A few weeks ago, I wrote about how it’s a terrible time to buy a graphics card“At least a high-end card.” The reasoning is simple: GPUs like the Nvidia RTX 3080 are coming soon, and AMD Big Navi It is not far away. However, if you want another reason not to buy a high-end card, just look at the prices. Six months ago, the RTX 2080 Ti could be found for around $ 1,050, and the RTX 2080 Super was regularly available for $ 650. Now, you’ll be lucky to find GPUs at the original launch prices of $ 1,200 and $ 700. If that’s not enough to continue, I’ve heard that some companies will have ‘late’ GPU Amperes as early as next week.
Perhaps COVID-19 caused an increase in demand. People stay home, work from home, and distance themselves socially through games. We have seen supplies from certain devices, such as webcams, practically evaporate during the pandemic. But high-end GPUs don’t really fall into that same category.
A much less likely scenario is that the recent rise in cryptocurrency prices is to blame, but I don’t think so. Before the massive drop to less than $ 5,000 that happened in March, Bitcoin was at $ 7,000 to $ 11,000 for quite some time. It’s now back at $ 11,000, the highest price in nearly a year, but that doesn’t make it a great mining investment. Current calculations suggest that you could mine alternative cryptocurrencies and trade Bitcoin to earn around $ 2.15- $ 2.50 per day with an RTX 2080 Ti, but after electricity costs, you would be looking for close to $ 1.50 per day in profit. That’s not nothingBut at current prices, it would take more than two years to break even, and the cryptocurrency is too volatile for most to consider a two-year investment in hardware.
The most likely cause is that consumer Ampere GPUs are almost here. Nvidia and its partners have allegedly stopped production of Turing’s best products in preparation for the next Ampere launch. Nvidia doesn’t say anything officially, but a quick look at some popular system integrators suggests major GPUs are being phased out. Yes, you can still find a pre-built PC with an RTX 2080 Ti if you look around, but many DOES don’t seem to store the part any longer. And why would they, considering they know better than anyone what they are selling and are probably informed when Ampere will land? Top-tier GPUs that will soon be out of date shouldn’t be on anyone’s shopping list right now.
If you’re wondering, the RTX 2080 Super cheaper I can find it in stock right now it comes from Walmart for $ 720, and many places are out of stock, including Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Super FE. You can find some RTX 2080 Ti cards under $ 1,200 at Newegg, but they’re restored; the least expensive new RTX 2080 Ti I can find it sits at $ 1,250. Again, Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti FE Is it sold out. When Nvidia isn’t even trying to sell its highest-performing cards, it’s a safe bet that replacements are almost here.
However, there is also potential bad news. While the RTX 2080 Ti and 2080 Super are becoming less common, the RTX 2070 Super and lower versions are still reasonably available. My thinking right now is that the Ampere RTX 30 series GPUs will start at the end of the performance and price spectrum, which could mean prices of $ 1,000 or more at launch. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but if RTX 3090 (or whatever the top is called) ends up hitting the RTX 2080 Ti in the way I expect, it could easily cost $ 1,500 or more. RTX 3080 (3080 Ti, 3080 Super, 3080 whatever) could take over the $ 1,000 mark, and RTX 3070 would fill the $ 700 slot. Yuck
I hope to be wrong. Hopefully we’ll see RTX 3070 for $ 500 and RTX 380 for $ 700, possibly less if you like to dream, since dreams are free. Whatever the price, there are plenty of indications that Ampere will land in September, perhaps even in late August. Is that too soon? I’ve heard credible rumors that Nvidia’s plugin board partners and system integrators will have final retail products in the next week or two, giving them time to prepare for launch.
All I have to say: this is a damn time. The amp rumors have been spinning since last year, and many (including me) were expecting a release in the spring of 2020. We’ve already gotten past that, at least in part thanks to COVID-19. I haven’t had a properly ‘new’ GPU to test since the AMD Navi launch last year! With plenty of time to clean up the inventory of previous-generation parts, the 30-series Ampere RTX GPUs to be released in the next month would be the perfect time from a commercial point of view. People can then go back to ‘virtual’ school while distracted by video games running on a shiny new graphics card.
Note: As with all of our opinion pieces, the opinions expressed here belong only to the writer and not to Tom’s Hardware as a team.
