Cryptocurrency has had a tough year. Bitcoin has fallen over 50 percent since the start of the year, from nearly $48,000 in January to just over $20,000 at press time. Celsius, a major cryptocurrency “bank,” suspended withdrawals earlier this week, and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced a series of layoffs last Tuesday after suspending hiring last month.
This may be a small consolation for those who wanted to work at Coinbase or spent their hard-earned money on an ugly monkey image because a celebrity told them, but there is good news in all of this for PC builders and gamers. As Tom’s Hardware tracks, prices for new and used graphics cards continue to fall, dropping from peak prices in late 2021 and early 2022. Within a few weeks it was usually possible to go to Amazon, Newegg or Best Buy and buy current-gen GPUs at prices that seemed like a bargain six months or a year ago, with used GPU prices dropping even further.
Most mid-range Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 series cards are still selling at MSRP or slightly higher, according to Tom’s Hardware – the 3050, 3060 and 3070 series are still in high demand. But the top-end 3080 Ti, 3090 and 3090 Ti GPUs are now selling below their (admittedly astronomical) MSRPs, as are almost all AMD Radeon RX 6000 series cards.
Used prices have dropped even faster. Used GPU prices on eBay dropped an average of 10% between June 1 and 15 as at least some cryptocurrency miners looked to cut their losses and sell their hardware. This is happening even as mining software begins to find ways to bypass Nvidia’s LHR hash rate-limiting protection – falling cryptocurrency prices and rising energy costs are still making mining economics more difficult.
However, buyers of used GPUs should exercise caution. In addition to the scams and scams that can accompany any high-value purchase on eBay, GPUs that have been mining cryptocurrencies at full capacity for months or years can have problems with a new GPU (or a used GPU that was only used for games) would not exist. The heat generated by constantly using a high-density mining farm can degrade performance (although GPU manufacturers have exaggerated this risk in the past)), as well as dust or dry thermal paste. If you’re buying a used GPU that looks dirty or gets very hot, removing and cleaning the fan and heatsink and reapplying fresh thermal paste can help restore lost performance and extend the life of the card.
If you like to struggle to buy a GPU, things might get interesting for you soon. Nvidia’s RTX 4000 series GPUs are reportedly nearing release, and manufacturing and supply chain issues could lead to shortages of these new cards.