Video card prices in China fell to the “lowest level” after Ethereum switched to a share proof algorithm.
When ETH could still be mined and the bull market was in full swing, demand for Nvidia’s flagship GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 models led to a tripling of recommended retail prices. According to vendors at an electronics retail market in Shanghai, demand and prices have fallen by almost 40% in the last three months.
According to one seller, during the mining boom, “people from the mining companies would come into the shops with cash and take all the video cards. Now look at it. No one is buying new computers because of the coronavirus, let alone those who want to install a new video card.”
Another vendor said prices on some models had fallen below the recommended retail price. Chinese e-commerce platforms have recorded sellers dropping prices on high-end graphics cards to sell them.
On the secondary market, gamers have been reluctant to buy graphics cards that were used to mine cryptocurrency because they were running at almost full power 24 hours a day and their components endured heavy stress.
“I don’t think PC users will want to buy them, but from the outside it’s hard to tell if the card was used for mining,” the seller said.
The argument for the cards after mining is that they were running at a steady voltage and sufficient cooling, which is better for the hardware than when it undergoes temperature and power fluctuations during gaming.
Now that the hype around crypto-mining has subsided (at least for now), PC gamers have reason to rejoice as graphics cards have become more affordable.
Prices may drop even further when new models hit the market. Last week, Nvidia announced a line of RTX 4000 series graphics cards, which will go on sale on October 12.
