Last Year, When the Latest NVIDIA cards were released, Within minutes all the GPUs were already out of stock on pretty much all websites and stores. Not only Nvidia, AMD also experienced the same rush when they launched their Latest line-up of graphics cards last year, where again all the GPUs were out of stock within minutes of launch. What is causing these panic buys and shortages?
The shortage of computer chips:
Due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic, the entire world is experiencing shortage of semi conductors and silicon computer chips which are very important to manufacture these GPUs. Not only Graphics Cards but most of the Electronics Industry is suffering because of this shortage. Trade wars and heavy tariffs imposed by countries are also playing big part in the supply of these chips.
The Scalpers and Resellers:
A Great Part of this is caused by malicious bots setup by scalpers and resellers who buy these Latest GPUs like RTX 3080, RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 graphics cards in bulk as soon as they are released with the help of bots placed by them on the seller’s website, then later resell their tons of shiny new cards for a ridiculous profit.
This happened to a huge scale with NVIDIA’s launch, so much so that they had put countermeasures into place. Their website has now been updated with numerous security upgrades to try to minimize the amount of bot purchases. And it most certainly happened as well with AMD’s new launch. The allure of being able to buy up a bunch of new cards and re-sell them for up to 3 times the original price, is probably too tempting to resist for many who want to make some quick cash.
I can already find dozens of items on eBay selling the RX 6800 XT, a card that normally costs $649 for up to $2,000. This is of course very sad news for us consumers who just want to get our hands on a new card without selling our kidneys or going bankrupt.
According to NVIDIA, the bots this year were not just more numerous, but also more sophisticated than in previous years which would explain why neither NVIDIA nor AMD were prepared from the get-go.
The Crypto Factor:
Another factor that has a great part in this GPU shortage is the rise of Crypto Currency Mining. In past couple of months price of Bitcoin is trying to touch the sky. hence more and more people are now interested in investing in bitcoin. Crypto Miners use these powerful GPUs to mine crypto currencies like Bitcoin. They buy tens and hundreds of GPUs to mine bitcoin which results in less GPUs left for us Gamers.
But, as explained in an official post from NVIDIA, demand from gamers have also reached new heights this year. This comes probably in combination with the fact that this year’s new cards bring significant performance improvements at better prices that we have not seen in the past several years, but also due to the current global situation. More people are at home, more people want to game, more people want to be able to work from home. And to do those things effectively, they need solid graphics cards.
Apparently compared to NVIDIA’s previous launch, they saw some insane numbers when it comes to visitors. AMD is currently also under fire for their lack of supply, with many people calling the launch of the new RX 6800 cards a “paper launch” and understandably so. Consumers can read all about the new cards online, watch videos, get hyped but at the end of the day, very few have been able to get their hands on one.
Conclusion
So simply put, NVIDIA, AMD and their partners were not ready for this level of enthusiasm. NVIDIA have since then been playing catch up to ramp up the supply of the new cards and no doubt AMD will also have to do the same thing and Hopefully things will get back to normal soon, although it will take a lot of time and effort to return to normal prices and availability.
Till then switch to console and buy a PlayStation 5! ohhh…wait. That’s out of stock too, I guess we’re stuck with our current systems!
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[…] Graphics card costs have grown over the years, making it impossible for consumers to acquire Graphics cards for their PCs. And if that wasn’t enough, crypto miners added to the fears, and its popularity meant manufacturers could charge a premium. Well, it seems like things are finally shifting in the GPU sector as reports have shown that GPUs are sliding below their MSRPs for the first time. So good news for us Gamers who are planning to build their new Gaming PCs! […]