Polygon states that pricing for Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 should be about $380 depending on the model, but that some cards are now being sold for higher than $700 due to the stock shortages an improvement of more than 80 percent. Cryptocurrency miners use heaps of graphics cards to solve the scientific problems need to authenticate wages on the network and create new bitcoin. There’s only a finite amount of bitcoins available, and because of the way the network is composed, each new bitcoin takes more power to mine. This has led to heightened demand for more powerful graphics cards to tackle multiple cryptocurrencies.
The graphics card pricing is getting it a lot harder to build a gaming PC from scratch right now, particularly as the stock shortages of mid-range cards like the GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 also push up the prices of more capable cards. Nvidia’s GTX 1060, GTX 1070, GTX 1080, and AMD’s Radeon RX 570, 580, Vega 56, and Vega 64 cards have all been changed in recent months.
Nvidia is telling its retail partners to prioritize gamers over miners, but retailers are able to create some impressive margins at the time so it’s unlikely that simple advice will result in real changes. Some retailers are limiting buying so miners can’t buy stacks of cards, and Polygon reports that Micro Center is definitely offering discounts to PC gamers who are buying the cards adjacent other components. Micro Center blames high demand from miners and compelled shipments from vendors for the industry-wide shortages.
It’s a puzzle that’s affecting pricing worldwide, not just in the US, and it seems unlikely to end unless graphics card vendors can flood the business to keep up with the market. It could put off PC gaming newcomers who are deciding between establishing a mid-range PC or opting for a PlayStation 4 Pro / Xbox One X.
Source: Polygon
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