Don’t fall for these GPU deals on Cyber Monday

Now that GPU prices have returned to normal, you can save big on the best graphics cards on Cyber Monday. There are some great deals this year, but equally as many bad ones. In some cases, cards that are on sale are even more expensive than cards that aren’t on sale — yikes.

The GPU waters are murky, so I rounded up three graphics card deals you should avoid at all costs on Cyber Monday. Don’t worry, I won’t leave you out in the cold. I have some alternatives at each price that will give you better performance for the same price or the same performance for even less.

MSI RTX 3050 Aero ITX

MSI is offering its RTX 3050 Aero ITX for $265 on Cyber Monday, which seems like a deal until you realize the card released at $250. As you can read in my RTX 3050 review, it’s a competent 1080p graphics card, but it’s still not worth spending $15 above list price, especially when the card is supposed to be on sale.

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Contrast that with AMD’s RX 6650 XT, which is also on sale for Cyber Monday. For $270, Gigabyte’s RX 6650 XT Gaming OC is a steal. It’s slightly faster than the RX 6600 XT, which is already a graphics card capable of driving above 100 frames per second (fps) in the most demanding games at 1080p, as well as above 60 fps at 1440p in most titles (read our RX 6600 XT review for a full breakdown of performance).

Gigabyte RX 6700 XT Eagle

Stepping up a bit in price, Gigabyte has its RX 6700 XT Eagle on sale for $420, plus an additional $10 off with a promo code (BFDBY2A788). It’s not a bad price, but you can get a slightly faster GPU for $50 less. MSI’s RX 6750 XT Mech 2X is $370 — a full $180 off the price the card released at. Just like the RX 6650 XT, the RX 6750 XT is a slightly juiced-up version of the RX 6700 XT, offering a high refresh rate of 1440p with the possibility of pushing up to 4K in some games.

I use the RX 6750 XT on almost a daily basis in my living room gaming PC, usually at 1440p or 4K with some assistance from FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling, and it’s held up great. For bonus points, you get AMD’s Raise the Game bundle with this GPU, so you can see it in action right away.

Asus RX 6900 XT Tuf Gaming OC

On Amazon, the Asus RX 6900 XT Tuf Gaming PC is marked down by 24%, bringing the list price of $1,200 down to $913. It seems like a great price, but that’s around $200 more expensive than the RX 6900 XT should sell for, even when it’s not on sale.

For example, the ASRock RX 6900 XT OC Formula is selling for $700 right now — and it’s not on sale. Although the RX 6900 XT has been going for around this price for a month or so, stock seems to be drying up. It might not be on sale for Cyber Monday, but this is still one of the lowest prices I’ve seen on the RX 6900 XT.

The RX 6900 XT is for 4K gamers who want no compromises, as you can read in my RX 6950 XT review. You’re looking at well above 60 fps at 4K in every game you can throw at the card, as well as competent (if not perfect) ray tracing performance.