Nvidia and AMD Keep Dropping GPU Prices After New Product Launches Flop

Even if we’re not planning to buy a GPU at this time – and we don’t blame you – there are still many fascinating developments in the graphics card market. Notably, since our last update, both Nvidia and AMD have launched new products. Nvidia has released one of the biggest disappointments in graphics cards history, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB, while AMD has introduced the underwhelming Radeon RX 7600. But have these cards been selling well? Let’s find out.

The quick answer to whether these new GPUs have taken the market by storm is no, they haven’t. Like many recent graphics card releases, consumers show little interest in purchasing a GeForce 4060 Ti or Radeon 7600. Compared to previous GPU generations, these launches could be considered anywhere from bad to disastrous. However, these sorts of launches are becoming more common this year, so the low consumer interest in new GPUs might be considered… normal? It’s not ideal, but that’s the reality we face.

From a sales perspective, the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB is the more troublesome card. Historically, GPUs like the 4060 Ti, with mid-range performance and a price around $400, would sell in large volumes for Nvidia. For example, the RTX 3060 Ti was highly sought after. However, universally negative reviews have resulted in a lack of interest and poor sales for this product. It’s underperforming, struggling to outsell even the overpriced RTX 4080, which has been on the market much longer. Under normal circumstances, a decent $400 card would significantly outsell a $1,200 one, especially if the more expensive card was months old.

These struggles were anticipated by AIBs when we spoke with them at Computex. Several vendors were skeptical about their chances of selling large numbers of RTX 4060 Ti 8GB models, especially those priced above the $400 MSRP. We suspect this card will continue to struggle at its current price, and this is already causing market ramifications.

MSI has discounted the Ventus model of the 4060 Ti 8GB to $379 at Newegg, which is $20 below MSRP. This is the fastest we’ve ever seen a brand new model discounted below MSRP. Even the overpriced Radeon RX 7900 XT took about two months before discounts started appearing. The 4060 Ti, which was launched less than a month ago, is already selling for less than the launch price. That’s a significant warning sign for this GPU, and it could indicate further price drops in the future.

However, before AMD fans celebrate Nvidia’s failure, it should be noted that the Radeon RX 7600 hasn’t been successful either. Sales for this model are barely better than the 4060 Ti, and overall interest in this product has been extremely low for a new mainstream AMD GPU. Buyers are still interested in certain Radeon models – the RX 6700 XT and RX 6600 have been selling reasonably well, all things considered. But the RX 7600, priced at $270, has failed to capture the interest of GPU shoppers. It’s simply too expensive for the performance it offers.

Just like the RTX 4060 Ti, the RX 7600 has also started to dip below the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) less than a month after its launch, a development that can be somewhat embarrassing for a new model. At the moment, on Newegg, there’s an XFX Speedster Qick308 model listed at $270, yet with a $10 discount code, the final price becomes $260. It’s not a huge dip below the MSRP, but ordinarily, we wouldn’t see such a discount so soon after the launch. In our review, we predicted that it wouldn’t be long before this card would sell for less than $250, and it appears we’re already heading in that direction.

With these two new GPUs flopping hard, it begs the question of whether there is any current generation GPU that people are actually interested in and buying. The best answer we have to that right now is the GeForce RTX 4070, which had a disappointing launch but has been picking up steam more recently. We believe part of this could be attributed to consumers now having a good sense of what the lower-tier models are offering.

New GPU Pricing: Current Generation

Consider a shopper with roughly $500 to spend. At the launch of the RTX 4070, such a buyer would likely have seen the RTX 4070 priced at $600, reacting tepidly just like many in the community, including both reviewers and enthusiasts. The general response would be to wait and see what Nvidia plans to do with the $400 and $500 price range, as historically, cards in this range have offered better value.

However, now that we have this information, we know that the cards in this price range include the subpar RTX 4060 Ti 8GB or the 16GB model, which is priced a staggering $100 more. Since the value isn’t present, it makes sense that some shoppers are saving up a bit more and leaning towards the RTX 4070 instead. We’re not suggesting a massive shift, but there’s enough momentum to place the 4070 among the better-selling GPUs of this generation.

As for the current GPU prices, it continues to be the case that most models are selling below the MSRP to varying degrees. There are two notable exceptions from Nvidia: the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti, which have so far resisted any price movement. Particularly the 4070, which we anticipate will remain at $600 for the foreseeable future. All other models from Nvidia and AMD are below MSRP: the RTX 4090 just slightly, the RTX 4080 is currently $100 below, the 4060 Ti is already $20 below; on the AMD side, the RX 7900 XTX consistently stays $50 under MSRP, the 7900 XT is a substantial $120 under, and the RX 7600 is marginally below, as we discussed earlier.

Even with these discounts, most of these products aren’t particularly great deals, and the price movement compared to previous months is minimal. More interesting perhaps is the pricing for Intel’s Arc GPUs. The A770 16GB is nowhere to be found on Newegg anymore, and the 8GB model has risen from $290 a few months ago and $320 at launch, to now selling for $330. However, the A750 remains at $250, and the A380 has actually dropped to $120.

GeForce RTX 30 series pricing

More interesting right now is the pricing for previous generation GPUs, particularly from Nvidia. They’ve started to aggressively clear out the RTX 30 series stock over the past month, and this strategy has intensified in June. We saw an average price drop of 4% across the five remaining models last month; this month, it’s a 9% drop, spearheaded by massive reductions in the RTX 3060 and RTX 3050 lowest prices.

The RTX 3060 is finally available for just $260, significantly below its MSRP, where it should have been for months now. For the first time ever, the RTX 3050 is also available at or below its $250 MSRP, currently sitting at $230. These are much more appropriate prices for these cards, although they still face intense competition from AMD’s mainstream cards.

If you’re interested in an RTX 3060 Ti, these have also begun to decrease in price. For the seven months preceding June, they were holding fairly steady around $400; now, they are priced at just $360 for the cheapest models. It’s clear that Nvidia has started clearing these out to make room for the RTX 4060 series. However, there hasn’t been much impact on the RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti. Discounts for these products began last month and have held steady up until today.

Radeon RX 6000 series pricing

AMD is also continuing its aggressive pricing strategy, matching whatever Nvidia decides to do. Last month we saw little price movement in their lineup; this month, it’s a 7% reduction on average. Most of the impact has been on cards priced below $400, the same segment where Nvidia began reducing prices.

For instance, the RX 6750 XT is now $30 cheaper, the RX 6600 XT has fallen to $230, and the RX 6600 is astoundingly affordable at just $180. Even the RX 6500 XT has finally begun moving towards a more suitable $120, considering the product’s subpar performance.

In head-to-head battles, this generally keeps AMD ahead from a cost-per-frame standpoint. While the RTX 3050 has dropped to $230, it’s still outperformed by the RX 6600 at $180, and it’s not even close with the 6600 XT at the same price, the Radeon card is significantly faster.

The RTX 3060, priced at $270, looks much more respectable given its similar performance to the 6600 XT, but the AMD card is still $40 cheaper. Team Red is also aggressive with the 6700 XT’s pricing, which is probably why it continues to be so popular. For just $310, you’re getting performance comparable to Nvidia’s RTX 3060 Ti, which, even with the latest discounts, is still $50 more expensive.

However, current pricing from both Nvidia and AMD for the last-generation models makes it quite challenging to recommend newer GPUs. For instance, the RX 7600 is only 5% faster than the RX 6650 XT in our 1440p tests, yet it costs 13% more. It doesn’t make sense to purchase the newer RDNA3 model at current pricing. Similarly, the RTX 4060 Ti 8GB is only around 5% faster than the RTX 3060 Ti on average at 1440p, yet it costs 11% more and suffers from the same VRAM limitations. No wonder these models aren’t garnering much interest from potential buyers.

We’re also just a week or so away from Nvidia releasing the GeForce RTX 4060, which they’ve announced will officially go on sale on June 29th at $300. Nvidia is claiming a 20% performance improvement over the RTX 3060, which explains the heavy discounting of the 3060. We anticipate further price drops to follow. This should also exert pressure on other components of Nvidia’s lineup, as well as AMD products like the RX 7600.

Used GPU pricing

The used market has reacted to the lower GPU prices as well, dropping by an average of 7% for Nvidia’s RTX 30 series month on month. This decrease parallels that of last month, as the market continues to maintain around a 25% discount for used purchases. The RTX 3060 used doesn’t provide a particularly impressive deal right now, given the steep discounts in the new market, but other models are definitely worth considering.

The Radeon RX 6000 series hasn’t dropped as much in the used market, so, like in previous months, some cards are worth considering, and others are not. For example, purchasing a used RX 6600 XT continues to be one of the better deals, sitting at a 25% discount versus new. However, the RX 6700 XT and 6750 XT aren’t as good a bargain, offering only a 10% discount – it would be better to buy a brand new card.

So, if you’re considering a used AMD model, make sure to check the current pricing. It fluctuates quite a bit on the AMD side from month to month, or even week to week, and might be a better deal than what you can find used.

Older GPUs like the RTX 20 series also fell in price compared to last month, at a similar pace to the rest of the market. What’s most interesting here is the ongoing used price battle between the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 3070, both of which offer similar performance. Still, the 2080 Ti has more VRAM at 11GB versus 8GB. The 2080 Ti has maintained its value better than the 3070 in recent months, currently priced on average at $358 versus just $289 for the 3070, a 24% premium.

Back in January, both were similarly priced at $383 vs. $384 on average, suggesting the used market has been responding to the VRAM discussion of 2023, more rapidly depreciating the lower VRAM model since the discussions have escalated.

The GTX 16 series hasn’t shifted much in June compared to May, and there are still strange price anomalies here, like the GTX 1650 Super being more expensive on average than the faster GTX 1660. Once again, it pays to do your research here when buying used.

Meanwhile, the RX 5000 series dropped sharply this month by an average of 16%. It seems many used, likely mining cards, are still being offloaded on the second-hand market, presenting gamers with reasonable value. The Radeon 5700 XT is still quite fast, considering its average used price is just $130 at the moment.

GPU Market Trends: Wrapping Up

Overall, the GPU market in June has been both good and bad for GPU buyers. It’s been negative in the sense that both new releases, the RTX 4060 Ti and RX 7600 just aren’t exciting products and aren’t worth buying. It would have been better if these cards were strong purchases in the sub-$400 market.

But the good news is that, aside from newer models, pricing continues to drop substantially, especially for Nvidia cards, as both brands eagerly try to clear existing stock and make room for new models. For instance, the RTX 3060 has seen significant discounts and is finally priced reasonably, though it’s uncertain how much stock is still left.

What this means is that if you’re planning to buy a graphics card, there are some pretty good deals to be had – it’s just not going to be a current-generation model. There are some exceptions here; if you’re planning to spend more than $600, there’s not much previous-generation stock left, but at least for the mainstream market, there continues to be a lot of competition across multiple generations and brands.

We’re also yet to see the entire line-ups from Nvidia and AMD. We expect that things will become more interesting shortly, as Nvidia is about to launch the RTX 4060, which, based on what Nvidia is saying, should be a more exciting product than the 4060 Ti 8GB.

AMD is yet to release mid-priced RDNA3 products, which we expect somewhat soon, and of course, there’s the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB also coming in July. So, there are plenty of reviews to look forward to, even if you’re not planning to buy these cards.

Shopping Shortcuts:

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 on Amazon
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti on Amazon
• AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT on Amazon
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 on Amazon
• AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX on Amazon
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 on Amazon