The prices for graphics cards have now been well above the recommended retail prices of Nvidia and AMD for over a year. For some models, dealers charge three times the RRP. And yet the tickets are bought. GameStar readers are now spending a lot more money than they did in the years before the crisis. This was already confirmed by our last survey on the subject from the beginning of July 2021:
Sharp increase
You have never paid so much money for GPUs
Now we asked again: How much money do you spend on graphics cards? Has the buying behavior of GameStar readers shifted again in favor of higher prices?
Which data do we evaluate? A total of 5,394 readers took part in the survey up to and including December 21, 2021. The data is compared with previous surveys. These come from the years 2012 (approx. 4,200 answers), 2014 (approx. 8,000 answers), 2016 (approx. 5,400 answers) and, as already mentioned, from the beginning of July 2021 (approx. 11,000 answers).
Graphics cards up to 500 dollars are the new sweet spot
Until 2016 graphics cards were the most popular in a price range of 200 to 300 dollars. That was the so-called sweet spot. Back then, there were powerful mid-range models like the GTX 970 for the money. The successor GTX 1070 also cost 500 dollars five years ago.
Today a completely different picture emerges: graphics cards over 500 dollars experienced the most dramatic increase. In July, around 57 percent of those surveyed said they would pay at least as much for a GPU, now it’s a good 59 percent.
1.91 percent of those questioned voted “none of the above”.
Almost every fifth person even spends up to 1,000 dollars
It gets even more interesting if we break down the numbers further. Around 59 percent of those surveyed spend over 500 dollars on graphics cards. Almost one in three of this group, and thus one in five in total, even spends 700 to 1,000 dollars on a 3D accelerator:
| Over 2,000 dollars | 2.43 percent |
| 1,500 to 2,000 dollars | 4.41 percent |
| 1,000 to 1,500 dollars | 8.84 percent |
| 700 to 1,000 dollars | 19.13 percent |
| 500 to 700 dollars | 24.25 percent |
| 300 to 500 dollars | 28.31 percent |
| 200 to 300 dollars | 8.68 percent |
| 100 to 200 dollars | 1.45 percent |
| Up to 100 dollars | 0.59 percent |
| None of that | 1.91 percent |
Why do we spend so much more on graphics cards?
Quite clear: Simply because the prices for graphics cards have increased exorbitantly due to the shortage of chips. The chip crisis, in turn, is based on the effects of the corona pandemic on the overall market, high chip requirements in a large number of sectors and branches of industry, as well as scalpers and crypto miners.
Do you see any other reasons why we are now ready to spend so much more money on graphics cards? Is it because the typical PC gamer is getting older and has more money? Feel free to write it in the comments!
