Asus unleashes a massive fight in the GPU price wars, slashing 25 percent off the RTX 30-series in the country. What is the underlying reason of this very welcome miracle?
Prices for graphics cards are continuing to plummet, and it appears that the declines are becoming more rapid. If the current trend continues, GPUs will be accessible at their recommended retail prices in the near future, and we will be able to pronounce the end of the GPU crisis. Although we haven’t quite arrived yet, there are encouraging signals.
The Australian market’s pricing, if it’s any indication, is showing signals of improvement that haven’t been seen before. Price reductions of up to 25% have been implemented in the Australian market by Asus on numerous RTX 30-series cards, which has resulted in a fairly aggressive price reduction strategy.
Take, for example, the RTX 3080 10GB graphics card. As a result of Asus’ dramatic price reductions, premium cards such as the RTX 3080 TUF and Strix are now the lowest of all RTX 3080s, undercutting more budget-oriented brands such as Galax in the process.
It is also not limited to a single retailer. Prices have been updated on popular Australian PC parts retailers’ websites including Scorptec, PLE, and PC Case Gear. At the time of writing, there were still inventories available for the vast majority of cards.
The prices of the Asus RTX 3070 Ti and 3060 Ti graphics cards have also dropped, while it appears that AMD graphics cards are not reducing in price at the moment, at least not today. Now that Asus’ premium cards are among the most affordable RTX cards on the market, it’s just a matter of time before other vendors follow their example.
Any vendor who sells cards at a discount of 20 percent or more than a premium card such as the Asus Strix is going to have a difficult time moving their inventory.
Australians are particularly lucky in this regard.
Asus Australia’s price cuts are reflected in the wider global GPU market, albeit not to the same extent as those experienced by Asus Australia. According to the most recent 3DCenter survey of the German market, Nvidia GPUs are currently priced at 41 percent above the recommended retail price, while AMD cards are marketed at 35 percent above the recommended retail price.
The most recent figures are from March 5th, and given the rapidity with which prices are dropping, they are almost certainly out of date. On our sister site, Tom’s Hardware Guide, we’ve published an analysis based on data from the eBay auction site.
It’s always intriguing to have a look at the private market, which contains prices set by would-be scalpers. In the first half of March alone, according to Tom’s Hardware, overall GPU pricing has dropped by a stunning 9 percent! After a difficult couple of years, it’s about time that gamers get some good news.
We’re not talking about traffic-drawing flash sales here. The availability of cards around the world is improving, and many cards that were frequently out of stock just a few months ago are now in abundant supply. Hopefully, this indicates that scalper pricing will no longer exist, and we may be optimistic that the lower price tendency will continue.
What is it that is causing these price decreases?
Several variables are contributing to the price declines at the moment. Manufacturers are steadily building up production, GPU mining demand is waning, and gamers are likely holding off on purchases in the hope of finding a good deal at a later date.
However, there are certain obstacles to overcome, such as the recently enacted Chinese Covid shutdowns, which virtually halted production in industrial cities such as Shenzhen, the conflict in Ukraine, and rising oil prices, which are increasing transportation costs, so we are not yet out of the woods. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of Ethereum mining.
As the price of Ethereum declines, it becomes more difficult for miners to recoup their GPU expenditures, resulting in a decrease in the number of GPUs purchased. Aside from that, there’s the slowly approaching shift away from proof of labour GPU mining and toward proof of stake mining in general. Mining difficulty and rewards for a given hash rate are both decreasing, and it is possible that ASICs may be deployed in the near future.
All of this speaks to GPU mining becoming obsolete in the same way that Bitcoin mining became obsolete. At least until another coin with a high profit margin emerges.
Here’s a selection of our favourite graphics cards to get you started. Perhaps that improvement you’ve been putting off is starting to appear a whole lot more appealing to you.
