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | $919 | 124.4 | 51 | -8.2% |
| GeForce RTX 3070 | $887 | 116.6 | 61/43 | -10.2% |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | $781 | 106.3 | 61/42 | -7.8% |
| GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | $610 | 83.6 | 49/34 | -4.2% |
| GeForce RTX 3050 | $427 | 61.7 | 18 | -6.1% |
| Radeon RX 6900 XT | $1,324 | 148.1 | 65 | -6.9% |
| Radeon RX 6800 XT | $1,064 | 142.3 | 65 | -9.6% |
| Radeon RX 6800 | $960 | 130.8 | 65 | -7.0% |
| Radeon RX 6700 XT | $687 | 112.0 | 47 | -12.2% |
| Radeon RX 6600 XT | $510 | 88.2 | 32 | -10.2% |
| Radeon RX 6600 | $435 | 75.2 | 29 | -6.0% |
| Radeon RX 6500 XT | $250 | 38.4 | N/A | -8.2% |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | $935 | 118.2 | 59 | -4.2% |
| GeForce RTX 2080 Super | $729 | 102.1 | 44 | -1.6% |
| GeForce RTX 2080 | $642 | 95.5 | 44 | -3.4% |
| GeForce RTX 2070 Super | $589 | 91.0 | 44 | -6.1% |
| GeForce RTX 2070 | $536 | 81.0 | 44 | -7.5% |
| GeForce RTX 2060 Super | $527 | 77.2 | 44 | -8.9% |
| GeForce RTX 2060 | $410 | 68.6 | 33 | -8.1% |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | $367 | 57.8 | 30 | -8.9% |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Super | $376 | 57.9 | 30 | -11.1% |
| GeForce GTX 1660 | $321 | 50.1 | 25 | -11.6% |
| GeForce GTX 1650 Super | $245 | 43.5 | N/A | -7.5% |
| GeForce GTX 1650 | $237 | 31.9 | N/A | -6.1% |
| Radeon RX 5700 XT | $627 | 86.5 | 54 | -12.1% |
| Radeon RX 5700 | $579 | 78.4 | 52 | -16.6% |
| Radeon RX 5600 XT | $440 | 71.1 | 40 | -7.0% |
| Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB | $284 | 48.6 | 26 | -20.2% |
| Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB | $225 | 43.3 | N/A | -19.0% |
| Overall Average | -8.8% |
These latest price drops come in the wake of an average 11% decline in February, compared to January prices. All told, GPU prices have decreased on average by 25% since December 2021. Of course, it doesn't help that prices back in December were often double the official AMD and Nvidia MSRPs.
With the latest price drops in place, typical eBay pricing on RTX 30-series cards is still 68% higher than Nvidia's recommended prices — even including the very expensive RTX 3080 Ti and 3090. AMD's RX 6000-series cards by comparison are only 41% higher than the official MSRPs. Going back to the previous generation, Nvidia's RTX 20-series cards are now just 9% higher than their launch MSRPs, while the GTX 16-series cards cost 47% more than their launch prices. Finally, AMD's RX 5000-series cards currently cost 49% more than their launch prices.
It's not just eBay prices dropping. Newegg prices basically match or beat what we're showing in the above table. For example, this MSI RTX 3080 10GB card now costs just $1,127 — nearly $200 less than the eBay price. A Gigabyte RTX 3080 12GB meanwhile goes for $1,250. RTX 3070 Ti starts at $900, RTX 3070 at $852, RTX 3060 Ti at $660, RTX 3060 costs $520, and the new RTX 3050 can be had for $400. The story is similar on the AMD side of things: RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, RX 6800, RX 6700 XT, RX 6600 XT, RX 6600, and RX 6500 XT prices generally match or beat what we're seeing on eBay, sometimes by a significant margin, all without the annoyance of the shuffle system.
Amazon's prices are still quite a bit higher than elsewhere, but we're seeing plenty of retailers now carrying inventory, with prices steadily decreasing week by week. If the current trends continue, we could actually see graphics card prices at close to the official MSRPs by the second half of 2022. That would be great, especially with Ada / RTX 40-series and RDNA 3 / RX 7000-series GPUs rumored to be coming in the fall. Hopefully, the Ethereum transition to proof of stake will also occur by then, which should remove one more reason for the inflated GPU prices. However, shortages on components and other factors like the Russian invasion of Ukraine may slow down progress.
