The promise of next-generation GPUs has finally come to an end. Nvidia’s RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 were announced this week. While the performance is impressive (especially for the RTX 4090), the card starts at $899 for a cut-down version of the 4080. Combined with the continued collapse of the GPU crypto mining market after his Ethereum merger last week, the general consensus is: Nvidia’s latest flagship GPUs are prohibitively expensive, at least for most PC gamers.
Meanwhile, AMD will reveal more about its next-generation RX 7000 RDNA 3 cards on November 3rd. The company’s chiplet design could mean that the new GPUs can be made much more affordable than his Nvidia counterparts. But don’t expect AMD to pass on most of these savings to consumers. Team Red has someone to please investors just like Nvidia. Still, AMD’s new cards could put Nvidia under some serious pressure, and I don’t think we’ll see a new mid-range or lower card from AMD any time soon.
So what if you were hesitant to buy a new GPU under $500? The wise advice is to wait as long as possible. Back in 2020, it turned out to be a terrible idea, but thanks to the pandemic, all indications now are that this kind of market won’t repeat itself this fall. If you find a card for sale at a particularly attractive price, go ahead and buy it.
But Black Friday is still two months away, so we can’t wait too long. If you want anything today, we’re looking at the value end of the spectrum.
Here are the two best options for AMD and Nvidia respectively: Radeon RX 6600 (opens in new tab) and the GeForce RTX 2060 (opens in new tab)AMD’s cards are typically around 20% faster in traditional gaming performance, while Nvidia’s cards are around 20% faster in ray-traced games and support all RTX features like DLSS, but RTX DLSS 3, which requires 40-series GPUs, is not supported.
If you want something more powerful, be aware that GPU prices continue to drop rapidly. Earlier this month, the RTX 3080 10GB was on sale for $740, but there are regular deals to get such cards for under $700. Considering the new GPUs are coming out soon, we can expect the 3080 to hit $500 by Black Friday.
We’re still waiting for the full details on AMD’s RDNA 3 lineup as well, especially when it comes to the design decisions AMD made, especially when it comes to GPU chiplets, which should come at a price so low that Nvidia probably won’t be able to match. may not win the crown, but if you can get close to it while staying below Nvidia’s price, that might not matter. There are many reasons why prices are expected to fall.
