The long-awaited transition from Ethereum to proof-of-stake has had an impact on graphics card prices.
Chinese GPU Abundance
Graphics card prices in China have fallen to their all-time low. This all happened after the Merge of Ethereum earlier this month. Graphics card vendors have reported that the prices of high-end graphics cards have fallen sharply in recent times.
When ETH tokens could still be mined and the bull market was in full swing, there was a huge demand for Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 models. According to traders in the Shanghai electronics market, both demand and prices have fallen nearly 40% in the past three months.
According to a salesperson, the people of mining companies walked into the shops with cash during the mining peak and took all the graphics cards with them. However, this has changed.
Another retailer said that prices for some models have now fallen below the recommended retail price. Chinese e-commerce platforms have experienced retailers cutting the prices of advanced graphics cards in an attempt to resell them.
In addition, there is also a thriving used graphics card market. However, the gamers remain reluctant to buy a card that has been used for crypto mining.
I don’t think PC users want them, but it’s hard to tell from the outside if it was a mining card.
According to the trader.
The counter argument is that the cards used for mining operate in a steady state with constant voltages and adequate cooling. That’s better for the hardware than high temperature and power fluctuations.
Affordable Graphics Cards
Now that the hype of crypto mining is over, PC gamers have a reason to celebrate. The graphics cards are currently more affordable. However, supply chain disruptions have caused prices to remain high in the west. Graphics cards are still in high demand here.
Another factor that can drive prices down even further is the evolution of the product line and new models coming to market. Last week, Nvidia announced its RTX 4000 series graphics card line. It will be in stores from October 12. These units will not come cheap, however, as the TX 4090 model has a retail price of $1,600.