AMD’s RX 6000 graphics cards look like compelling buys right now, with prices dropping steadily as we’ve seen in a new report this month, and Nvidia GPUs stubbornly refusing to drop.
This is being done by TechSpot’s (Opens in a new tab) GPU Price Update for January 2023 (the site releases these reports monthly), showing a whole load of data for graphics card sales, including retail prices (in the US), and additional nuances like the best-value boards (in terms of raw) “cost per tire”, that is, the price / performance ratio).
The good news is that for the last generation products on the shelves, some AMD GPUs have seen some pretty big price drops. In fact, prices for the top five RDNA 2 models are down, with the Radeon RX 6800 XT and 6950 XT leading in shipment by 14% and 13% in price compared to last month.
The 6900 XT is also down a significant amount with a 7% drop compared to December, and more modest declines – but still worthwhile given this is from month to month – were seen with the RX 6800 and 6750 XT, down 4% and 3%, respectively.
Mid-range offerings like the RX 6650 XT and 6600 XT also fell 4% and 3%, respectively, and the 6500 XT dropped 6%, but elsewhere, prices have held steady at the same levels. There was a skew in the RX 6600 up 12%, mind you.
It was a very different story for Nvidia’s latest RTX 3000 GPUs, where the only card that actually fell in price was the GeForce RTX 3060 which was down 6% – and to be fair, this is a very useful product to see a good drop.
While the RTX 3070 stayed the same price, other Ampere GPUs available at US retailers were up – a slight 2% for the RTX 3070 Ti, but slightly larger increases of 4% and 5% were evident with the RTX 3050 and RTX 3060 Ti.
What about the RTX 3080 and 3090 variants? Well, there aren’t any stocks left of these boards, aside from the scattered 10GB RTX 3080 models (but TechSpot didn’t have any price to compare to in this case, as these cards have been out of stock for the past few months).
As for new products, the RTX 4070 Ti hit the market this month, and as TechSpot noted, the latest Lovelace graphics card remained in stock and sold at MSRP (recommended price), which is an unusual situation — and may indicate somewhat weak demand. TechSpot makes it clear that the RTX 4070 Ti supposedly sells better than the RTX 4080 – something we’ve seen clear evidence elsewhere – while also noting that this isn’t a particularly big achievement, since it wasn’t (and still isn’t). ‘t) GPU is particularly popular.
However, in TechSpot’s price/performance (cost per frame) table based on MSRP pricing, the 4070 Ti ranks second overall, right behind the leader: AMD’s RX 7900 XTX. These are the best performers ahead of the RTX 3070 in third place, and the RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 after that in fourth and fifth.
Behind these cards is the RX 7900 XT in sixth place, but you have to go further down the table to find the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 in ninth and tenth place, respectively. (Remember this is based on recommended prices, not actual current price tags).
Analysis: Some very tempting options from Team Red
Both the RX 6900 XT and 6950 XT graphics cards look like great buys right now, after dropping a significant amount over the past nine months or so. Particularly the latter which bottomed out at $700 (about £570 / AU$1,000) in January, which is more than a third off MSRP.
The RX 6800 XT is also down significantly, though it was previously a bit cheaper due to the December price hike. All of these are compelling options for those looking for a powerful graphics card, but don’t want to pay extra for the new generation RDNA 3 or Lovelace.
In the mid-range territory of AMD’s RX 6000 series, the drops are more modest as noted, but there are still some really tempting options out there – like the RX 6650 XT with an asking price of $275 (about £220 / AU$395).
It’s disappointing that Nvidia’s graphics cards don’t see the same kind of drop, but not entirely surprising. When GPU prices first started to drop (coming back from really inflated levels to double the MSRP, or even more), Nvidia products were more resistant to the cuts. Although in fairness, this partly reflects their relative popularity, of course.
The brighter news with Team Green is that at least the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti — the mid-range flagship models — are now out. Almost at MSRP in the US (it’s only $10 more either way). Maybe it will drop further, but we’re not counting on it, as Nvidia’s Lovelace mid-range doesn’t seem to be anywhere near the horizon. In fact, the RTX 4060 is not rumored to appear until mid-2023.
However, all high-end RTX 3000 inventory is now sold out, so it probably won’t be long before excess RTX 3060 inventory is liquidated as well; And if that’s the case, maybe Lovelace’s successor will come a little sooner than widely expected.