According to a recent survey by 3DCenter, while there has been a slight decline in prices in the past few weeks for certain AMD chips, the price for the majority of graphics cards has surged yet again. AMD’s RDNA 2 GPUs are now 90% more than their MSRP, while Nvidia’s Ampere-based line is 95% more.

Relatively Cheaper Yet Double The MSRP

Between October 10 and October 31, the average price for the AMD Radeon RX 6000 series has gone upwards from 183% of MSRP to 201%. Until November 21, the prices dropped to the 190% mark. This is the first reduction seen in the pricing of 6700XT, 6800, 6800XT, and 6900XT GPUs since July. Still, due to depleted stock amounts, the MSRP has nearly doubled for these graphics cards.

The average price for Nvidia’s GeForce 30 series has reached its highest price point since July. The price for the 3060, 3060 Ti, 3070, 3080, and 3090 GPUs surged from 188% of MSRP to 195% in November. Although these graphics cards are still on the higher side, they’re relatively cheaper from May 2021, when they cost 304% of MSRP.

Cryptomining Operations Still A Concern

As for the availability, both Nvidia and AMD remain unchanged since October. The 3DCenter report shows the trends in the German market, but marketplaces including eBay show how price hikes are common in other major markets like the US and the UK.

Apart from the high demands and supply hurdles, another factor that’s behind the surging price of GPUs is cryptocurrency. Due to the resurgence in the crypto space, the miners have started getting their hands on GPUs before gamers, causing a shortage of these chips. Miners require GPUs to crunch complex mathematic equations to mine cryptocurrencies.

Keeping this in mind, the report has added a new feature into its charts that show price levels of Ethereum. The performance of the coin directly affects the pricing of GPUs. That said, people shouldn’t expect the GPU prices to normalize until 2023 at the earliest.

GPU Shortage To Last Throughout 2022

According to Nvidia, the GPU shortage can be expected to continue for the whole of 2022, while Intel believes that a supply-demand won’t materialize until 2023. The only good thing for consumers about the situation is the speculation of the sub-$200 Arc Alchemist GPU from Intel; however, scalpers will most probably target these chips as well.

While there are enough GPUs for buyers to get their hands on, supply chain hurdles are still a big issue to fulfill the demands of gamers and crypto miners. The situation is likely to help people selling secondhand cards in the market. Let’s hope companies launch more GPUs to curb the skyrocketing prices.