Recently Nvidia touted the wider availability of both their GeForce GTX Founders Edition GPUs and those of board partners at or close to MSRP. Now it's AMD's turn, announcing that a wide lineup of Radeon RX graphics cards are available "in quantity" at multiple North American retailers.
Whether a result of the GPU mining market reaching saturation, or a healthier supply of VRAM being available for graphics card vendors, this is fantastic news. PC gamers have been battling inflated prices for an inconceivably long period of time, even causing DIY builders to entertain pre-built systems as a more affordable option.
Hopefully this is a strong sign that things are getting back to normal.
"Over the last few months, AMD has worked to replenish the channel and get Radeon GPUs into the hands of as many gamers as possible," an AMD representative writes via email. "We anticipate continuing to see greater availability for all Radeon RX Series GPUs in the weeks ahead."
To illustrate the availability, AMD shot over some examples of various Radeon RX cards, ranging from the RX 570 to RX Vega 64 at three different retailers.
- GIGABYTE Radeon RX Vega64: $599, Newegg
- GIGABYTE Radeon RX Vega64: $599, Amazon
- MSI Radeon RX Vega56: $499, Amazon
- GIGABYTE Radeon RX Vega56: $499 (after $50 rebate), Newegg
- ASUS Radeon RX 580: $269 (after $30 rebate), B&H Photo
- MSI Radeon RX 580: $279, Newegg
- GIGABYTE Radeon RX 580: $289, Newegg
- ASUS Radeon RX 570: $239 (after $20 rebate), Newegg
- ASUS Radeon RX 570: $269 (after $20 rebate), Newegg
- MSI Radeon RX 570: $279, Newegg
Interestingly, some of these are even cheaper than listed above. Some, as is sadly prone to happen, are $50 more expensive than AMD has mentioned, only a few hours after their email to press. So, your mileage may vary here.
The big takeaway is that a majority of these are actually selling for -- wait for it -- at or close to MSRP! Granted, during this phase in a GPU generation's life cycle, we're normally looking at deep price cuts. But I suppose it's a promising step toward that.
