Upgrading video card in 2018

[BOOM! Tribium]

So it's no surprise that video card prices are through the roof. Recently I got the urge to upgrade simply because I thought I could make a quick buck on my 980ti and get a 1080 for nothing from the sale of my 980ti.

Story went like this. I sold my 980ti for $425 in hopes of getting a 1080 for $625 (so basically $200). I bought my 980ti at launch for $730 so I thought getting more than 50% back on my initial purchase and only have to pay $200 to get me up to somewhat recent tech seemed like a good deal. Good deal too good to be true that is...

I ended up selling my card and purchasing a 1080 from frys online store for $625. Big smile on my face thinking that in 2 weeks I'd be back up and running. 2 weeks came and went and no card. I called frys and they said they were expecting to get a shipment from EVGA but never got it. Mind you 2 days after I purchased that card it went from $580+tax to $899+ tax. They said that I would be stuck in a back order queue until they got enough supply. At this point I had been offline for 2 weeks and was starting to freak out a bit because there was 0 supply everywhere and no timeline on when anyone would have any.

I kept checking local stores until finally at around week 3 I found 1080 supply at microcenter (similar to frys). Luckily my wife worked next door to the place so I had to run over and grab me one before they sold out. So basically 3 weeks to get lucky and get a 1080. It ended up costing around $720 so upgrading was really more of a hassle and a loss at $300 as I really didn't "need" to upgrade, but was screwed at that point if I wanted to game on my PC.

Fast forward to today and my order at Fry's is just about to get cancelled. They sent me an email saying that unless I send them a response they were going to cancel my order. I thought about not getting my order cancelled that way I could have a "back-up card" but I'm pretty sure they would never send the card anyway.

So the moral of the story is DONT SELL YOUR STOCK UNLESS YOU HAVE A REPLACEMENT ON HAND.

Even then, it's such a terrible time to purchase that you're better off holding on to what you have until later this year when hopefully nVidia/AMD release dedicated mining GPU's. Although I dont expect retailers to lower the prices too much. $800-900 will probably become the new "norm" for flagship. Its kind of like when the transportation system says they need to increase bus fair due to high gas prices, but then never reduce it when gas prices go back down but I digress.

IF you definitely need a new GPU right now I would highly recommend going to EVGA online store and subscribing to email alerts so that you pay ridiculous prices. Be warned that usually they sell out within 1-5 min after receiving the alert as I tried buying that way.

Also if you can hold off, NZXT has a new builder tool where you can build a PC and you only pay about $100 "builders fee" which is pretty damn competitive as you're getting decent if not good components in your rig vs iBuypower and stuff.

Anyway hope this info helps someone be a little more informed about the GPU market in 2018.


https://www.evga.com/products/productlist.aspx?type=0

https://www.nzxt.com/bldnow

[Lt. Maverick]

Tribium!!! Still Upgrading to the latest stuff LOL!

I'm still running my EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 SC 4GB beast and there's nothing this think can't run smooth as glass. Blew  $569.00 on it via Amazon in September of 2015 and still lovin' it.

The GeForce 10 series cards will be obsolete before all the ones on backorder will be filled. Sorry man.. There is NO WAY I'm ever paying $800.00 for a video card, but I agree, that's the way things are going. RIDICULOUS!

Have a good weekend Bro,
Mav