GPU Prices 2023: February Update

Here's the update from July 1, 2022, covering the June 2022 data. Text below this point remains unmodified.

Other than the introduction of the rather lackluster GeForce GTX 1630, which cuts performance quite a bit compared to the GTX 1650 but currently sells at a higher price, there aren't any new GPUs slated to arrive until RDNA 3 and Ada Lovelace drop. We're not going to bother adding the 1630 to our pricing list just yet, since it's only been available a few days, and pricing and availability aren't yet sorted out.

As we've been predicting for a while, GPU prices continue to drop on a monthly basis. Bitcoin and Ethereum also fell to their lowest points since January 2021, with GPU mining profitability and returns now floating in the toilet. That's resulted in more mining firms shutting down and selling off inventory, though we expect many more will come in the next few months unless cryptocurrencies rebound in dramatic fashion.

Compared to the previous month's worth of data from May, eBay prices on current generation GPUs dropped by 17% (looking at average price per GPU sold). The previous generation GPUs were hit even harder, with prices that were 20% lower on average. Buying a used graphics card has some risks, however, so even if the prices look a lot better now, we wouldn't necessarily recommend going that route — not unless you're comfortable servicing the card or potentially returning it for a refund.

As things currently stand, 14 of the 21 current generation graphics cards are selling on eBay for less than the official MSRPs, and four of those GPUs are only a few percent above MSRP. The RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3060, and RTX 3050 are the only cards that cost over 10% more than MSRP now — not that the MSRPs are necessarily reasonable either. Here's the overview of eBay GPU sales for the month of June 2022.

We've add a column showing the month-to-month change in GPU prices on eBay. You can also check our July GPU retail availability update for additional details, where we track retail prices. One key point from that article is that brand-new cards purchased at retail currently cost 13% more than eBay on average, though a few models have a bigger gap. Spending an extra 10%–15% to get a new card instead of a secondhand card represents the more sensible choice these days, in our book.

While the more popular GPUs still tend to sell for close to their official MSRPs, more expensive GPUs like the RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, RTX 3090 Ti, and RX 6900 XT can be had for 20%–25% below MSRP. The RX 6600 XT and RX 6600 also sell for 20% below MSRP, and we'd skip the RX 6650 XT "upgrade" at this point as it costs more for a relatively negligible performance increase.

If you're tempted by these prices, keep in mind that additional drops are almost certainly incoming. There are literally tens of millions of GPUs still being used for Ethereum mining, and while many might be from previous generation architectures, there are certainly plenty of Ampere and RDNA 2 cards that are barely breaking even at current Ethereum and electricity prices. Many of those will likely start flooding the market in the near future.

The monthly volume of GPUs sold on eBay dropped again, by 4%, probably because some hopeful people are still waiting for cryptocurrency prices rebound. That's about the only thing that could stop the falling prices, and so far it hasn't happened. [Fingers crossed]

People holding onto previous generation cards also appear to be clearing inventory. Some of them might be gamers who can finally find a current generation card in stock at not-obscene prices, though certainly a lot of these cards were used for mining as well. Since these cards are generally two to four years old, prices are falling more quickly than on the newer models, and the average GPU price for Turing and RDNA1 cards was down 20% compared to last month.

AMD's RX 5700 XT, RX 5700, and RX 5600 XT saw the biggest drop in eBay prices, by 25%–30%. The first two in particular were popular with miners, and are now selling for about one third the price compared to the beginning of 2022. Elsewhere, the only previous gen GPUs that didn't see at least a 15% drop in price on eBay were the GTX 1650 Super, GTX 1650, and RX 5500 XT 4GB — all budget-class GPUs that were already getting pretty cheap.

One unfortunate fact about Nvidia's recent introduction of the GTX 1630 is that it suggests Nvidia isn't actively making more GTX 16-series cards. It probably had some TU117 chips that couldn't work as a GTX 1650, and now it's selling those off as cut-down 1630 cards. The fact that we're seeing prices of over $150 for such cards doesn't bode well for the supply of additional 1650 or 1650 Super GPUs.

June GPU Pricing Summary: Checking the Used Card Lots

Secondhand markets like eBay are becoming the used car lots of the GPU world. The good news for potential buyers is that the glut of cards should continue to push down GPU prices. The bad news is that some of the cards might not function all that well. Still, there's a lot you can do to refurbish a used card and get performance back up to where it was when it was new, sometimes higher.

Despite their high prices, many graphics cards don't use top-tier thermal pads on the GDDR6 and GDDR6X memory. Miners who didn't bother replacing the pads due to the time required may pass on a "flaky" GPU, where $25 and an hour of work could get it working great. However, it's also possible to end up with an "RTX 3080" that only has 8GB of memory still working — we've heard of at least one such card in the wild. That's still better than a 3070 or even 3070 Ti, but definitely not worth paying $700 or more.

If you're willing to take the risk, pick up some good quality thermal pads (opens in new tab) and some of the best thermal paste, and be prepared to kick the tires, take a test drive, and return the card if necessary. I recently helped a friend service an RTX 3080 and dropped the memory temperatures from 104C–106C while gaming (110C with mining) down to 74C–80C. Yes, it was a card that was previously used for mining, but now it's running games as fast as any other RTX 3080 I've tested.

There are now rumblings of AMD and Nvidia cutting back on their TSMC 5nm wafer orders, likely due to the glut of existing cards still in the channel. That's not good news for people hoping to get a next-generation GPU at a reasonable price, but we'll see how things shape up in the next few months. Hopefully, Ada and RDNA 3 still arrive on schedule and in sufficient quantities — and the dropping GPU prices make us more optimistic that the initial cards won't immediately end up in scalper hands.