The pandemic-inspired GPU boom – when everyone was either building a gaming PC or mining crypto – is well and truly over. Sales figures for Q1 of 2023 show a massive 38.2% decline in the number of Nvidia, AMD, and Intel GPUs sold compared to the same period last year. So why is no one buying graphics cards?
According to a new report by Jon Peddie Research, it’s all to do with supply chain issues. There’s actually too many last generation cards on the market, so retailers are trying to shift them as soon as possible. In fact, research analyst, C. Robert Dow, states that the slump in GPU sales is due to “oversupply in the market caused by pandemic-era supply chain inconsistencies and orders.”
If you’re a graphics card manufacturer or batter for team blue, red, or green, there’s some cause for optimism. The report gave a rosier outlook for the rest of the year, with Dow predicting that the release of Nvidia’s RTX 4060 series, “traditionally Nvidia’s most popular with gamers”, will help boost sales.
That said, with the RTX 4060 Ti’s lukewarm reception from critics, including our own Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB review, can we really count on these cards to be the savior of the graphics card market?
Despite the GPU market continuing its downward trajectory in 2023, there are plenty of great pixel pushers to get your hands on! With Nvidia RTX 4000 series and AMD RX 7000 series cards coming thick and fast, check out our guide to the best graphics card to help you suss out the competition.