For those of you in the PC gaming scene, this past few months has truly been a drag when it comes to wanting to purchase any new chips. Whether it’s a new 5000 series processor from AMD, or any of the new graphics cards that been released. Both AMD and Nvidia have release their next-gen graphics cards. As of now, AMD has released their RX 6800 Series, comprised of the 6800, 6800XT, and the 6900XT; whilst the 6700 and 6700XT are yet to come. Nvidia has released their RTX 3000 series, comprised of the 3080, 3070, 3090, 3060ti, and the recently released 3060 (12GB). So, with the sheer amount of options to choose from, why is it so hard to find ANY of these cards in stock? Well, lets take a close look and find out why…
The Same Old Story…
Here we are in the year 2021. We’ve come a long way since the the last release of graphics cards and processors. For the last several years it has been the same old story… “AMD is so close to the performance of Nvidia, but Nvidia is expensive…” – Your Typical Gamer. Sure, you might have been able to save a buck when going with AMD, but since the launch of the 1060, the majority of PC gamers have yet to find such a bank for your buck equivalent graphics card.
Yes, as someone who owns an RX 590, I can say it was a viable option of competition… however, there was still that extra performance and even software rendered ray tracing on the GTX 1060 graphics card. Even so, there wasn’t much to say at that point. 1080p 60fps was the target for the longest time, unless you wanted to break the bank and get something like a 1080ti.
The repetitive nature of graphics cards releases did not stop at the GTX 1000 series though. Even after the RTX 2000 series graphics were released, there was not much of a performance boost from the last generation. And for those wanting 4k 60+ fps gameplay, it was next to impossible when there was such a huge MSRP on the high-end GPU’s. In a nut shell, it was either the 1080p 60fps target, or spend all of your money for anything better. I truly feel bad for the people who upgraded from a 1000 to 2000 series GPU simply because the price/performance ratio was not anything to brag about, and was simply a waste. In the same vein, people were just following along with the typical releases. It was nothing new. Until now…
The Big Announcement
Sometime around October of 2020, Nvidia and AMD both had several big announcements to make about their new and improved chips. And my oh my… they were not joking hen they said big. Nvidia first shared details of their RTX 3000 series and boasted at its speed and new RTX cores. Okay… sure, it’s new, so hat? Then BOOM! The graph showing performance increases was shown. I don’t think anyone was this coming:
Yes, indeed, this IS the ‘Greatest Generational Leap” we have ever seen. Not only are the new cards faster than the last generation (even some up to 2x as fast), they are nearly half as much! This was big news. Not more than a few weeks later, AMD had their big announcement as well. I think the majority of people were certainly not expecting much since Nvidia just dropped this bomb shell of a deal on all of us. But alas… AMD had this to show:
Another huge performance increase! They even showed several slides of their cards vs Nvidia’s cards. From those charts, it was clear AMD caught up, and was trading blows with Nvidia. Which is where one of the issues was hiding, right in plan site.
The Current State of Graphics Cards
Like I’ve mentioned before, new tech releases have not been anything to get overly excited about. However these new released completely changed that. They both shoot the tech world in a way we truly did not so coming our way. Nvidia released a card that is not only faster than their highest end card from the previous generation, but is HALG the price. That, and AMD had finally did it. They now have a card with the performance of Nvidia, and then some! Not to mention, AMD has hardware accelerated ray tracing.
It was truly something we have not seen before, at least in many, many years. Little did we know that this was going to be a bit of a “shelf clearer” (if you will). This meant that the world of high-end gaming, so 4k 60+ FPS at a reasonable cost, was open to so many people now, not just those with deep pockets. It was clear around the launch that people were eager to get their hands on ANY of these cards. People even slept outside of businesses to make sure their spot is held. That meant they were out of stock in the blink of an eye. But… that can’t be right. There couldn’t have been that many people waiting, right? Well.. sort of. There is more to it.
Chip Shortages
It should not come to any surprise that the world has been a little bit unorganized and chaotic at times since this whole global pandemic thing started. Along with it comes shortages. I think we all new we were screwed once we couldn’t even buy more than ONE pack of tissues or hand sanitizer at any given store. The same concept applies to the tech companies, in particular, chip creators. Nvidia does not put together their GPU’s in Jensen Huang’s kitchen.
Instead, the parts are outsources for chip companies. The beautiful 8nm chip designer TSMC has a big customer list… not just for graphics cards. They make chips for cards as well! It was recently found out that TSMC will be prioritizing the chips for automobiles, not GPU’s. That’s the last thing we need is a car shortage, wouldn’t want those already full car outlets to be.. less.. full? Regardless, GPU’s are not a priority by any means. There is a GDDR6 shortages as well, which do no help stock.
Scalpers & Miners
To make matters worse, there are people out there who love to make life terrible and get as much money out of someone as they possibly can. Many people mass bought the new cards and decided to try and sell them online for a much higher profit. Some people bite, just because they are so desperate for the new cards. Other, sit and play with their voodoo dolls of the scalpers, cursing them. This was also done with the recently released Xbox Series X/S and Play Station 5.
Miners are kind of a grey area. Those are legitimately bought for a purpose. That purpose being to sit and run at 100% all day every day until the card dies, just to mine for bitcoin and other types of electronic currency. Some people have 2 or 3 cards mining, while others… well, just see for yourself.
Yup, that’s 78x 3080’s on a mining rig.
In Conclusion
It shouldn’t come to a surprise to many that these cards will remain mostly out of stock for several months to come. It is important to understand why these cards are as scarce as they are. But is is also important to keep your chin up, stay hopeful, and patient. It will not be too long before life is back to normal, and stock has finally replenished itself. We’re all in this boat together. As for our stock, no… we definitely have NO next-gen graphics cards in stock. To ease the pain, why not stop by our recent stories and read them until stock is back to normal? Check it out here.
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