GeForce RTX 3060 GPU Supply Increase & Reduced Graphics Card Prices In China

As Economics 101 teaches us, the forces of supply and demand are the key factors that determine the price of any good, and nowhere is this more evident than with the prices of graphics cards like the RTX 3060, which continue to be either completely sold out, or available at massively inflated prices all over the globe.

However, recent changes affecting both the supply of the RTX 3060 and other Nvidia 30 series cards, as well as the demand of GPUs in China, could be bringing about the beginning of the end of the graphics card shortage – read below to find out more!

Decreasing Demand For Graphics Cards - How Has Chinese Ban On Crypto Affected GPU Prices?

We’ve already reported on how Nvidia 30 series cards have been coming down in price through May into June in German and Austrian markets at least. This has come partially off the back of falling crypto prices but also due to Nvidia’s recent implementation of Lite Hash Rate technology (LHR) in some of their 30 series cards, essentially making them useless for cryptocurrency miners.

The most recent factor which has dramatically affected crypto prices however, and by extension the demand for GPUs from crypto miners, has been the wide-ranging clampdown by the Chinese government on cryptocurrencies.

Has China Banned Crypto?

Not quite – the Chinese government has yet to give an official and complete wide-ranging ban on cryptocurrencies but it has come very close. China’s communist party has always been suspicious of crypto – it prohibited banks from transacting in Bitcoin in 2013, made initial coin offerings illegal in 2017, and since May 2021 has issued multiple warnings about both mining and trading in crypto, directed to both the general public and towards all major financial companies operating within the country. Since then, various provincial governments, including those of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, have made moves to shut down mining hubs in their districts.

How Has The Chinese Crypto Clampdown Affected GPU Prices?

According to a study by the University of Cambridge, in April 2020 it was estimated that China accounted for around 65% of the hashrate of Bitcoin mining. The impact of Chinese miners is also huge on most other major cryptocurrencies. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin has dropped by 42% since the 9th May 2021.

The crypto price drop is already feeding through to reducing prices on graphics cards in China. As the below figures (taken from Tomshardware) show, the price drop on the Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 OC Edition for instance, is as large as 45%. How much this feeds through into the rest of the world where crypto bans are not in place remains to be seen.

Graphics Card	May 2021 Prices	June 2021 Prices	% Price Reduction
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Gaming X Trio	$2,273	$2,165	5%
MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio	$1,624	$1,237	24%
Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 OC Edition	$1,531	$835	45%
Colorful iGame GeForce RTX 3060 Ultra OC	$1,121	$711	33%

Increasing Graphics Card Supply - Nvidia Shifts Production To Improve GPU Stock Levels Of GeForce 30 Series

According to ITHome, Nvidia is pushing to increase the production of one of its most popular gaming GPUs, the moderately-priced, mid-range RTX 3060. Less favored by crypto miners, the RTX 3060 is much more in the price range of the average gamer than the flagship gaming GPUs of RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3080, and even the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3070. Nvidia foresees the increased supply first being made available to internet cafes, then to the wider retail sector slightly later. We may see the first signs of this greater supply coming in July at some point, though it may be later in the month until RTX 3060 prices begin to decrease in the wider retail sector.

In terms of the wider 30 series cards, Nvidia’s recent decision to limit production of the older generation 20 series cards, to instead focus on the 30 series, should also go some way to increasing supply and therefore increasing availability of GPUs, reducing their prices.

Whatever the outcome of these changes, stay locked onto WePC for all the latest updates about the global GPU shortage and factors affecting graphics card prices!