Will high end GPUs be sold out forever?

[Alxndr]

The 4090 was released 2 years ago and it's still impossible to get one without buying second hand or resale from scalpers with a 400% price margin. Forget the 5080/90 absolutely no chance of ever owning one of them.

Even the 4080's are still sold out everywhere... I just don't understand it. When Apple releases a new iphone, they make tens of millions of them so everyone can easily get one and they make so much money from it.

But Nvidia only makes a few hundred thousand 50 series cards, Why? What benefit is there? Why not just make 10million of them and make billions more profit?

To me it's simple maths.

250,000 GPUs @ $2,000 each = $500million.
10million GPUs @ $2,000 each = $20billion.

Maybe Nvidia just isn't capable of creating that many GPUs I dunno but they sure as hell have no problem making millions of data centre GPUs.

I guess in about 6 years when the 50 series has been discontinued and no longer receiving hardware support or valid warranty etc I could probably scoop one up from a company trying to get rid of the last of its stock, but by then what's the point when all the games will require a newer 80 series card, which again Nvidia will only make a few hundred thousand of... and the cycle repeats.

I wouldn't mind if I had to wait a few weeks or even a couple months for production to pick up again or whatever but we're literally talking years, like 2+ years of no 5080's or 5090's in circulation. I've signed up to every major retailer in the GPU and signed up to be notified when they come back in stock but I suspect that email will never come... Or if it does, they'll be bought by bots before I can even click on the link in my inbox.

What a strange world we live in.

[Electric Cupcake]

Trump-tax is already sending prices to hell, so if you didn't get everything you needed last December, it might be better to wait.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

People should just stop buying those high end sandwiches to send a message.
Me I´m planning to just get 9070 XT for 1440p and be done with this crap. This whole Nvidia lineup is a joke.

[󠀡󠀡]

*DEEP BREATH*

[wesnef]

Originally posted by Alxndr:

But Nvidia only makes a few hundred thousand 50 series cards, Why? What benefit is there? Why not just make 10million of them and make billions more profit?

To me it's simple maths.

250,000 GPUs @ $2,000 each = $500million.
10million GPUs @ $2,000 each = $20billion.

Part of it is, for all that the forums & tech websites fill up with chatter about the **90 cards, there aren't 10 million people willing to pay $2k for a GPU. Or even $1k.
If you look at the Steam Hardware Survey, 60 & 70-tier cards (going back multiple generations) are the vast majority of the GPUs in use.

edit: also, are the 4080/4090 even still in production? Or is it just down to dwindling supplies of new ones, and all the used ones being sold to pay for 5080's and 90's?

[Guydodge]

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Trump-tax is already sending prices to hell, so if you didn't get everything you needed last December, it might be better to wait.

like what ? please elaborate

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by Guydodge:

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Trump-tax is already sending prices to hell, so if you didn't get everything you needed last December, it might be better to wait.

like what ? please elaborate

I've been seeing parts jump by $200 already.

[MOAB]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

People should just stop buying those high end :poop: sandwiches to send a message.
Me I´m planning to just get 9700 XT for 1440p and be done with this crap. This whole Nvidia lineup is a joke.

If you can't afford to buy a real GPU just say so

[Alxndr]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

People should just stop buying those high end :poop: sandwiches to send a message.
Me I´m planning to just get 9700 XT for 1440p and be done with this crap. This whole Nvidia lineup is a joke.

I'm currently running a 4070 with a 1440p monitor but I'm seriously considering selling my 1440p monitor can going back to 1080p.

I mean what's the point in having a 1440p 144hz monitor if I can only get 60 - 70fps in modern games without any upscaling tech? And forget ray tracing that's only possible with dlss and frame gen.

I only bought my 4070 a year ago but I reckon it only has another 2 years of shelf life in it before games released in 2026 - 2027 reduce this card to a hunk of crap.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by MOAB:

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

People should just stop buying those high end sandwiches to send a message.
Me I´m planning to just get 9700 XT for 1440p and be done with this crap. This whole Nvidia lineup is a joke.

If you can't afford to buy a real GPU just say so

I indeed can`t justify buying $2000 GPU and 1200W PSU with its insane power consumption (pretty sure it`s gone be more like $3000 because of scalpers), nothing shameful admitting that.
People should not be pushed to spend insane amounts of money like that on a hobby by greedy Nvidia and AAA companies producing unoptimized rubbish, especially with current terrible economy.

[Philco7a]

amazon return auction website. 4080 super with pc brand new. $970
https://www.bidfta.com/471089/item-detail/37805526

[Philco7a]

brand new 4090:
https://www.bidfta.com/470321/item-detail/37647504

[Philco7a]

another, all amazon returns.
https://www.bidfta.com/472641/item-detail/37854013

[MOAB]

4080/90 and 5080/90 all day son

[Tonepoet]

Shortages are almost certainly caused in large part by scalpers. The 9800x3D is rarely in stock at retail prices.

High end cards are also low volume product 'cause not many people can afford to spend $1000+ on a graphics card. It is pretty normal for components to have so-called "paper launches" where the product is officially released but unavailable because the inventory is too low.

Might take a while stock to stabilize but I reckon it probably will.

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Trump-tax is already sending prices to hell, so if you didn't get everything you needed last December, it might be better to wait.

Not really. Last I checked Trump was considering a taiwanese tariff[focustaiwan.tw] but considering means it hasn't even been implemented yet so chip prices are unaffected for the time being

Also the official M.S.R.P. of the 4080 super was $1,000 which is the same as the 5080. Product tiers having the same launch price as their predecessors is pretty normal in this line of business. 9800x3D shortages have been commonplace since the part launched in sept.

Yeah, I know partner cards are higher priced. That's pretty normal too though.

I'm taken the opposite approach. I ordered a 5800xt C.P.U. since the price seemed okay and I'm looking to get an RX 9070 whenever A.M.D. announces that, and by the time those parts aren't good enough anymore the Trump presidency will be over and whomever the next president is likely won't be as protectionist as Trump.

If Nvidia announces a price hike that raises the M.S.R.P. of the 5080 in response to Trump tariffs then you can blame him, but until then I'd say thre are two other major factors to blame:

1. A.M.D. announced they are skipping flagship product to focus on midrange product, so Nvidia doesn't need to be especially competitive on the high end. This allows the people at Nvidia more lattitude to price their own flagship product however they want for lack of competition.
   
   
2. The 4090 regularly sold above M.S.R.P. and experienced a price hike for some reason, likely relating to Trump tariffs.

However as the 4090 launched in 2022, it was the middle of the Biden administration, so I'm not sure how much you can blame Trump for that. Biden could have repealed or revised Trump tariffs, but he didn't.[www.npr.org]

In any case, anything residual from Trump's fist term would have still been in effect come in the last November through December shopping period and things do not seem especially unusual now.

Also, it's possibly better to buy new components if you need them now to try an dodge tariffs. I just ordered a 5800xt C.P.U. for that reason. By the time that's no longer relevant for my needs we'll probably be halfway into the next presidency, and I can't imagine the next president would be as protectionist as Trump so tariffs will probably be walked back too.

[Illusion of Progress]

Originally posted by Alxndr:

Even the 4080's are still sold out everywhere... I just don't understand it. When Apple releases a new iphone, they make tens of millions of them so everyone can easily get one and they make so much money from it.

But Nvidia only makes a few hundred thousand 50 series cards, Why? What benefit is there? Why not just make 10million of them and make billions more profit?

Consumer segment graphics cards are not the priority of nVidia (nor perhaps even AMD) right now.

This RTX 50 series launch is being referred to as a paper launch by many, due to how few products were apparently produced.

A large portion of the RTX 40 series has stopped production, hasn't it? Those who were waiting on the RTX 50 series and couldn't get one have turned to alternatives like the RTX 4080/Super and RX 7900 XTX, which would explain why you're may be seeing those become harder to get.

Originally posted by Alxndr:

To me it's simple maths.

250,000 GPUs @ $2,000 each = $500million.
10million GPUs @ $2,000 each = $20billion.

Maybe Nvidia just isn't capable of creating that many GPUs I dunno but they sure as hell have no problem making millions of data centre GPUs.

The last part is your answer.

Production time is finite.

They have a very, very long wait list on AI accelerators. nVidia can sell those for a much higher profit margin than they can get from consumer GeForce products, especially the mainstream ones that have lower profit margins, which explains why the former high end is being cut down to below where the mid-range was not all that long ago (RTX 5080 being the example here).

Ergo, the small number of consumer graphics cards is explained by the finite production time being prioritized towards products that have higher profit margins.

Originally posted by Alxndr:

I guess in about 6 years when the 50 series has been discontinued and no longer receiving hardware support or valid warranty etc I could probably scoop one up from a company trying to get rid of the last of its stock, but by then what's the point when all the games will require a newer 80 series card, which again Nvidia will only make a few hundred thousand of... and the cycle repeats.

You're worried about nothing.

Games aren't going to require what people don't have, or else those games will sell less well than they could otherwise. They don't require the latest high end stuff; people just have serious FOMO these days.

Look at what the average gamer actually has right now. A hex core CPU (moving towards octo core) with 16 GB RAM and an RTX 3060/4060.

Now that might not get you as high of settings, but it going to work and not be terrible on most games. You'll also probably have little difficulty getting something a bit better than that, even if it's not "high end".

Originally posted by Alxndr:

I wouldn't mind if I had to wait a few weeks or even a couple months for production to pick up again or whatever but we're literally talking years, like 2+ years of no 5080's or 5090's in circulation.

The RTX 50 series just released. How do you know it's going to have over two years of poor accessibility?

And even if it does, the market will self correct. Games can't be made for what nobody has. People will live if they have to use a lower quality preset (we're going that way regardless with upscaling and frame generation picking up some of the slack on slowing advancement) or accept lower frames rates. This is a luxury, not a necessity.

Originally posted by Alxndr:

What a strange world we live in.

To this, I absolutely agree.

The two biggest changes I've noticed in the hardware space since decades ago is...

1. Advancement is getting harder/slowing in a lot of regards. Sometimes more expensive, too (but usually only at the higher end).

2. Other new and emerging markets are competing with the consumer market, making accessibility even harder, but this mostly pertains to graphics cards and mostly the higher end ones, and especially when the product has just released.

3. I said two but this continues off the last one sort of. FOMO is in full gear. It's like people want the latest thing to feel like they're "in" or "part of something" and that they aren't if they don't have it. It's absurd to me. This didn't seem to be the case decades ago. You can get an enjoyable experience without being on the latest thing. With slowing advancement, even the "every other generation" upgrade cycle is becoming excessive and a pure luxury, not a need.