Graphics card prices plummeting after Ethereum Merge — but beware timing your buy
PC gamers in the market for a graphics card might find that the perfect time to pull the trigger on that purchase will be in the coming weeks.
Graphics card prices have plummeted in 2022, and pundits expect them to decline even further closer to the launch of Nvidia’s new RTX 40 cards.
Thursday’s big upgrade of Ethereum’s network, dubbed The Merge, has spurred additional price drops.
Those looking to earn the cryptocurrency now have to use proof-of-stake instead of proof-of-work as the consensus mechanism.
In the proof-of-work approach, which includes crypto mining, participants prove their investment and help secure the network by expending energy.
That requires plenty of computing power, which for the algorithm Ethereum used was best supported by using multiple powerful graphics cards.
With proof-of-stake, validators stake a minimum amount of cryptocurrency into a smart contract, eliminating the need for powerful computing hardware.
Validators that go offline, make mistakes, or misbehave stand to lose some or all of their stake.
While not the only mined cryptocurrency, Ethereum was the second-most popular after Bitcoin and regarded as one of the most profitable.
It also used standard consumer graphics cards, which miners could repurpose for gaming, virtual reality, and machine learning, mitigating some risk if the cryptocurrency market completely collapsed.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, requires dedicated hardware known as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
As the name implies, ASICs are good for only one thing — in this case, computing hashes for the cryptographic algorithm Bitcoin employs.
Ethereum’s shift to proof-of-stake has caused many miners to dump cards on the second-hand market.
In the wake of The Merge, Wccftech spotted the top-of-the-line RTX 3090 Ti selling for $999.99 (R17,665) on Newegg.
That is lower than its recently-revised $1,149.00 manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) and half of its launch MSRP.
However, the tech site said the price might drop even lower. In China, the same cards are currently going for around $700 (R12,359).
Unfortunately, South African PC retailers like Evetech and Wootware have not yet reduced prices to anywhere near these levels.
As of Friday, the cheapest RTX 3090 Ti you could buy on Evetech cost R44,999, while Wootware charged R49,699 for the same model Newegg was selling.
These retailers likely bought their currently-listed stock at much higher prices, and selling them for cheap could come with a loss.
Nevertheless, there could be some significant price cuts closer to the launch of the upcoming RTX 40 cards, expected to be unveiled in October 2022.
These will reduce demand for the RTX 30 series, so retailers are anticipated to offer big sales on old cards to clear stock.
Used card prices
As its stands, South Africans can get some good deals on used card prices.
MyBroadband checked eBay and found numerous RTX 3060 models selling for less than R5,000 and RTX 3070 cards for less than R10,000, with shipping included.
On the classifieds section of South African web forum Carbonite, one seller was advertising an RTX 3080 Ti for R17,500, while another listed two RTX 3070 Ti cards for R10,000 each.
It should be noted that a rebound in cryptocurrency mining is possible, albeit unlikely, considering the state of the global economy.
While still early days, several blockchains have seen their hash rates surge in the wake of the Merge, according to data from 2miners.com.
Ethereum Classic, Ergo, and Ravencoin are among the coins seeing increased mining since the Merge.
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