The prices of at least three NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards are set to rise sharply.
Generation after generation, graphics card prices have risen. It has become almost inevitable - with a few notable exceptions - but we have become accustomed to it, as the rate of increase has been steady. The Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing logistical crisis and the explosion in demand for cryptomining completely disrupted a market that took almost two years to return to - very relative - calm. The release of NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace generation (GeForce RTX 40) and AMD's RDNA 3 (Radeon RX 7000) brought a return to a semblance of normality, albeit at very high prices.
GTX 16xx no longer produced by NVIDIA © Wccftech
Alas, according to some well-informed sources, this "normality" may not last. First of all, AMD, Intel and NVIDIA are all planning to release their next-generation graphics cards before the end of 2024. Obviously, releasing new ranges is a tricky business: you don't want the old ones to overshadow the new ones too much, and you need to be able to have enough products available to satisfy demand. NVIDIA seems ready to reduce production of GeForce RTX 40s, precisely to make room for GeForce RTX 50s.
The problem is that such a reduction in RTX 40 production could lead to a shortage if things aren't managed properly, and if TechRadar is to be believed, this is exactly what's likely to happen with GeForce RTX 4060 cards. However, it's on older cards that the situation could become very complicated, very quickly. We're talking about 10% price increases over the next few weeks on cards like the GeForce RTX 3050 and GTX 1650. The former is suffering from its success with less affluent gamers, while the latter is simply at the end of its life for NVIDIA: but if GPU production has indeed been halted, demand seems to be holding up, mechanically driving prices up fairly quickly. That said, since the increase in graphics card prices only concerns NVIDIA cards, you'll have to look no further than AMD or Intel!
