Skip to main content

No one is buying new graphics cards right now

We talk a lot about the best graphics cards, but no one is buying them right now. According to a new report from Jon Peddie Research (JPR), GPUs have experienced a dip of nearly 13% since last quarter, which already saw bad sales, and have fallen nearly 40% compared to the same time last year.

In total, JPR says that there were 6.3 million boards shipped in the last quarter. For context, in the last quarter of 2021, at the height of the GPU shortage, there were over 13 million boards shipped.

AMD Radeon RX 6500XT graphics cards stacked on top of each other.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Although there aren’t a ton of graphics cards flying off the shelves, JPR’s report has some interesting insights. First, the attach rate, which is the number of graphics cards actually in PCs and is up 8% compared to last quarter. That means although GPUs are down overall, people are still using them to build PCs.

JPR notes this is likely due to people opting for last-gen options: “Shipments of new [add-in boards] were impacted by turndown in the PC market due to inflation worries and layoffs, and people buying last-gen boards as suppliers sought to reduce inventory levels.” Although it’s easy to point to disappointing GPUs like the RTX 4060 Ti as a cause of the downturn, JPR also notes that this is typically a slow time of the year for graphics cards.

Even more interesting are the market share shifts. Compared to last year, AMD went from 24% of the market to only 12%, which is the same percentage it held last quarter. Nvidia, meanwhile, grew from 75% to 84%. That remaining 4% comes from Intel’s Arc A770 and A750.

Last year, Intel wasn’t even on the map, and since launch, it was only able to claw away 2% of the market from Nvidia and AMD. That’s doubled in the last quarter, which is a surprising sign that Intel could have a future in the world of discrete graphics cards.

Although Nvidia still holds a dominating lead, it had to reduce GPU shipments more than AMD. AMD’s cards are down just under 8%, while Nvidia decreased its shipments by over 15%. It’s important to note that a company shipping a graphics card doesn’t mean it sold. In all likelihood, Nvidia is experiencing bigger issues as it works through selling off old RTX 30-series inventory.

There aren’t many new graphics cards being sold right now, but JPR says that will change as the year continues. “[The first quarter of] 2023 saw the AIB market still facing the consequences for oversupply in the market caused by pandemic-era supply chain inconsistencies and orders. The second half of 2023 promises to be brighter,” Robert Dow, analyst at JPR, wrote.

Editors' Recommendations

Jacob Roach
Senior Staff Writer, Computing
Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn't run on a laptop, he…
Nvidia doesn’t want you to know about its controversial new GPU
Logo on the RTX 4060 Ti graphics card.

Confirming previous rumors, Nvidia released its RTX 4060 Ti on Tuesday without much fanfare. Most of the best graphics cards release with a bang, but the updated 16GB RTX 4060 Ti released with barely a whimper. Nvidia is putting more weight behind Portal: Prelude RTX, on the same day it's launching a new graphics card. Weird.

This is the 16GB variant that Nvidia promised when the original 8GB RTX 4060 Ti was released in June, and although it has technically been released, you can't buy it.

Read more
I’ve reviewed every GPU in the last 2 years — these are the only ones you should buy
A hand grabbing a graphics card.

There are a lot of options when you're on the hunt for the best graphics card. In years past, you could look at a product name and get a general sense of where it landed in terms of performance, but times are changing. With bizarre value propositions, extra features that go beyond raw performance, and questionable naming conventions, GPUs are a lot more complex than they used to be.

I've reviewed every graphics card released over the last two years, covering two generations from both AMD and Nvidia, as well as Intel's first push into the discrete graphics market. Here are the only GPUs I'd even consider buying.
What to look for

Read more
Why this two-year-old GPU is still the one you should buy
The AMD RX 6700 XT sitting on a table.

Since Nvidia and AMD announced their next-gen GPUs, budget PC builders have been waiting with bated breath to see what the companies could deliver in the midrange sweet spot of $300 to $400. Unfortunately, the answer hasn't been pretty.

Nvidia's RTX 4060 Ti launched to near-universal dissatisfaction, while AMD's RX 7600, although a decent GPU, carried a lot of caveats. Even Nvidia's value-focused RTX 4060 failed to impress, largely due to the fact that it's beaten by last-gen options around the same price.

Read more