AMD’s cheapest RDNA 3 graphics card has already dropped below MSRP, despite only being released in December ’22. A sign of more GPU price drops to come? Probably not. There are many other pricing factors (opens in new tab) are involved in it. But it’s likely to be a result of AMD and Nvidia’s continued competition.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen this kind of price drop early in a graphics card’s lifespan, but lo and behold, there are two RX 7900 XTs listed on Newegg for under the MSRP of $899. There was a third even cheaper model earlier, also a BioStar reference card, but after it was spotted by Videocardz (opens in new tab) rose in price.
However, there is the reference with the ASRock brand (opens in new tab) RX 7900 XT and third-party designed XFX Merc 310 (opens in new tab) on sale for $880 right now. A price cut from MSRP in both cases, albeit a small one.
And what could be the reason for such a price drop? Supply and demand, for one. If retailers have stock of a graphics card to switch and aren’t flying out the door fast enough, a price cut will certainly help.
Although the elephant in the room is Nvidia’s RTX 4070 Ti (opens in new tab).
Nvidia launched the RTX 4070 Ti last month with an MSRP of $799, a total of $100 cheaper than the RX 7900 XT (opens in new tab). These two cards trade blows in our 4K tests, with the Radeon occasionally a nose ahead in normal rasterized games. However, the RTX 4070 Ti can provide faster performance in some games. It also has the added benefit of Nvidia’s DLSS 3 upgrade and Generation Frame DLSS, which can deliver a significant frame rate boost in a compatible game.
You won’t always find the RTX 4070 Ti for exactly today’s MSRP, but sometimes a sale will bring a drop in price. like this Asus TUF RTX 4070 Ti for $800 (opens in new tab). Importantly, the GeForce is regularly cheaper than the RX 7900 XT by some margin, and I’m not convinced it’s a battle for the customer’s cash the Radeon card will win that often.
One thing is for sure: both AMD and Nvidia’s cheapest current-generation graphics cards remain very expensive today. I’d like to see both cards fall into the realm of reasonably affordable. I’d also like to think that AMD takes these pricing battles into account when deciding on pricing for the more mainstream RDNA 3 graphics cards. But the pricing is more limited at the lower end of the market, and so far my personal hopes and dreams don’t have yet to really impact the graphics card market that much. Darn.