GPU Availability and Pricing Update: December 2022

This is the final edition of our GPU pricing update series for 2022. It's been an unbelievable rough year for anyone looking to upgrade their graphics carte du jour or build a new PC for gaming, with inflated pricing seen all year long (and several months at the stop of 2022 likewise). For many people, this new generation of GPUs has been a flake of a write off, despite the bodily hardware beingness quite expert, which makes it doubly disappointing.

Our mission to track GPU pricing trends and wait at the current market will continue in 2022, but for now let's see what's been happening in the closing weeks of 2022, which is typically quite decorated because of the holidays. As we said last month, the expectation is that prices wouldn't see any major reductions as demand for components would be reasonably high during this catamenia.

Follow upward: GPU Update January 2022

Refreshed GPUs

We besides had a strange GPU launch in December. The GeForce RTX 2060 12GB, which was simply pushed out to the market without much fanfare from Nvidia. No review sample program, which is usually the instance with these sorts of launches and why we oasis't taken a await at it yet, but likewise obviously there'south not that much stock.

The RTX 2060 12GB was supposed to launch on early Dec, but fifty-fifty today if we look at various retailers, the bill of fare is basically nowhere to be seen. There'southward not a listing for the GPU on Newegg, despite plenty of listings for the regular 6GB variant. In Australia, PC Case Gear and several other retailers don't have any, and only a single model was seen at i retailer, a Zotac model available at Scorptec. Information technology's priced at $1050 AUD, which is $250 more than than 6GB models selling at the same retailer. Other regions are facing the same state of affairs, where there'southward no stock or very footling of it, just with that kind of pricing, it surely won't be drawing in buyers since it's as expensive every bit some RTX 3060 boards.

Speaking to some of our industry contacts, the RTX 2060 12GB had a loose early Dec to January release schedule. The earlier date was more of a statement that "hey, you lot might see some 2060 12GB models on shelves, a few OEMs accept a small batch of them fix, and then just know they aren't false models." Equally opposed to a key product launch, that seems more widespread availability fifty-fifty if it sells out immediately on 24-hour interval i.

The information we received also paints a picture of a GPU that gamers probably won't want to buy. One industry contact described the RTX 2060 12GB as a "card for mining," in that its toll tag, game performance, mining operation and retentiveness capacity makes more sense for miners than it does for gamers. It'southward been hard to pinpoint an MSRP as Nvidia hasn't disclosed one, but what nosotros've seen from current listings is a GPU that gets pretty close to the RTX 3060 despite almost certainly performing well below it. For reference, our data has the RTX 2060 Super about 14% slower than the RTX 3060 on boilerplate.

There are more than Nvidia GPU refreshes on the style as well, with current rumors suggesting an RTX 3070 Ti refresh with 16GB of retentiveness, and an RTX 3080 refresh with 12GB of memory. We'd wait to meet those newer cards effectually mid to late January at the earliest. After that we're likewise expecting the RTX 3090 Ti and the long awaited release of the RTX 3050 serial for desktops, which take also been rumored for a while now. That'd be iv refreshed Nvidia GPUs in the first few months of 2022, which does not automatically translate into proper availability in any way unfortunately.

From the Red Squad, we're expecting new upkeep oriented GPUs using a new Navi 24 die. Those should arrive in the get-go few months of 2022 in the grade of something like an "RX 6500 XT." Alongside the RTX 3050, this should create a more than competitive surroundings for cheaper GPUs, although these days a "cheaper" GPU costs like $500, so we'll have to atmosphere our expectations a flake. Both cards will probably have a $200 to 300 MSRP, only actually gear up you back ~$500 at retail, which sucks simply that's the electric current land of things. Intel Arc GPUs aren't too far away either.

That'southward a brief summary of what we're expecting to happen with GPU launches in the next few months – and peradventure we'll see some announcements at CES – now let's accept a expect at the current GPU marketplace and whether in that location'southward been any price move.

The Ethereum Rollercoaster

Cryptocurrency mining continues to be the primary reason for inflated GPU pricing and stiff demand, with articulate cost fluctuations in GPUs following trends in money prices or mining profitability. That's nix new, we've talked in depth about this in previous pricing updates, and how supply chain considerations have go less of a gene over time.

In the concluding month, the price of Ethereum which is the nearly popular coin for mining, has dropped by 10% and has been sliding overall for a month and a half. During that menses, mining difficulty has only increased slightly, and for the final few weeks has basically plateaued, which indicates GPUs aren't existence added to the mining pool at equally high of a charge per unit as in previous months. Both of these factors tend to be good news for gamers, and in Dec they've combined to reduce mining profitability past 10 to 20 percentage depending on the GPU, going on Whattomine's latest data.

GPU Pricing Update

How has this affected used GPU pricing? It's rather interesting this month as it does depend on the products we await at. Nvidia GPU prices haven't changed much for about six months; there was a noticeable peak in May related to a blast in crypto, just since then it'south been relatively flat as popular coins, mining profitability, and other factors have all fluctuated.

Nvidia GPU Pricing Trend 2022

Average Auction Price of eBay Completed Listings, New Products, third Week of Month

For case, in the last six months the RTX 3070 has peaked at about a $1,230 new on eBay, and has striking $ane,100 at the lowest. The RTX 3060 has saturday between $690 and $750 during that same period, so it's largely been consistent. The biggest changes take been seen with the RTX 3090.

	MSRP	eBay Average Price October	eBay Average Cost November	eBay Average Price Dec	Current Price Inflation	Price Increase Nov to Dec
GeForce RTX 3090	$i,500	$2,818	$3,107	$2,882	92%	-7%
GeForce RTX 3080 Ti	$ane,200	$1,851	$1,916	$1,968	64%	iii%
GeForce RTX 3080	$700	$ane,534	$1,584	$1,693	142%	7%
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti	$600	$1,151	$one,227	$i,268	111%	3%
GeForce RTX 3070	$500	$1,121	$1,170	$1,099	120%	-6%
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti	$400	$860	$946	$965	141%	2%
GeForce RTX 3060	$330	$692	$739	$747	126%	1%
				Average	114%	0%

All in all, most current generation Nvidia GPUs remain over double their launch MSRP.

On the AMD front, information technology's a chip unlike when looking at their current generation line-up. While sales volumes are significantly lower for AMD GPUs on eBay, prices have besides been more volatile and more aligned with fluctuations in the crypto marketplace. Accept the 6700 XT for example, AMD's competitor to the RTX 3070 and one of the highest book cards available from Team Red. In the concluding six months, its toll has sat between $730 and $980, a much larger range than Nvidia.

AMD GPU Pricing Trend 2022

Boilerplate Sale Price of eBay Completed Listings, New Products, 3rd Calendar week of Month

Simply specifically for December, AMD GPUs have slightly declined in price by low single digits, for an boilerplate decline of four%, which is not bad for the holiday period. Nvidia GPUs are still in college demand than AMD's and with the holiday rush to buy hardware, that'due south expected to some degree as Nvidia nonetheless holds pregnant gamer market share and mindshare.

	MSRP	eBay Average Toll October	eBay Average Toll Nov	eBay Average Price December	Electric current Price Inflation	Price Increase Nov to Dec
Radeon 6900 XT	$1,000	$1,493	$one,585	$1,548	55%	-2%
Radeon 6800 XT	$650	$1,388	$1,524	$1,435	121%	-6%
Radeon 6800	$580	$1,254	$i,413	$ane,381	138%	-ii%
Radeon 6700 XT	$480	$872	$980	$897	87%	-9%
Radeon 6600 XT	$380	$621	$689	$664	75%	-iv%
Radeon 6600	$330	$571	$584	$582	76%	0%
				Average	92%	-4%

Used GPU Pricing

The used GPU market has followed a similar trend to AMD GPUs this calendar month. The GeForce RTX 20 serial has dropped in price by low single digits, which is something, simply we aren't at the everyman prices seen this twelvemonth, which occurred in July. Nvidia's previous-gen cards are still priced higher than their launch MSRPs fifty-fifty though nosotros are talking about used GPUs.

	MSRP	eBay Average Price October	eBay Average Price Nov	eBay Average Price December	Current Price Inflation	Price Increase November to Dec
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti	$one,000	$1,102	$1,182	$1,187	xix%	0%
GeForce RTX 2080 Super	$700	$786	$841	$820	17%	-3%
GeForce RTX 2080	$700	$713	$772	$777	eleven%	ane%
GeForce RTX 2070 Super	$500	$722	$768	$737	47%	-4%
GeForce RTX 2070	$500	$676	$700	$677	35%	-3%
GeForce RTX 2060 Super	$400	$657	$732	$688	72%	-6%
GeForce RTX 2060	$350	$535	$543	$527	51%	-three%
				Boilerplate	36%	-three%

The GeForce sixteen series has also come down in price slightly, and I'd be expecting to see more movement in this market over the coming months as these GPUs go from being "electric current generation" products, to existence replaced by the RTX 3050 and newer releases. The GTX 1660 Super, for case, is disgustingly overpriced at $512, yet that sort of cost inflation is no different to the RTX thirty series, except we are looking at used GPUs, which is a bit crazy.

	MSRP	eBay Average Cost Oct	eBay Boilerplate Cost November	eBay Average Cost December	Current Toll Inflation	Price Increase November to Dec
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti	$280	$476	$497	$483	73%	-3%
GeForce GTX 1660 Super	$230	$486	$520	$512	123%	-2%
GeForce GTX 1660	$220	$387	$417	$393	79%	-6%
GeForce GTX 1650 Super	$160	$299	$315	$306	92%	-3%
GeForce GTX 1650	$150	$266	$263	$273	82%	4%
				Average	89%	-ii%

The GeForce 10 series continues to exist sold for roughly their launch MSRPs on the used market. Like the other sets of used GPUs we've looked at so far, prices have been relatively flat for a few months at present, although higher than what we saw in July. If you did buy a GPU in mid-2021, you managed to catch a good deal all things considered.

	MSRP	eBay Average Price October	eBay Boilerplate Toll November	eBay Boilerplate Price Dec	Current Price Inflation	Price Increment November to December
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti	$700	$669	$697	$666	-5%	-4%
GeForce GTX 1080	$600	$464	$508	$461	-23%	-nine%
GeForce GTX 1070 Ti	$450	$453	$462	$465	3%	1%
GeForce GTX 1070	$380	$380	$416	$403	6%	-iii%
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB	$250	$297	$326	$308	23%	-5%
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB	$200	$214	$235	$231	16%	-ii%
				Average	iii%	-iv%

The Radeon RX 5000 serial has been near used with miners due to their loftier mining performance relative to their product standing in the gaming market. Prices take been significantly inflated on these GPUs for months at present, but it's too not a surprise to see the largest fall in pricing this month, every bit the GPUs with the highest demand for mining also have the biggest falls in pricing when mining becomes less profitable. The drops here aren't insane or anything, but a 6% price reduction is a tendency in the correct direction.

	MSRP	eBay Average Cost October	eBay Average Price November	eBay Average Price Dec	Current Price Inflation	Price Increase Nov to Dec
Radeon 5700 XT	$400	$943	$1,007	$900	125%	-xi%
Radeon 5700	$350	$817	$920	$868	148%	-6%
Radeon 5600 XT	$280	$617	$663	$623	122%	-6%
Radeon 5500 XT 8GB	$200	$408	$442	$428	114%	-3%
				Boilerplate	127%	-6%

Then we have AMD's older GPUs which have also been highly popular for miners, with prices falling some 5% on average. Despite these toll drops, the RX 580 is still over $100 more expensive than the GTX 1060 6GB, so gamers subsequently a lower finish GPU should be looking more towards Nvidia's offerings than AMD, at least for now.

Go along At-home and Carry On

That does it for this month'southward GPU pricing update. The news are a petty better than nosotros were expecting due to the holiday shopping season, but that hasn't materialized to the level nosotros thought information technology would. GPUs are nonetheless ridiculously expensive, though well-nigh graphics cards barbarous in toll marginally this month. The exception to this was Nvidia's current-gen GeForce thirty GPUs, which seem to exist taking the brunt of increased demand and doing then without much movement in pricing.

We can now tell when was the best time for buying a GPU in 2022, in hindsight, of course. Those of you lot who bought a new graphics card in July got the "best" deal of the yr. That was a brief period when crypto fell sharply after a big rise, and miners reacted to this by selling some of their hardware. Conversely, if you bought in May during the crypto boom, yous got amidst the worst deals of the yr, along with the opening few months of 2022.

Equally for what happens in 2022, that'south a large unknown. Demand from normal customers is commonly lower in Q1, but miners are hardly considered function of that grouping. There should exist more GPUs hit the marketplace in the coming months, but certainly that doesn't mean we'll have affordable graphics cards again of a sudden.

Also of business are DDR5 memory prices. From what we've been told from several OEMs, supply is actually proficient for DDR5 retentivity and more reliable than DDR4 supply -- it's just that the majority of this memory is going to OEMs and not into retail channels. We suspect DDR5 pricing volition return to normal quicker than GPUs, in line with other components like CPUs and motherboards which are currently selling for normal prices.