Skip to main content

The price of graphics cards was finally dropping — until it suddenly stopped

Recent news from Germany brought hope to many PC enthusiasts. This is due to the fact that the prices of graphics cards in Germany dropped rapidly. The drops in pricing were so major that some GPUs had their prices slashed in half. Unfortunately, the latest data suggests that the falling prices have come to a halt, at least for the time being.

Website 3DCenter.org has been keeping a close watch on the graphics card prices in Germany, and the initial findings were more than promising. In May 2021, the prices of Nvidia’s RTX 30-Series GPUs were at an all-time high of three times their MSRP. AMD cards were only slightly cheaper, being listed at twice their MSRP on a regular basis. This was combined with a persistent low stock of these cards.

A close-up image of Nvidia's RTX 3080 Ti graphics card.

Come July, the prices of GPUs in Germany had dropped considerably and settled at around 53% above their MSRP. This means that some of the best graphics cards halved in price in just a little over a month. Of course, this news brought a new surge of optimism to those who were hoping to buy one of the latest GPUs. Unfortunately, although many sources expected otherwise, it seems that the rapid drop in GPU prices has now slowed down considerably.

Recommended Videos

The latest report from 3DCenter shows that Nvidia card prices dropped by just 3% in the period between July 4 and July 18. However, this average may be slightly off due to the fact that Nvidia’s latest releases, the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti, continue to sell at very high prices.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Although Nvidia’s 3% improvement is hardly encouraging, AMD card prices are doing worse, at least as far as the customers are concerned. The Radeon RX 6000 line of GPUs actually went up in price during those two weeks in July and is now, on average, 3% more expensive. This was the first increase for these cards since May.

When it comes to stock levels in Germany, the supplies are steady and most of the GPUs are readily available if one is willing to pay the inflated price. 3DCenter rated nearly all of Nvidia’s RTX 30-Series cards at least a 4 out of 5 in terms of availability. The only card that didn’t manage to get a 4-star rating was the RTX 3060 Ti. AMD’s stocks continue to be slightly lower, with the RX 6800 XT receiving a 3 out of 5 ratings and the RX 6800 getting a 2 out of 5.

It’s important to note that 3DCenter reports are only valid for the German and Austrian markets. The situation in the U.S., as well as worldwide, is still rather grim. GPU prices continue to be unreasonably high. However, the supplies have shown a marked improvement compared to just a few months ago. Getting one of the latest graphics cards used to be impossible, but the current stock levels are much more stable. As a result, it is possible to get an Nvidia RTX 30-Series card right now — as long as one is prepared to pay the extra price.

Monica J. White
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
Nvidia just dropped a big hint about the RTX 50-series release date
nvidia rtx 4080 review 12

Speculation has been running rampant about Nvidia's launch of next-gen RTX 50-series GPUs, but the company itself just dropped a big hint about when they may show up. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to take the stage as the keynote speaker of CES 2025 on January 6, where there's a good chance we'll hear about Nvidia's next generation of graphics cards.

Although Nvidia is at the annual tech show each year, Huang -- who recently surpassed the worth of all of Intel -- hasn't made an appearance in five years. The executive will likely focus heavily on AI, as it has catapulted Nvidia to become one of the world's wealthiest companies. But RTX 50-series GPUs should make an appearance, too. Nvidia usually takes advantage of CES to launch new graphics cards.

Read more
These AMD and Nvidia release date updates are giving me whiplash
PNY RTX 4080 with the power connector attached.

If you're wondering about the future of Nvidia's and AMD's top graphics cards, you're not alone. We all know it's almost time for the next generation of GPUs to be released, but no one knows when exactly that's going to happen. Today, another source weighed in with conflicting information regarding the release dates of the RTX 50 series and the RX 8000 series, and honestly, it's all starting to give me whiplash at this point.

At the beginning of 2024, most enthusiasts and leakers alike believed that all three GPU makers -- AMD, Intel, and Nvidia -- would launch their next-gen products before the end of the year. In fact, early leaks pointed to an end-of-summer release for AMD. As time went on, we've all tempered our expectations as it became clear that we're unlikely to see any new graphics cards before early 2025.

Read more
How to overclock your graphics card GPU
Need to get a few more fps out of your GPU? Here's how to safely overclock it
graphics card shortage

Although upgrading to the best graphics card (also know as a graphics processing unit, or GPU) is arguably the best way to improve your PC's 3D rendering ability, you can eke out a little more performance from your existing card with overclocking.

Much like a CPU, a GPU contains chips that with the right tweaks can work harder and faster. That can mean better benchmark results and higher frames per second in your favorite games. Although still a little intimidating and certainly not friendly to your graphics card's temperatures, learning how to overclock your GPU is easier today than it's ever been. You just need the right tools, the right steps, and plenty of patience. Let us help show you how to overclock your graphics card GPU.
A word of warning
You can overclock a CPU, and you can overclock RAM. But overclocking anything has inherent risks. They are relatively low, but they are important to consider so that you're well informed before starting. Overclocking anything involves the process of forcing it to perform at a faster rate than it was manufactured to do so. That means you are pushing it harder and by working faster, it will get hotter and it may become less stable. That could result in crashes in the short term and over the long term, could reduce the lifespan of your particular hardware.

Read more