Don’t panic, but GPU prices are starting to rise again
Although you may struggle to find a certain graphics card in stock at MSRP, there's no need to panic about GPU prices rising just yet.
Tekef
Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?
Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsNvidia’s best graphics card is regularly out of stock, and if it is in stock, it’s pricier now than it was a few months ago. That’s right — finding the RTX 4090 at its recommended list price of $1,599 is no small feat right now. Does this mean that the dreaded GPU shortage is coming back? Not quite. It’s too early to panic, but it’s true that the RTX 4090 has seen an uptick in price, and there are a few reasons for that.
The RTX 4090 is expensive, but it’s also good value, however counterintuitive that might sound. According to our own testing of the monster GPU, it serves up an 89% performance increase over the last-gen RTX 3090. It’s absolutely unmatched in this generation, and will most likely remain that way, seeing as AMD has no plans to come out with an RTX 4090 equivalent. It’s also massively faster than the RTX 4080, and the fact that it’s favored over the 4080 shows up in the pricing.
The RTX 4080, which is arguably Nvidia’s worst-value GPU, launched with a $1,200 MSRP, but you can buy it now for as little as $1,050. The market, currently filled with an abundance of GPUs for all budgets and use cases, corrected Nvidia’s overly inflated MSRP over time and the price has dropped. The RTX 4090, on the other hand, has been on an upward trend.
A quick look through Newegg and Amazon pretty much confirms these suspicions. The RTX 4090 at MSRP is, indeed, a rare sight right now. The cheapest option on Newegg is the , and all of the cheaper models are out of stock.
There’s one option at MSRP to be found, though. I spotted the PNY GeForce RTX 4090 Verto up for sale for $1,599 on . PNY is perhaps not as well-known as Gigabyte or MSI, which can be beneficial if you’re trying to score an RTX 4090 and stick to the recommended list price.
Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsAs noted by Tom’s Hardware, this current uptick in RTX 4090 prices has been going on for a few months now. Pricing history from CamelCamelCamel shows that, on average, the GPUs went up in price by nearly $100 between mid-June and August. Cards like the Gigabyte Gaming OC went up by nearly $75 over the last few months, and some models are now reaching north of the $1,800 territory.
Is the rising price of Nvidia’s RTX 4090 an indication of trouble for the GPU market? Most likely not. The RTX 4090 is the only card of its kind and the best choice for those who want to ride the wave of the current AI boom. Other GPUs like the RTX 4080 are still in stock and even dropping in price over time. It’s still a good time to build a PC, and with Black Friday sales coming up soon, even the RTX 4090 might see a price cut if the stock levels normalize.
Editors' Recommendations
Don’t buy the Surface Laptop Go 3 — here’s what you should get instead I bought Nvidia’s worst-value GPU, but I don’t regret it My big problem with this stunning $800 keyboard isn’t the price Don’t worry; Armored Core VI is ‘fully supported’ on Steam Deck Nvidia doesn’t want you to know about its controversial new GPU
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
Don’t just buy the latest version of a laptop. It’s not always worth it
When shopping for a laptop, it's hard not to get sucked into buying the latest model. They're often widely available and marketed as the next big thing.
But as a reviewer who tests dozens of new laptops every year, I know the secret that laptop brands don't want to tell you. It's that more often than not, the latest version of a laptop may offer a very mild update to the previous generation, often just swapping in one CPU for another. That means if you can find the previous generation for cheaper, it's often a better use of your money. The key, though, is learning how to recognize a minor spec update on a laptop from something that's actually worth paying more for.
When updates just aren't enough
Even Nvidia’s partners don’t believe in the new RTX 4060 Ti
Nvidia's RTX 4060 Ti 16GB is reportedly just days away from launch, but rumor has it that there may not be a lot of GPUs to choose from. This isn't a sign of another dreadful GPU shortage, though. It's more that the RTX 4060 Ti has very little chance to rank high among the best graphics cards you can buy.
We've just recently seen the release of the RTX 4060, but Nvidia still has another card up its sleeve -- a clone of the existing RTX 4060 Ti that comes equipped with twice the VRAM. However, due to certain factors, the GPU might be doomed to a life of subpar sales and unsatisfying benchmark results.
Nope, I still don’t regret buying my Steam Deck
It sucks being an early adopter. After using Asus' new ROG Ally for a few hours -- you can read my Asus ROG Ally review for my full thoughts -- I was ready to feel massive regret over buying my Steam Deck. It's a tired story; but it remains true that being an early adopter rarely pays off.
There's more to the story of how these two products match up, though, than just faster hardware and more games. Despite how I feel about the ROG Ally, there's one big reason I don't plan on selling my Steam Deck anytime soon: emulation.
Built for emulation
