The high-end graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD were expensive in 2020 (if you could find them), but their prices are only going up. And you can thank the government for that.
As of December 31, 2020, GPUs and motherboards are now included in the tariffs that the Trump administration has applied to Chinese imports. These PC components were previously exempt from said rates, but those exceptions expired at the end of 2020 and no extensions have been applied. That means prices for high-end GPUs are up a whopping 25 percent – including NVIDIA’s new RTX 3090, 3080, 3070, and 3060 Ti and AMD’s RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT.
The latest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD were nearly impossible to buy in 2020 to begin with COVID-19 impacted manufacturing and supply chains, leading to more limited products that were even available for purchase. And retailers usually sold out in seconds every time they restocked, thanks to scalpers and cryptocurrency miners using bots to buy up as many graphics cards as possible.
The buying experience got so bad that many retailers implemented anti-bot tactics such as waiting lists, more aggressive human verification systems and strict limits on the number of GPUs customers can purchase. However, these rates only make the process more difficult – and more expensive –if you are lucky enough to score a card.
The rates don’t just affect GPUs; SSDs, CPUs, power supplies, and other PC components can all see price increases between seven and 25 percent, depending on their price. Such as Tom’s Hardware Comments, the price hike for this probably won’t be as severe as the increase in GPUs, but if you buy or build a new PC, or upgrade several parts of an existing installation, you will certainly notice a difference.
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Our best advice for anyone looking to build or upgrade their PC is to shop sensibly and thoroughly. You can’t avoid the price hikes, but you don’t have to scalped expensive GPU on eBay or Facebook Marketplace just because they are available.
Sources like VideoCardz.com, GPUBoss, Reddit (r / GPU, r / GraphicsCards, r / nvidia, r / amd), Google’s Shopping tab, and even Discord Communities can help you compare specifications and prices and find available stock. At some point, the numbers of graphics cards will stabilize (we hope), and buying a new graphics card from a legitimate retailer at a normal suggested retail price will be easier, even if the GPU costs more than at launch.
It is also possible that new GPUs will be launched that are cheaper or lower the price of current high-end models. In fact, Nvidia has a press conference tomorrow and there are rumors that more GPUs will be announced. If you can choose from more models, you can at least increase your chances of purchasing the card you want. Until then, buy smart, but be prepared to pay a little extra because of the politics; if you can wait until we can see what a Democrat-led government is doing with the rates, if anything, it might be worth your wallet to do that.