GPU prices are not only dropping, they are also completely disrupted by the ramifications of cryptocurrency
GPU costs are dropping, and they have been for months. A new report from Bloomberg shows just how fast the crash is, claiming that prices have fallen by up to 50% as the market deals with the fallout from cryptocurrency.
The report presents a compelling case that the declining GPU cost along with the declining price of Ethereum is the trend of the depreciation of the cryptocurrency. According to the data, the average price of the RTX 3080 on the flea market is down nearly 50% since late April.
It's a real-life test as the GPU shortage nears its end. Although many elements have added to the GPU shortage, the demand from crypto miners appears to be the main driver. In the prime half of 2021, for example, a quarter of all GPU deals went to crypto miners. Some estimates suggest that miners spent $15 billion on GPUs just to mine Ethereum.
The boom from cryptocurrencies catapulted the value of Nvidia and AMD last year. Nvidia, in particular, has seen 50% growth in revenue in each of the past two years, despite the fact that the company reported that less than 1% of its game-related sales came from the company's mining-focused GPUs. Nvidia added a limiter for gaming graphics cards to discourage mining, but hackers were able to bypass the limiter entirely in May.
If you feel that it is impossible to know the effect of coding on the price of GPUs, you are not alone. In May, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Nvidia $5.5 million for failing to disclose the impact of cryptocurrency on its revenue over the past several years.
The rapid price drop follows the disappearance of nearly $800 billion in cryptocurrency value from the market. Prior to this point, GPU prices were starting to approach the MSRP. Now, you can find many of the best graphics cards, brand new, for sale under the price list.
It's an amazing time for graphics cards, not only because they're cheap, but also because Nvidia and AMD are gearing up to launch new generations. Nvidia is working on RTX 40-series graphics cards and AMD has its own RX 7000 GPUs, and we expect to see both before the end of the year.
We can see costs rebound if demand from crypto miners increases. Then again, we may see a repeat of the crypto fallout in early 2018. Similar to 2020, cryptocurrency boomed in late 2017 and caused a GPU shortage. Once prices returned to normal, Nvidia and AMD were stuck in a tough spot with platforms of GPUs that were in little demand.
We'll likely see a repeat of that later this year, and hopefully give gamers a break from looking for an expensive graphics card. Despite this, be sure to keep our report on bookmark to see where the market is headed. Bookmark the best GPU deals to see where the market is headed.