GPU Prices Are Falling As The Value Of Cryptocurrencies Continues To Plummet
GPU prices are falling as the value of cryptocurrencies continues to plummet
Last week, Nvidia raised the price of its Founders Edition graphics cards in Europe by $100. It's possible that the recent strengthening of the United States dollar in relation to the Euro is to blame, but given that MSRPs have been rendered meaningless by insatiable demand, it's easy to dismiss this explanation in its entirety.
For gamers and enthusiasts, however, the year 2022 began with some extremely good news, as industry observers had not observed a significant change in retail prices in more than two months. New research from the German publication 3DCenter suggests that there is even more reason to be optimistic, as prices for AMD's Radeon RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT graphics cards have been trending downward in the first few weeks of January.
Consequently, GPU mining has become less profitable as a result of falling cryptocurrency prices and reports of impending country-wide crypto bans. AMD cards are now selling for an average of 67 percent more than their manufacturer's suggested retail price. While Nvidia GPUs continue to command a higher premium, at 77 percent above the manufacturer's suggested retail price, they have returned to levels seen in October 2021. Modern graphics cards such as the Nvidia RTX 3050 and AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT are unattractive to miners, but they are an excellent value for gamers who want a good gaming experience.
Material and component shortages appear to be easing in other parts of the supply chain as well, according to recent reports. Ajinomoto Build-up Film (ABF) substrate supply will gradually improve in the coming months, allowing AIB companies such as ASRock and TUL (PowerColor) to significantly increase their graphics card shipments in the second half of the year, according to DigiTimes. ASRock president Lung-Iuen Hsu recently stated that the company expects to see double-digit growth in both shipments and profits this year.
Resolving the chip shortage, on the other hand, is a complicated issue that will not be resolved simply by increasing the supply of ABF substrates, but rather by making GPU mining obsolete. Every month, the difficulty of mining Ethereum increases a little bit more, and if everything goes according to plan, we should see a switch to Proof-of-Stake later this year. In comparison to Ethereum, the size and value of other Proof-of-Work cryptocurrencies that can be mined with GPUs are insignificant, which means that the vast majority of miners would be forced to sell their graphics cards in order to recoup some of their investment.
