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As Cryptocurrency Values Plummet, Graphics Card Pricing Improves Dramatically (hothardware.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the cause-and-effect dept.

MojoKid writes: In recent months, the cryptocurrency industry has taken a sharp downturn in valuations of virtually all major currencies, from Bitcoin to Ethereum. As a result, cryptocurrency mining itself has become significantly less lucrative for the average miner. In addition, demand on GPUs from the major OEM suppliers like NVIDIA and AMD, has fallen off dramatically as well. Cryptocurrency miner demand for graphics cards has fallen so much so, that pricing of board partner brands like EVGA, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and others, has returned basically to MSRP levels. This is compared to the sharp price gouging that was going on earlier in 2018 and late last year, when demand was far out-stripping supply. In fact, reports are emerging now that another approximate 20 percent price drop could be coming to GPUs this month, especially as NVIDIA is expected to launch its next generation gaming graphics card very soon. Whether or not this is indicative of some sort of cryptocurrency bubble burst remains to be seen. However, for now, gamers and PC enthusiasts are likely breathing a sigh of relief, as better supply/demand dynamics are clearly in sight.

12 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. "Price Gouging"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is compared to the sharp price gouging that was going on earlier in 2018 and late last year, when demand was far out-stripping supply.

    So which one is it: price gouging, or legitimate supply and demand?

    Price gouging only occurs in two cases. When prices are raised artificially regardless of how low demand may be, or (more controversially) when it's an essential human need like water and there is a disaster or other emergency. Of course in the latter case a judgment call needs to be made about whether shortages are more desirable.

    1. Re: "Price Gouging"? by jpaine619 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You think the commodities markets are free? Do you have any idea how much money the federal government gives out in the form of subsidies to manipulate those exact same prices?

      Why the FUCK is there still a sugar subsidy?!? Something like 80% of all farms are owned by large corporations and we are still subsidizing certain products (corn/sugar/etc).

      Maybe if sugar was just a little bit more expensive, under a real FREE market for sugar, we'd use a little bit less of it.

      As near as I can tell, the Mexicans figured out how to properly use sugar in sweetbreads.. They put a little bit on the OUTSIDE where it hits your tongue instantly.

      We, on the other hand, put it on the inside and have to use so much that bread might as well be called sugar/flour cubes.

      We know too much sugar is bad for us, but lets keep the price down artificially so that we can continue to use it as a filler for everything....

      There is absolutely no sector of the US Economy that has anything that even resembles a free market at the present time. I can't think of any sector that doesn't have at least one large player being given chunks of cash to manipulate the pricing, even if it's only in the form of tax breaks.

    2. Re:"Price Gouging"? by Solandri · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's not price gouging though because Nvidia didn't raise the wholesale price of their GPUs. Even when retail high-end GPUs were ridiculously overpriced, it was still possible to buy a pre-built system with a high-end GPU at a reasonable price because the company building it was able to get the GPUs at uninflated wholesale prices. eBayers would buy these systems and part it out, selling the GPU separately from the rest of the system (which they resold as using integrated graphics), to take advantage of the discrepancy between the system price and component market price.

      What most people don't seem to understand about market pricing is that prices for a commodity do not rise because sellers raise the price. It rises because buyers buy out all the inventory of sellers offering the item at a low price. That leaves only sellers offering it at a higher price with inventory, which buyers then perceive as an increase in market price. Sellers can then take note that the items are selling out at the lower price, and may choose to raise the price at that point (the sweet spot is when you're just barely able to keep an item in stock). But it's the buyers who cause the price increase (by depleting the market of lower-priced inventory), not the sellers.

  2. MSRP should have gone down too! by Mishotaki · · Score: 5, Insightful

    MSRP of the release price of a 2 year old card is not what i call a good price... we're still being gouged by the overpriced video cards that made their MSRP stay the same for so long..

    1. Re:MSRP should have gone down too! by Gavagai80 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The development this article is about is exactly why that doesn't happen. Nobody's going to re-purpose their factory to specialty cards for a market that can virtually disappear by the time you're ready to go to market.

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  3. Re:PoW-based public blockchains should be outlawed by religionofpeas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Should we also outlaw video games which are also wasting energy in huge amounts ? Think of the planet, and play a board game instead.

  4. Re: Yawn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Bad Analogy crashes, so does a car.

  5. Cryptocurrency by DaMattster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The whole thing is a mania. There are a few people that got wealthy and the rest will be caught holding the bad as it plummets.

  6. Re:On overreaction. by DRJlaw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm saying BTC isn't really down on any timescale that counts.

    It's odd how timescales of up to 6 months suddenly don't count, and BTC speculators have suddenly become buy-and-hold investors praising Saint Warren Buffett. It's especially odd considering BTC is touted as a currency, and thus should have a relatively stable value.

    2018 counts, oh great pumper of snake oil. It counts bigly.

  7. Re:PoW-based public blockchains should be outlawed by religionofpeas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cryptocurrency is wasting energy for nothing, there are better ways to go than proof-of-work.

    Problem solved then. If there are better ways, they will soon take over.

    Video games can't be implemented any other way.

    But you don't have to play them.

  8. Now if only DDR4 prices could come down by yorgasor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The real killer is DDR4 memory. I can't put together a decent ESXi server without a ton of memory. To build my latest server, I had to pick Xeons that still used DDR3 memory, since I could get that at a fair price.

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    Looking for a computer support specialist for your small business? Check out
  9. Re:Supply and demand by Raenex · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course medicine is subject to normal market dynamics just like any other industry. The laws of economics are not suspended just for medicine. It tends to be regulated precisely because of the ease with which price gouging can (and does) occur but supply and demand still applies to medicine. This very fact is why those who argue against government involvement in health care are so very wrong. Normal market dynamics work but they often function in a way contrary to the benefit of society and individuals.

    You've got it backwards. The reason there's such a high price for medicine is because of the government-granted monopolies on drug patents. It's debatable whether the cost of patents are outweighed by the benefits of patent-seeking research.