While regular readers of TechRadar might recall me saying this before, the GPU market is in such a poor state that it's one I've never seen in my lifetime, and I'll never get tired of saying it. Contemporary factors like tariffs, the AI boom, and economic uncertainty are present, don't get me wrong, but the issue of overpriced GPUs has been active long before recent sanctions from President Trump.
Based on what I've seen over the last few years, it's mostly the price of Nvidia's third-party GPUs that are always skyrocketing: this was never clearer than with the likes of the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080, which both launched during the period of the pandemic. While it's obvious that a global emergency like COVID-19 would result in inflated pricing, I've not seen the price of RTX 4090 partner cards fall below their launch price in the years following the pandemic, but rather an increase - and it's a three-year-old card!
That's besides the point: the recent launch of the RTX 5000 series lineup and AMD's competing Radeon RX 9000 series has shown similar results, with the likes of a 'midrange' Radeon RX 9070 XT nearly reaching $1,000 despite its original $599 retail price. If that's not ludicrous, then perhaps I'm out of touch.
If that's not enough to prove my point, then I present to you MSI's Vanguard RTX 5070 Ti, currently sold at Newegg for $1,399, more than double the US MSRP of $749. Yes, you read that right. There's also another offer that takes this figure up to $1,645, and I don't think I need to stress how obscene that is.
No matter which way you want to slice it, $1,399 for a GPU that's supposed to cost $749 is the definition of overpriced. In truth, it seems that thee issue here stems from the fact that consumers are actually paying close to these prices, as I can hardly ever find any of these new GPUs in stock.
Regardless of tariffs, if we keep buying hardware at inflated prices, it sets a bad precedent for the future
When I first obtained my MSI Ventus 3x RTX 3080 Ti during the global pandemic, I was lucky to find it at its launch price, but it was a rare opportunity at the time. Scalping and demand for Nvidia's GPUs were arguably at their peak during that period, with prices ballooning out of control, although I don't recall seeing the same for AMD's third-party GPUs.
This was enough to make me realize that some retailers and third-party GPU manufacturers may have been using consumers' desperation for an RTX GPU, combined with widespread cases of short supply, to their advantage.
Just like my frustration with Nintendo and the sudden shift to charging $80 for its Switch 2 games, the same principle applies to this case. It's one thing to be upset and voice your frustrations about unreasonable price increases, but if we continue buying these overpriced products out of desperation, these issues will continue even in times when tariffs aren't causing major uncertainty. In other words, this is a plea to those with plenty of disposable income: don't shell out above market price for a graphics card. Please. You're screwing the rest of us over.
Fortunately for some gamers in the UK (like myself), we're lucky enough right now to see stock at retailers like Overclockers, with GPUs actually selling for their respective launch prices. I doubt this will last long - frankly, I predict that this will change by the time you read this - but I hope I'm wrong.
Those listings are the ones that should be rewarded with purchases, not those asking you to pay over $1,000 for GPUs that aren't going to live up to those price tags by any means whatsoever. My only hope is that the situation with tariffs doesn't spiral out of control, and make matters that are already ugly in this GPU market even worse.
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