Will the Crypto Crash affect GPU prices and availability?

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If you’ve been following the crypto news, you’ve heard of the price drops for many major coins, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. This drop in value has led several miners to start selling their equipment – ​​mostly GPUs – as the operational cost no longer makes sense at the discounted crypto price.

Does this news mean there will be a glut of GPUs on the market? Can we now buy GPUs at or near our favorite MSRP retail stores? Let’s examine the impact of the recent event on the computer hardware market.

What has caused GPU prices to skyrocket?

Two of the main factors that determine prices are supply and demand. The 2020 global pandemic has hit chipmakers hard, especially in China where many operate. As the virus spread, ports and shipping lanes around the world went into lockdown, as countries closed borders to keep the disease out.

As the pandemic was in full swing, governments imposed lockdowns, shutting down businesses and forcing many people to work from home. Over the year, many people have discovered that mining crypto, especially Bitcoin and Ethereum, can be lucrative.

This caused prices to skyrocket from around $6,000 in March 2020 to over $55,000 a year later. The nearly tenfold increase further increased the hype of cryto which, unfortunately, relied on GPUs for processing.

Related: The Best Crypto Exchanges With The Lowest Fees

A lack of supply has led to an increase in GPU prices. Rising demand has contributed to the surge, leading to empty shelves, scalpers and high online prices.

USE VIDEO OF THE DAY Crypto Crash and GPU Price

Just two months after hitting its all-time high of $60,000 in November 2021, Bitcoin has fallen to just over half at $36,000. This caused miners who were not too invested in the system, or those with higher electricity costs, to quit mining. After all, if the value of the coin you are mining falls below a threshold, the dollar amount you receive cannot cover your mining costs.

Due to the drop in demand for miners, GPU prices have started to drop nationwide. Some stores reported a five to ten percent drop in MSRP. You can even find several used GPUs online at much more reasonable prices.

However, even at these lower prices, the retail price of most video cards is still 50-100% above MSRP.

Related: The Main Reasons Why Cryptocurrencies Are Crashing

There is hope

Although prices remain high, you should now be able to find and buy new cards online and in physical stores. Popular PC parts supplier Newegg lists 810 Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series models on its site, of which 587 are in stock. They also list 431 AMD Radeon RX 6000 series cards, of which 308 are available.

Micro Center also has several GeForce RTX 30 and RX 6000 video cards available nationwide. However, you cannot buy any online, which is perhaps a way to protect consumers from opportunistic scalpers.

The slow reopening of the global economy has allowed global chipmakers to ramp up production. No doubt this affected GPU uptime, but the crypto crash certainly helped the process along the way.

Should you buy a GPU now?

The crypto crash, ease of global restrictions, and increased production from manufacturers are slowly easing the GPU crisis. If no further international incidents occur, we can expect the supply of video cards to finally normalize and reach a balance.

If you absolutely must have a GPU, you’re in luck because you don’t have to spend too much to get one. But if that’s not your immediate need, you can wait a little longer until the prices drop to something a little more reasonable.

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About the author Jowi Morales (183 articles published)

Jowi is a writer, career coach and pilot. He’s developed a love for all things PC ever since his dad bought a desktop computer when he was 5 years old. Since then, he has been using and maximizing technology in all aspects of his life.

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