What you need to know
- Due to the worldwide pandemic, crypto mining, lack of industry safeguards, and other factors, components such as graphics cards have been hard to come by throughout 2020 and 2021.
- A new report from 3DCenter indicates graphics cards are closer to MSRP than they've been since January 2021.
- These figures align with experts' estimates that consumer tech will see a return to normalcy possibly as soon as the second half of 2022.
The best graphics cards have become a rare commodity in recent years thanks to the coronavirus' consequences catalyzing the collapse of computer component supply chains. Given the industry's limited buffer room before a large percentage of Earth demanded PCs to work and play exclusively from home, lockdowns and the like kickstarted a snowball effect that ended with scalpers ruling the market via their stockpiles of GPUs, PS5s, and Xbox Series X consoles. But now, the situation may be changing for the better.
According to 3DCenter, retailers in Germany have seen a gradual decrease in graphics card prices (via Tom's Hardware). They've fallen big time from a record high of 318% of the MSRP for NVIDIA cards and 216% for AMD back in May 2021. As of April 2022, the figures are down to 119% for NVIDIA and 112% for AMD. The decline has been steady ever since December 2021, so this doesn't look like a one-off situation.
It's worth remembering that EVGA has been advertising its GPUs as both in stock and near MSRP, and numerous experts estimate consumer tech shortages may be over by the end of 2022. Overall, the situation's not looking as grim as it has for the better part of two years. Not to mention, companies such as ASUS are announcing full-on price drops, as opposed to just returning prices to the old norm.
