So, it looks like Nvidia’s hotly-anticipated Lovelace GPUs might not be arriving until even later in the year, if current rumors are to be believed. It’s not even necessarily because RTX 4000 isn’t ready to launch; it’s been suggested that the next-gen graphics cards might arrive later due to existing stock of RTX 3000 cards that Nvidia wants to shift before releasing their new GPUs.
The reason for this suspected surplus of current-gen GeForce cards is, of course, the crypto market crash, which has led to mass sell-offs of mining GPUs and a general downturn in sales for Nvidia. If this truly is the case (and it’s mostly speculation right now, so take it with a pinch of salt) then I ask, I beg, I implore you not to buy a GPU until later this year – at least, not at full price, okay?
Yes, Amazon Prime Day is about to hit us with a dizzying slew of deals, and if you see a GPU on sale that you want to snap up, don’t let me make you hesitate. In fact, Prime Day might be your best chance of getting a good deal on the best graphics cards before RTX 4000 launches, because Nvidia will be reluctant to drop the price of existing cards before the new generation is out.
If you’re not snapping up a cut-price GPU this Prime Day, though, put your feet up and stop worrying about graphics cards for a while. Existing GPUs will drop in price as soon as the Lovelace cards launch, so you’ve got a chance to save some cash or grab a powerful new RTX card – even if it means waiting until December.
Opinion: Nvidia delays could give AMD a chance to claw back some market share
Nvidia’s RTX cards have been a popular choice among crypto miners, meaning that during the great GPU drought of 2021 they were the most heavily scalped cards, typically selling far above MSRP. AMD’s Radeon GPUs weren’t quite so popular for mining, so while they were still overpriced, they returned to retail price faster than Nvidia’s cards did once the chip shortage began to ease.
Of course, this means that AMD likely isn’t facing the same surplus stock situation as Nvidia right now, at least not of the same magnitude. If AMD is able to get its new RNDA 3 GPUs out the door before Nvidia can launch their own next-gen cards, Team Red has a serious chance of securing a bigger chunk of the market before Team Green catches up.
Frankly, I hope it does – RTX 4000 is shaping up to be seriously impressive, and if I were AMD, I’d be worried. AMD does have some nifty chiplet design plans for RDNA 3 up its sleeve, but regardless of which side launches its new GPUs first, I’d still encourage you to be patient and wait until both new generations are available so you don’t get buyer’s remorse.
Oh, and don’t buy an ex-mining GPU just because it’s really cheap. No, I don’t care what the NFT shills on Twitter have to say about it; it isn’t worth the risk. Sure, a card from someone’s little home mining rig probably won’t die on you, but a GPU that’s been sweating its silicon off in a warehouse beside a hundred of its siblings? No thanks.