It’s only been a few hours since the ETH merger, and we’re already seeing a significant price drop for NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics cards at various retailers.
There are several factors behind this price drop, and one of them is undoubtedly the end of ETH mining as we know it.
With the ETH fork, video card mining is more or less over, and it’s something the market has been expecting for a long time.
Best graphics cards deals
- MSI rtx 3090 24gb: was $2009.99 now $979.99
- PNY rtx 3090 24gb: was $1749.99 now $1079.99
- EVGA rtx 3090 24gb: was $1919.99 now $1151.97
- Gigabyte rtx 3070 8gb: now $549.99
- EVGA rtx 3070 8gb: was $719.99 now $564.99
NVIDIA and AMD, of course, have been adjusting their GPU inventories and prices since the cryptocurrency began to decline, and this could be the final nail in the coffin of GPU mining. So now that GPU manufacturers can no longer rely on miners as the main way to sell their graphics cards, it’s time to grow the gaming business.
Nvidia and AMD are trying to force gamers to buy
Both vendors are trying to get gamers to buy their existing range by offering discounts to specific retailers and packages (games/accessories), and the retailers themselves are doing their best by bundling computers with older graphics cards, given the overstock of GPUs they now run on.
Situation may worsen for GPU retailers
But the situation could get worse for retailers because not only do they have a huge pile of “NEW” GPUs for sale, but a flood of ex-mining GPUs is already entering the used card market at even lower prices than what we currently have at retail, and a new generation of super-powered gaming cards is coming out relatively soon (GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080).
Crypto Mining and graphics card
So, crypto mining is dead, gamers are not buying video cards because of inflation and waiting for next-generation hardware, and even if someone wanted to buy a video card, they would just go through the classifieds and buy a used one, given that they will not use it for long, but will trade it in for a new more powerful one.
That means we’ll see a drop in prices, and there have already been some interesting offers for those who may still want to buy new video cards.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card
Let’s start with the most obvious: There’s already an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, which for the first time sells for under $1,000. RTX 3090 Non-Ti prices already dropped below $1,000 a few weeks ago, but now it’s time for the 3090 Ti to drop below $1K. At Newegg, the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Gaming graphics card is available for $999, and you’ll even get a $59.99 gift for a copy of the Marvel movie Spider-Man.
But $999 is still a very high price for a graphics card that could turn into a $500 or lower offer in just a few weeks. There are plenty of RTX 3090 Ti on the Chinese market for well under $1,000, around 4,999 yuan or $700.
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3090 24GB GDRR6X 384-Bit HDMI/DP Nvlink Torx Fan 3 Ampere Architecture OC Graphics Card (RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC)
PNY GeForce RTX™ 3090 24GB XLR8 Gaming REVEL EPIC-X RGB™ Triple Fan Graphics Card
$989.99
EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming, 24GB GDDR6X, iCX3 Technology, ARGB LED, Metal Backplate, 24G-P5-3987-KR
$924.99
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card
There’s also a nice NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 card, and its Gigabyte Eagle OC variant will be under $500. Prices for the rest of the cards are also down $10-50 from the previous week.
GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 Eagle OC 8G (REV2.0) Graphics Card, 3X WINDFORCE Fans, LHR, 8GB 256-bit GDDR6, GV-N3070EAGLE OC-8GD REV2.0 Video Card
$419.99
GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8G (REV2.0) Graphics Card, 3X WINDFORCE Fans, LHR, 8GB 256-bit GDDR6, GV-N3070GAMING OC-8GD REV2.0 Video Card
$449.99
EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 FTW3 Ultra Gaming, 08G-P5-3767-KL, 8GB GDDR6, iCX3 Technology, ARGB LED, Metal Backplate, LHR
$375.74
AMD RX 6800 XT and RX 6700 XT graphics card
The AMD camp has the RX 6800 XT priced below $600. There are MSI Gaming variants that sell for as little as $599.99, you can also get the RX 6700 XT for $430.82.
PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon™ RX 6800 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6 Memory, Powered by AMD RDNA™ 2, Raytracing, PCI Express 4.0, HDMI 2.1, AMD Infinity Cache
$499.99
MSI Gaming AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 16GB GDRR6 256-bit HDMI/DP 2310 MHz Boost Clock RDNA 2 OC Graphics Card (RX 6800 XT Gaming Z Trio 16G)
XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming Graphics Card with 12GB GDDR6 HDMI 3xDP, AMD RDNA 2 RX-67XTYJFDV
AMD RX 6600 and RX 6900 XT graphics card
AMD Radeon RX 6600 can be found for $259.99, which is a pretty good deal for a budget PC build. The 6900 XT is currently on sale for $699.99.
XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Radeon RX 6600 CORE Gaming Graphics Card with 8GB GDDR6 HDMI 3xDP, AMD RDNA 2 RX-66XL8LFDQ
XFX Speedster SWFT 319 AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT CORE Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6 HDMI 3xDP, AMD RDNA 2 RX-69XTAQFD9
For cryptocurrency storage security — best hardware wallet bitcoin
But don’t be in a hurry, prices could drop even more. In the meantime, most ether miners are switching to Ergo mining, whose hash rate has tripled in less than 24 hours. You’ll also be interested to know how to trade bitcoin with bybit mt4.