Weird price history on Graphics cards in NZ

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Niber

25 posts

Geek

#320065 2-Jul-2025 11:59

Every single graphics card that I check the price history for has the same pattern, that the always start out cheaper, and only occationally does it return to that cheap price.

So does that mean "always buy cards when they've just been released", or is it maybe just some error? that perhaps these cards were not actually in stock at that time so it was impossible to buy them?

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Qazzy03

478 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3389062 2-Jul-2025 12:31

Yup this has been the normal since covid for gpus.

Both AMD and Nvidia set a have low/tight MSRP for cards and the expectation is the 3rd party manufacturers have at least one model at or around yhat price for the first wave of gpu stock. Once that release window is over or the first wave of stock sells out, the gloves are off and ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte etc will increase their prices for the next wave or discontinue the basic model in favour of OC or high tier models where they earn more % mark up.

So yes, release day is usually the cheapest GPUs are these days. Btw not just NZ but this world wide.

Qazzy03

478 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3389068 2-Jul-2025 12:47

Niber:

Fascinating, so they do that it will get more favourable reviews rather than being reviewed as "overpriced" I guess.

The important question then is, does this mean always buy on release, or does it mean that those release ones are hopeless to get unless really really lucky?

Based on the last couple of years, the general trend is yes and yes to both questions.

Manufacturers have gotten smarter and they often stop producing current models of card months before the next generation is released. So generally there are very few old models when the next generation releases.

Gpus that don't tend to sell out on launch/release day tend to be ones that are deemed not good value. They can dip in price after release. However it can be a bit of a crystal ball situation. Sometimes you need to do skme research to figure out if launch price is a good deal or overpriced.