Video Card market stabilizing; anything worth buying yet?

The Game Room
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The floor fell out from beneath crypto mining when China outlawed it. Worldwide shortages from the pandemic are gradually easing. Prices have started normalizing. I’m wondering if they’ve already plateaued.

I’ve been watching prices (usually checking daily) since last Spring. Prices hit a new low around 8 days ago, and have been in stock and at that price ever since.

My desired model is MSI Gaming X, as I have one (paid $380 for a 1050 ti reissue last Spring…ouch!) and love how silent and cool it runs. One of the few/only 1050 ti’s with fan stop, a must-have feature for my silence build. Fan stop is now standard on almost all cards – not Zotac! – but my brand loyalty has been established. Unfortunately it’s one of the most expensive.

So anyway, I’ve been watching prices on the 3060 ti ever since, adding in the 3060 and 3050 as they’ve been released. Always MSI Gaming X, my two checks are this pcpartpicker list and this newegg search.

The 3050 debuted in the $500s, and in fact all those original offerings are still there on the newegg search. But a month ago or so some started appearing briefly – a few hours at a time before being sold out – in the low $400s. Then a $360 blip for like a minute; when I refreshed to make sure it was real it was sold out. But then last week I saw it in stock for $360 and it’s been in stock at that price ever since.

In fact, here are the best prices from the above two links, all in stock:

$360 MSI Gaming X 3050 (newegg link)
$520 MSI Gaming X 3060 (Amazon link)
$600 MSI Gaming X 3060 ti LHR (newegg link)

I mean, these prices are still high, but holy shit, they’re almost sane. And of course if you aren’t limiting yourself to MSI and its Gaming X line, no doubt there are even cheaper alternatives. I mean, they’re still way over ‘MSRP’, but those numbers were always fairy tales.

Note that the 3060 ti LHR is the anti-mining Lite Hash Rate flavor, so it’s only for gaming. The regular non-LHR 3060 ti Gaming X Trio – the real card – is still like $1200.

So what do we think is the right time to buy a card? Next month? Next week? Right now? Wait for the 4000 series to be released? Anyone here have their eye on anything?

(Discourse is telling me this is very similar to a “What video card should I buy?” thread from 2002. Almost right, but so very wrong.)

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Forgot to mention that the 1050 ti I bought last spring for $360 plus tax is now listed on Newegg for $180.

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I recently put together a new computer and went with an RTX 3080 from Gigabyte and it’s been working fine. I probably would’ve paid a lot less for it had I waited around a few more weeks but it was within my budget and I had steeled myself for paying a premium this time around (I last built a computer in 2011). It was still barely a third of what I had seen it going for late last year.

The card I have also has fans that stop under low load but this wasn’t an especially important feature for me. I’m hearing impaired so only the noisiest computers would even register on my radar.

I recall when reading reviews for this card (also a low hash rate card) that several of the 1-star reviews were complaints that it was an LHR card. Some even said the packaging was deceptive.

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Regarding LHR, my understanding / memory was that it debuted with and promptly hacked for the 3060. I think all 3060s are LHR. And then the 3050 is sort of inherently LHR in that it isn’t worth mining on to begin with, no special limiter needed.

Corrections welcome if I have that wrong.

Also, nobody ever need feel bad about overpaying for a video card in my presence. $380 for a 1050 ti five years after the 1050 ti debuted for under $200. *rabble rabble grouse grouse*

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The Asus TUF 3080 (10 GB version) was available locally for 1,200 CDN, which is about 200 more than it sold for at the beginning of the 30 series run. I am going to hold out for the 4080 release. My 2070 super will “limp along” :wink: until then.

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GPU pricing is definitely getting better. Don’t sleep on the AMD cards either, Microcenter has a an MSI branded RX 6600XT for $450 ($430 after rebate) with performance that falls between the 3060 and 3060ti.

At higher levels of GPU, I definitely lean towards Nvidia for its superior ray tracing but people shouldn’t be buying a mid-range card expecting strong ray-tracing performance anyway. And while DLSS image scaling is technically superior, the AMD solutions are more widely implemented.

As you noted (thank you), Nvidia’s MSRP numbers are a joke. They only apply to the Nvidia FE style cards and Nvidia can afford to sell those at a loss or at cost because Nvidia isn’t really in the market of selling video cards, they’re in the business of selling GPU chips to partners. It’s actually a decent racket for them when they can price a video card as $429 MSRP, get the tech media press, and then let the AIB partners take the heat for “scalping” when they sell their cards for $499. That’s not to say that there’s no overpriced GPUs (looking at you, Asus) but people should be comparing to the market, not a number Nvidia threw out for positive buzz.

Whether to not to wait for the 4000 series is a total crapshoot. Will they actually be available? Will some other supply chain issue screw everything up? What will the power draw be (early reports suggest wattage-hungry cards)? Will GPU makers see the previous scalped prices as a green light to up the cost of the cards? Unlike previous generations, I don’t foresee many people dumping their current GPUs until they have a new card working in their rig and, even then, might not exactly be offering fire sale prices if 4000 series supply is tight and they overpaid for that 3000 card they’re selling.

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You are not wrong, those are all valid concerns/questions. For myself, I am not too worried about power requirements, I would need to upgrade my PSU with a 3080 upgrade as well and my case is very well ventilated (Phanteks Eclipse P500A) so heat build up isn’t a concern in my case. Pun not intended. Higher MSRP/board partner pricing is definitely a concern. But I am 51, make a decent salary and can splurge if I can find a card in stock that I want.

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Yeah, there’s no wrong answer right now. Or at least no answer that can’t be legitimately justified (I guess we’ll find out if it was “wrong” later). But, in your case, since you have a 2070 now there’s not much reason to rush.

Another point that probably won’t apply for you personally is that they roll out the new lineups from the top down. So the 4000 series will most likely launch with the 4090/4080 then a 4060ti/4070 and so forth. So if someone is looking for a mid tier card, they’ll have a longer wait than someone looking to buy the high end. But if you’re in the market for a 3080 and decided to wait, I assume you’re waiting for a 4080.

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Yes, I am waiting for the 4080. I think the 80 level is the sweet spot for maxing out FPS and pretty graphics while not being ridiculously priced like the 80Ti or 90 level.

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This is a concern for me since my case is a hotbox with restricted airflow. (Literally silent, though!) My favorite feature of the 1050 ti is that it’s only 75W. The hottest temperature I’ve ever seen it reach is low 60s. When I look at the 30 series cards, they’re all like triple the wattage.

For the past year I’ve been thinking how much I would love a low wattage 30-series card, mainly for the DLSS, and what a bummer that they just keep adding wattage. Then all of a sudden the 3050 just appeared out of nowhere, perfectly in line with my original video card budget. Its 130W is still a noticeable jump up from the 75W 1050 ti I’m rocking, but that’s a lot better than the 200W for a 3060 ti and still noticeably better than the 3060’s 170W.

Plus, I just committed to 1080p for the next several years by buying a new 144 MHz gaming monitor. A 3050 should fit my system just about perfectly.

I kind of want to buy one now, but April has turned into a costly month. Hopefully sometime early May. If the prices shoot back up I’m going to be super pissed at myself for not grabbing it when I had the chance.

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This has now dropped to $340. I’m getting seriously tempted.

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I’m still rocking a GTX 1080. I don’t play any of the latest and greatest games and don’t need the latest and greatest hardware so I’ll probably stay a generation or three behind for awhile. Have been monitoring prices and they’ve been coming down fairly steadily for months now. 150% of MSRP doesn’t seem like a deal, but it was 200-300% just 12 months ago.

If I see a 3070 of any flavor for a decent price I’ll jump on it. I’ve had some Nvidia x70 cards before and have always come away very impressed with its performance, even the laptop version. The x70 line is probably the best high-end bang/buck card they make.

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AMD cards have been coming down harder. Microcenter had a 6800XT for $640 yesterday. That’s about the same as a 3080 at 1440p but without the same ray tracing or DLSS capability. But, for $640, that’s well more than a fair tradeoff; I like ray tracing but not for a $300 premium

Newegg had the 6900XT for $900 today which is AMD’s top tier card. Maybe not 3090 quality but around 3080Ti levels. (It’s actually still available but for $950 now after rebate)

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I’m not sold on FSR. Everything I’ve read has said it pales in comparison to DLSS. I plan on putting most of my eggs in the DLSS basket.

Supposedly DLSS on Quality mode looks better than natural resolution. I’ve seen discussions specific to both 4k and 1080p that say this; it appears to be consistent across resolutions.

I should reinstall Control and play around with FSR. (I have a 1050 ti.) I think I remember trying it and hating it, though maybe I’m thinking of a different game.

The general consensus I get from discussions of DLSS is that it’s akin to magic. Plus, just in general, I would expect a hardware (-accelerated?) solution to be strictly superior to a pure software solution.

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I got a 3060TI a couple of months ago for $560 right when prices started to fall. I was worried I might regret it if prices fell a lot further more quickly but they seem to have stabilized where that’s still a pretty good price. Although if I had waited, I might’ve snagged a 3080 for $800-900 which you occasionally see if you stay up to date on deals.

The 3060 ti is a significant step up from a 3060 for not much money so I would easily go for a $600 3060 ti vs $520 360. LHR isn’t a gaming relevant concern, don’t worry about that part.

3050 vs 3060TI is really up to your budget and what games you play. Barely more than half the price is a significant discount, so it’s really up to you on that one. But definitely 3060 TI over 3060 at those prices.

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Yeah, I’m thinking 3050 to pair with my shiny new 25" 1080p monitor, then next computer (years from now) I’ll kick it up to 27" 1440p and maybe get an xx70. If my previous computers’ 8-year average holds, and it’s 2 years per generation, I guess I’ll be looking for a 7070.

I find it hard to justify spending over $400 on a card because a) that was my original budget, and b) I already spent $380 (including tax) on a goddamn 1050 ti! lol.

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Technically, you’ll have DLSS and FSR baskets with a 3050 since one of the FSR features is that it works on a wide array of cards: AMD, Nvdia and presumably Intel, whenever they launch.

AMD’s more special sauce is RSR (Radeon Super Resolution) which only works on 5000/6000 series cards and is less accurate than DLSS or FSR but has the advantage of working on a card driver level and thus on any game that has full screen output. This is versus DLSS/FSR support which require developers to add them into their games. So the AMD pitch is that you get superior FSR support in games that have it and also RSR support in basically every other game, minus some oddball weirdo games that don’t play in full screen.

(None of which is intended to sway you in any direction. I’m just yapping about video cards. Right now, all the active cards in my house are Nvidia anyway)

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Yeah, I tend to agree. If I had just built my computer a couple months ago, and now I was finally getting a video card to replace integrated graphics, I think I’d probably go $600 for a 3060 ti. A straight 3060 wouldn’t even be a consideration for the same reasoning you mention.

It’s just that when I think back to the $380 I’m already in the hole, it feels like I would be paying $1000 for a video card if I spent another $600 now.

On the plus side, my underpowered silence build is really scratching the itch I needed to scratch. I still love it to death, possibly more than when I first got it, so there’s no regret about my choices. Hell, aside from the ridiculous price, I even really like my 1050 ti! (If I’d paid a “fair” $100 for it, I would love it to death.)

My previous computer was such a horrible joke, so loud and slow and shitty, that I really needed this contrast. I don’t think I would have been happy going to a quiet build I could hear regardless of performance.

But after this one I expect no such lingering issues. Almost certainly I will stick with air cooling instead of an AIO, but I’ll definitely go with a nice mesh case. Probably something like pairing an i5 xx600K for the overclocking with an xx70 for 1440p in whatever the current fractal mesh case is at the time. (Although I don’t love the visuals on their mesh. Maybe Lian Li or bequiet.)

The only real difference for me now that I’ve experienced building a machine is that I may not wait 8 years between upgrades. Maybe more like 5. (It’s already been 15 months; time has surely been flying with all the fun I’ve been having with it.)

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Checking prices just now caught me off guard; the current lowest I’m seeing just on Newegg:
$320 3050 ASUS ROG Strix
$440 3060 EVGA XC GAMING
$560 3060 ti MSI Ventus
$600 3070 GIGABYTE Eagle OC
$700 3070 ti GIGABYTE Eagle
$800 3080 GIGABYTE Gaming OC
$1200 3080 ti GIGABYTE Eagle
$1450 3090 GIGABYTE Eagle OC
$1950 3090 ti MSI Gaming X TRIO

The 3060 is now more appropriately priced in between the 3050 and 3060 ti, but holy crap, all of a sudden the 3060 ti is hard to justify. Seems like a no-brainer to spend $40 extra to get a 3070 instead.

ETA: What’s up with the ROG Strix being the cheapest 3050? I thought that was a more high-end, premium brand. That $320 is looking awfully tempting…

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I would go 3070 at a minimum, but it’s not my money to spend :smiley: