GPU Prices Skyrocket, Breaking the Entire DIY PC Market

Megalith

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What is the craziest price that you have seen a GPU going for lately? ExtremeTech has published some thoughts on the inflation, which has been spurred by cryptocurrency mining: GTX 1080s are reportedly going for as high as $1,200, while mid-range cards aren’t faring any better, with RX 580 units going above $400.

The problem with the cryptocurrency bubble is that it’s not likely to quit anytime soon. And the price distortions are so high, it’s going to have a significantly negative impact on the PC market as a whole. It’s impossible to recommend people buy into PC gaming when a high-end GPU is the approximate cost of a mortgage payment.
 
Glad my gaming PC has two 1080ti's in it... And that I bought my 8 mining cards when I did.. Two days later both of our Frys were bare...

I suppose now its the time to buy prebuilt gaming machines since they haven't jacked up prices too much.
 
Bitcoin never had it's bubble burst because the miners moved to ASIC hardware. Ethereum brought back the graphics card mining and that's where we are today. This issue would not likely go away anytime soon.

But you know what, back in the day we did have more than two graphics card makers. We had ATI, Nvidia, 3DFX, PowerVR, Matrox, and S3. Today its just AMD and Nvidia. So someone could make a competitive graphics card and take away some of that market. AMD and Nvidia are going to restrict how many graphic cars they sell because they're afraid this mining might collapse and flood the market with used graphic cards, but at the same time it's causing the price of graphic cars to skyrocket.
 
Prices are a full 25% higher in all the stores around me. I'm glad I built my rig last year. 1180 gtx can wait till the bubble bursts please or dedicated mining cards exist that are not for gamers.
 
Glad i got my GTX1080 in a second-hand barely used deal for 390 euros. :ROFLMAO: Let's hope it won't kick the bucket anytime soon.
 
The colussion in the memory market makers also has that market at 3X price atm. So this isn’t just videocards. Its a really overpriced time that may damage the dyi pc market for years
 
If I wasn't so lazy, I'd sell my 1080Ti that I got a few months ago for $570. I would certainly take ten Benjamins (plus shipping) and go back to my 970. ;)
 
It's a shame that all the mining morons are ruining the PC market, especially since it's for some second or third rate sham currencies like Lite Coin, Ethereum or Doge Coin...

Guess I'll continue using my Pascal Titan X for yet some time to come.
 
It's a shame that all the mining morons are ruining the PC market, especially since it's for some second or third rate sham currencies like Lite Coin, Ethereum or Doge Coin...

Guess I'll continue using my Pascal Titan X for yet some time to come.
since you are a titan kinda guy, this shouldn't affect you at all, your cards can be purchased directly from nvidia and they are not out of stock, contrary to that freaking vega56
 
Paid for me to buy EVGA and do the step up program for my 2 1080 Ti's. Paid $110 each to step up from 2 1070 FTW2's to 2 1080 Ti SC black Editions.

Didn't have to worry about inflation, or the crypto currency driving prices crazy high. Paid not to wait..
 
I remember when i paid $800 new for EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 TI SC2 Hydro Copper , My wife thought i was crazy imagine now
 
This is absolutely going to be a nightmare for everyone.

No one the world over can build a new PC .... think about that for a second.

It's like Ford Motor Company building cars but there are no tires to go on the cars.

Man, nVidia is going to have the destroy the ability for video cards to function as miners.

I'm totally and completely expecting something totally radical and unheard of to happen.

Mining is destroying a multi-billion dollar industry from the top to the bottom. Game development, PC components, Brick and Motor Stores and those jobs. I can only assume everyone is looking at this from all angles. Do we develop for the PC or just focus on Android. Some of my views are extreme but still ... who knows.
 
This is absolutely going to be a nightmare for everyone.

No one the world over can build a new PC .... think about that for a second.

It's like Ford Motor Company building cars but there are no tires to go on the cars.

Man, nVidia is going to have the destroy the ability for video cards to function as miners.

I'm totally and completely expecting something totally radical and unheard of to happen.

Mining is destroying a multi-billion dollar industry from the top to the bottom. Game development, PC components, Brick and Motor Stores and those jobs. I can only assume everyone is looking at this from all angles. Do we develop for the PC or just focus on Android. Some of my views are extreme but still ... who knows.


Or, you know, they could increase production volumes to meet demand.
 
This is absolutely going to be a nightmare for everyone.

No one the world over can build a new PC .... think about that for a second.

It's like Ford Motor Company building cars but there are no tires to go on the cars.

Man, nVidia is going to have the destroy the ability for video cards to function as miners.

I'm totally and completely expecting something totally radical and unheard of to happen.

Mining is destroying a multi-billion dollar industry from the top to the bottom. Game development, PC components, Brick and Motor Stores and those jobs. I can only assume everyone is looking at this from all angles. Do we develop for the PC or just focus on Android. Some of my views are extreme but still ... who knows.

If you look at most of the farmers on these forums, this is a hobby. They love the kit, they enjoy building the rigs, they enjoy the technical challenge and seeing what kind of performance they can get. Those guys are going to enjoy this stuff no matter what happens. The proliferation of altcoins is a much bigger deal for big farms and countries using these coins to bypass sanctions. The speculators jumping from one coin to the next in massive numbers will either cause an endless series of crashes and rises or just a bajillion coins that are worth spit. That's hard for someone with 10,000 machines mining coins to manage. Eventually more and more new coins will make them all worth less money with the exception of whichever one is the hotness of the day. That volatility doesn't bother most of the people on the Hard Forum, there's a lot more to the reason they do this than money. That is going to bother speculators and the get-rich-quick dreamers. This will be self-correcting, like Cabbage Patch Dolls, Tickle Me Elmo, or Pogs. The tech isn't going anywhere but the craze will die, the ones who were into it originally will still be doing it for the same reasons they started and the ones that came late will leave all stung and pissed off at the world. Especially if they bought $15,000 coins.
 
Or, you know, they could increase production volumes to meet demand.
It's not that simple. There are multiple manufacturers that will need to up production to keep up with demand.

The semiconductor grade silicon ingot makers aren't upping production, because they got burnt in the past when they expanded capacity and then demand dried up.
Then the chip makers, like TSMC, would also have to up production as well.

Since all these crypto currencies are unstable, it is highly risky to expand capacity when you have no idea when demand is going to abruptly end.
 
Jeebus.... I bought my 1070 SC for $375 USD. Now I see it going for a more? Sign me up! I'll go back to my 970.


I wonder if it would be worth it to buy pre-built PCs and sell the parts for profit?
 
How bout a blood pact. I promise not to sell my card in the used market if cryptos crash. In return I can buy a card of my choice for 10% below MSRP if you ramp of production for those who make the vow.
 
I paid $530 CAD for a RX 580 and took me a week to find one at that price. Most are $600+ CAD.

1080's are going for $900-$950 CAD
1080TI $1100-$1400 CAD

1070 $700-$850

Vega 56 $900 CAD
Vega 64 $950 CAD --- I almost bought this instead of the rx580.
 
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This is absolutely going to be a nightmare for everyone.

No one the world over can build a new PC .... think about that for a second.
I'm totally and completely expecting something totally radical and unheard of to happen.
Mining is destroying a multi-billion dollar industry from the top to the bottom. Game development, PC components, Brick and Motor Stores and those jobs. I can only assume everyone is looking at this from all angles. Do we develop for the PC or just focus on Android. Some of my views are extreme but still ... who knows.

This make come as a shock to you, but not everyone is a hard core gamer or needs a high end graphics card :eek:
 
you mean spend billions to build new fabs? rather than borking the cards so they cant do mining?

isn't it the case that neither nvidia or AMD actually own fabs at this point so the production question would seem to lay in the hands of those that do have the fabs.. and if they could / would up production.



I think that maybe a gaming only card that would require some sort of interactive input from the user to continue in 3d mode after say 1.5~hrs or would drop back to 2d desktop mode.. might be an (annoying??) option to get cards to gamers, as such a card would be unpalatable for miners?
 
Or, you know, they could increase production volumes to meet demand.

If it were possible to produce more then more would be produced. Retailers can make a killing off of these insane prices but AIBs, Nvidia, and AMD are still making the same amount per chip as they were before the price hikes. With demand so high there is no way in hell that AMD and Nvidia wouldn't want to get more out there if it were at all possible. Its all up to what GloFo and TSCM can produce for them.
 
Well perhaps a slowdown in gpu upgrades will result in game developers having a better focus on a consistent set of hardware. In other words, better optimization and QA at the expense of cutting edge graphics.
 
Luckily I bought my 1080 last Apr when 1080Ti was just released causing a significant price drop in 1080 card. Paid $440 for in FS/FT forum. I recalled seeing a lot of 1080 going for low 400 during that period. Can't imagine paying $700-$800 for 1080 in flea bay right now. I'm speculating the same scenario might replay itself once Volta is released (assuming there is a significant boost in performance and efficiency over Pascal) after the "early-release" period. The question is always when.

Thanks, I'll save my tax refund this time and not buying any over-inflated GPU card.
 
I'm happy enough with my 980ti, it was the best I could afford a few years ago. The only thing annoying is that it won't play 4k BD, but if that ever gets cracked so we can rip them that problem should go away. I guess I could get a bottom line 10 series card, but that artificial limit pisses me off so much I just don't buy 4k BD, regular BD looks pretty good on my OLED anyway. The next card I get will be able to single handedly play 4k games with max eye candy at 60Hz (min). I may die before that becomes affordable.
 
Bought a 1060 last April for $250. It blew up, so I've got an RMA on it. Went to check the price on a replacements....that's at $419 now. Was able to pick up a 1070 Ti at the end of November for $469. Its now $949 at Microcenter. Its nuts.

Sold a GTX680 last night on ebay. Put it up for $105 start with a buyout at $175. Someone bought it in 20 minutes. Should have asked more I guess.
 
I know nobody gives a rats ass, but Isn't long term mining going to cause serious problems for the environment ontop of everything else that is already ? I read somewhere that coin mining currently ( already as a tech in it's infancy ) uses the same power output as a country the size of New Zealand. Lets speculate this growth continues , 20, 30, 40 years down the road with a massive uptick in users and larger farms .. what then ? An output the size of the UK, France .. half of North America ?

Power prices go through the roof for everyone, non miners included ?
The government places huge energy taxes on miners. ?
The world will look like Mad Max (but at least we will be able to drive our cars :p) ?

Doesn't it seem like all the energy saving appliances, bulbs, and cars that have been developed over the last few decades are a waste if we just replace it with GPU mining instead ?

BTW i know nobody cares, and no i don't want to get into a climate debate about aerosols.. especially not hairosols used in hotel rooms.
 
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Sold my 980Ti for what I paid for it 1.5 years ago. This is a great time to get out of PC Gaming IMO. Time to get another hobby to replace it. A lot of games are just focused on loot boxes and become uninteresting after a few weeks.
 
the news isn't all bad

without supply of videocards review sites are doing anything with them so there are no AMD vs Nvidia threads.

now if only cpu's could mine

:ROFLMAO:
 
the news isn't all bad

without supply of videocards review sites are doing anything with them so there are no AMD vs Nvidia threads.

now if only cpu's could mine

:ROFLMAO:
Certain coins you can...and still at a profit btw. I have two CPU mining Superior Coin at $650 profit. Just need to research the coins that are still profitable.
 
Sold my 980Ti for what I paid for it 1.5 years ago. This is a great time to get out of PC Gaming IMO. Time to get another hobby to replace it. A lot of games are just focused on loot boxes and become uninteresting after a few weeks.

Hmm. I wonder if there is any market for older GPU's as a result.


I have an old GTX460 768MB version kicking around I could put on the market....
 
What is the craziest price that you have seen a GPU going for lately? ExtremeTech has published some thoughts on the inflation, which has been spurred by cryptocurrency mining: GTX 1080s are reportedly going for as high as $1,200, while mid-range cards aren’t faring any better, with RX 580 units going above $400.

The problem with the cryptocurrency bubble is that it’s not likely to quit anytime soon. And the price distortions are so high, it’s going to have a significantly negative impact on the PC market as a whole. It’s impossible to recommend people buy into PC gaming when a high-end GPU is the approximate cost of a mortgage payment.

For the record, I wish mortgage payments in my part of the country were near even inflated GPU prices. I could by a couple titans a month if I didn't have a mortgage!
 
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