It looks like GPU prices are expected to continue rising all the way into the third quarter of this year.
This bit of bad news was broken via Massdrop conversation with NVIDIA. More specifically, it was during a discussion on NVIDIA’s current top-of-the-line GPU that it stated two of the obvious reasons for the continuous price hike: GPU miners and the global memory shortage.
Cryptocurrency miners are buying up every high end graphics card that hits shelves; while manufacturers are having problems securing memory chips because smartphone makers are willing to pay more for the same production capacity.
“While NVIDIA was here they also let us know that the pricing in the market will continue to go up through Q3 of this year most likely before we start seeing any type of relief,” Brian Hutchins, one of the Tech Community Leads and buying manager at Massdrop said. “So, unfortunately, the end to this is not right around the corner and we have not seen the worst of it yet.”
It’s no secret that GPU prices have been spiraling upwards due to the growing resurgence of cryptomining, and with good reason; at the time of writing, the value of one Bitcoin currently hovers between RM37,000 and RM38,000, and speculations are hinting at the price of the cryptocurrency reaching a value higher than its peak of RM80,000 last November.
On another note, NVIDIA’s statement to Massdrop also seems like an indirect hint that the company might not be releasing its consumer-grade Ampere GeForce cards either by April or June this year. Obviously, this point is merely speculation, so take this with the proverbial pinch of salt. After all, there’s still a chance that we might just get a new GPU from NVIDIA sometime before we reach the third quarter.
(Source: DSOG via Guru3D, Hot Hardware)
