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As Cryptocurrency Values Plummet, Graphics Card Pricing Improves Dramatically (hothardware.com)
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.
Public blockchains that rely on Proof-of-Work (PoW) should be outlawed. They encourage mining, which is basically wasting energy in HUGE amounts (in the case of cryptocurrencies, to generate virtual coins out of thin air). They are such an inefficient way of implementing the technology, in terms of energy consumption, that they should never be considered as a viable option. If you are considering blockchain-based technology, please think of the planet for a moment when architecting your solution.
Remember the Energy Star program? Well, that program should be extended to forbid certain technlogies. Such as Bitcoin.
For more info, see the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index. Bitcoin is wasting more energy than many countries in the world. At least, now we have GPUs back to normal prices.
we're still being gouged by the overpriced video cards that made their MSRP stay the same for so long..
"Gouging" isn't the right term. There is zero collusion going on between all the GPU re-sellers (Newegg, Amazon, etc). Yes, the prices ought to be lower in a normal market. But this supply/demand market is hardly normal thanks to cryptocurrency.
Make no mistake about it; nobody wants to be holding onto inventory that devalues overtime. This is especially true in computing technology. If you haven't turned a profit on old hardware, you never will. At worst, it's actually costing you money to warehouse it. In fact, some will just take the loss and sell it below cost just to free up space for other inventory.
Life is not for the lazy.
The only thing we can do is create a very good model of a free market by setting up rules and limits to its scope and to the agents acting within the market. And if we get the design right, we will indeed get a vibrant market conforming quite well to the predictions of the economic theory, and actually coming close to the optimum in price determination and product evolution. But like a real market, it only works if in general, everyone agrees and adheres to the rules set for everyone. But like a real market, if someone is out to destroy the free market for instance by poisoning some of the offerings or by just conquering and plundering the market with his gang of thugs, there is not much you can do except for raising the walls around the market and increase oversight and control, which adds costs to do business on the market, also known as fees and taxes.
AMD and their board partners were cautious and deliberately under-produced during the craze and now that things have died down they don't have the surplus stock Nvidia has. Nvidia has reportedly even had to resort to delaying the launch of their next generation of cards just so that they can shift their existing inventory without having to resort to fire sale prices.
Great points all around, but I wanted to draw special attention to this statement of yours in particular. The summary is suggesting that Nvidia’s next cards are coming soon, but Nvidia’s President said last month at Computex that we won’t see the new cards for “a long time”. People reading the tea leaves are expecting an announcement or leaks to start in earnest next month, but with word straight from the horse’s mouth and rumors about them having far too much inventory seeming to bear out, we have no good reason to expect new cards to be released anytime soon. At best, we may see something, but we shouldn’t expect to have it in ours hands anytime soon.
I refuse to play that game. Video cards have been ridiculous for awhile now. Even with this dip, it is hardly reasonable. This reminds me of the HD (hard drive) scandal years ago. There was that flood, that jacked prices up. Then prices stayed up for a couple years beyond the flood as the highly consolidated HD market decided to artificially keep it that way for fun and profit. Sound familiar? There is basically two companies, AMD and nVidia, and a bunch of re-brands. Screw that.
I mean I got an MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB that came with two free games (which admittedly I never really played) in 2013 (so 5 years ago!) for 190$. Not only cannot I not buy a card that good for 190 bucks now, but I would pay more now and get a card with less performance. After 5 years of technological advancement...
On top of that it had a 40$ MIR (Mail In Rebate), so it really cost me 150$... (though as per usually I think it took months to actually get the MIR).
Anyway it's brutal and I refuse to play these stupid corporate games. If they want to start selling video cards again at reasonable prices then sure, I just wouldn't hold my breath anytime soon as no doubt they will milk this for all it is worth. I just hope my 'ol 7850 is up the the task of Fallout 76 when it comes available...