Have Graphics cards really got more expensive?

[DarkMatter]

Upon waiting for my 1070 to turn up tomorrow I thought it might be amusing to look at reviews of graphics cards I have historically bought.When looking for one this time around all I seemed to read was about how expensive things have got and how AMD/Nvidia have put up the prices of everything. Interestingly it made me feel better about the price of the 1070 after looking at how much graphics cards I have historically owned have cost. I used dollars as this takes away the influence of the current political issues out of the equation.

1999 ATI rage 128 - $200
2003 ATI 9800Pro - $399
2004 Nvidia 6800GT - $399
2006 Nvidia 7900GT - $299
2007 AMD Hd2900XT - $399
2008 AMD HD4870 - $299
2011 Nvidia 560ti - $250
2013 Nvidia 770 - $399
2016 Nvidia 1070 - $399

It was also interesting to see that so far I am 5:4 in favour of AMD in terms of ownership. I always buy what makes the best financial sense at the time which seems over the last 8 years its been NVidia?

I would be interesting to see other peoples GPU stacks which include the launch price.

 

[Doogles]

I think they have recently yes. I remember how cheap the GTX 670 was you could get one for around £300 when I was looking now for the same type they are more like £400 but with the pound weakening I guess it is to be expected slightly, although I don't think it has weakened at 30%! Wages haven't gone up that much if at all since 2012 either.

I don't complain about the pricing too much because at the end of the day if you want to be able to game and you want to play 1440p/1080p then you can always go on budget and get a second hand card that will managed for under £100 or even £50 if you get a HD 7950.

 

[pastymuncher]

I have never paid the premium launch price for a gpu and always wait for the prices to drop. There was one exception when I bought a pair of BFG 7800GT's for £220 each not long after launch. The difference now is that prices are not really dropping. They launched high and stayed high.

 

[Greebo]

We have been here before. in general the top of the range card has gone up $50 to $100 over the years.

SOmetimes when there is stiff competition the prices of both AMD and Nvidia have been kept low.

Other times, the price increases a bit.

I think the 8800 Ultra was $829 and even the 8800GTX was $649 at launch.

Account for inflation it makes the current 1080 "cheap"

What has changed is that we dont get 2.5 dollars to the pound and we are heading for parity even and VAT used to be only 15% not 20%

The 1080GTX launched at $599 for the base card RRP. If we still had 2.5 dollars to the pound and 15% vat we would only be paying £275 for them. Nobody would be complaining about price.

 

[Rroff]

In the past - often at or not long after launch - I've several times been able to buy 2 of the cards in the x70 type position in the line up for around the average 1070 prices at the moment - and they were individually quite a bit faster over the previous generation high end card compared to the 1070. So in that respect I consider the 1070 expensive.

I have done quite well on nabbing special offers though - i.e. the 8800GT dipped like £50 off or something shortly after launch before bumping back to the full price and I grabbed 3 then (running 2 in SLI and 1 for another machine).

 

[VincentHanna]

In 2008 I remember getting $1.80 to the pound when I went to the States.

Now you would get $1.20 to the pound

That makes a big difference to the UK cost, even if US prices have stayed the same.

 

[Gregster]

I remember the GTX 8800 Ultra launch price of over $800 way way back.

 

[DarkMatter]

It seems that prices have changed very slightly but its all down to the dollar/GBP. Normally by now 3-6months after a GPU launch prices are starting to go down 10-20% but instead with the pound falling so much we are seeing price increases.

I will add that of the cards listed the only one I bought at launch was a HD2900XT, i was in America at the time and with the dollar/pound being 2.1:1 it seemed great value.

The other side which might be interesting is to put the figures through the inflation calculator to give the true value now....

 

[KillBoY_UK]

Upon waiting for my 1070 to turn up tomorrow I thought it might be amusing to look at reviews of graphics cards I have historically bought.When looking for one this time around all I seemed to read was about how expensive things have got and how AMD/Nvidia have put up the prices of everything. Interestingly it made me feel better about the price of the 1070 after looking at how much graphics cards I have historically owned have cost. I used dollars as this takes away the influence of the current political issues out of the equation.

1999 ATI rage 128 - $200 - $289
2003 ATI 9800Pro - $399 - $522
2004 Nvidia 6800GT - $399 - $508
2006 Nvidia 7900GT - $299 - $357
2007 AMD Hd2900XT - $399 - $347
2008 AMD HD4870 - $299 - $344
2011 Nvidia 560ti - $250 - $267
2013 Nvidia 770 - $399 - $412
2016 Nvida 1070 - $399

It was also interesting to see that so far I am 5:4 in favour of AMD in terms of ownership. I always buy what makes the best financial sense at the time which seems over the last 8 years its been NVidia?

I would be interesting to see other peoples GPU stacks which include the launch price.

Adjusted for inflation, most of those cards are the 2nd fastest in the range bar a couple like the 560/770 so not easy to answer your question.

Personally I dont' think cards have gotten that much more expensive bar the 1080 (no competition) and titian cards (halo product).

 

[old gamer]

the 7970 was not a cheap card at launch, some sites were selling for £500 if i remember correctly

 

[Curlyriff]

We have been here before. in general the top of the range card has gone up $50 to $100 over the years.

SOmetimes when there is stiff competition the prices of both AMD and Nvidia have been kept low.

Other times, the price increases a bit.

I think the 8800 Ultra was $829 and even the 8800GTX was $649 at launch.

Account for inflation it makes the current 1080 "cheap"

What has changed is that we dont get 2.5 dollars to the pound and we are heading for parity even and VAT used to be only 15% not 20%

The 1080GTX launched at $599 for the base card RRP. If we still had 2.5 dollars to the pound and 15% vat we would only be paying £275 for them. Nobody would be complaining about price.

Just a thought but we have never got 2.5 dollars to the pound going back as far as 1990. The best year was 2007 where we got 2 dollars to the pound. The average is actually 1.6 dollars to the pound. VAT was also at 17.5% at 1991

So if we calculate at normal figures for the 1080 then you would be at £439 and not £275 which is an imaginary amount that we have never seen in terms of Graphics cards since Nvidia started in 1993 although ATI was 1985 or 2006 for it to be the AMD side.

 

[Curlyriff]

Adjusted for inflation, most of those cards are the 2nd fastest in the range bar a couple like the 560/770 so not easy to answer your question.

Personally I dont' think cards have gotten that much more expensive bar the 1080 (no competition) and titian cards (halo product).

It still answers the question. The 1070 is the 2nd fastest as are the others that you have pointed out so they are relevant to each other. What is shows is in 03/04 is when we have the highest cost of GPU's with 07/08 being much better.

That trend actually follows how well the Pound was to the Dollar so for us it looked even better relevant to the market place. In 03/04 we had average of 1.5 dollars to pound with 07 being 2 dollar to pound so that made anything after seem expensive for the UK market.

 

[Nasher]

It's not just the pound dropping in value slightly. The dollar has got stronger too. 2007-8 was when the crash happened and the dollar was hit hard

Yet prices didn't actually move much, funny that! When it's the other way round it's like -0.01p = +10% price increase :/

 

[lltfdaniel]

Upon waiting for my 1070 to turn up tomorrow I thought it might be amusing to look at reviews of graphics cards I have historically bought.When looking for one this time around all I seemed to read was about how expensive things have got and how AMD/Nvidia have put up the prices of everything. Interestingly it made me feel better about the price of the 1070 after looking at how much graphics cards I have historically owned have cost. I used dollars as this takes away the influence of the current political issues out of the equation.

1999 ATI rage 128 - $200
2003 ATI 9800Pro - $399
2004 Nvidia 6800GT - $399
2006 Nvidia 7900GT - $299
2007 AMD Hd2900XT - $399
2008 AMD HD4870 - $299
2011 Nvidia 560ti - $250
2013 Nvidia 770 - $399
2016 Nvidia 1070 - $399

It was also interesting to see that so far I am 5:4 in favour of AMD in terms of ownership. I always buy what makes the best financial sense at the time which seems over the last 8 years its been NVidia?

I would be interesting to see other peoples GPU stacks which include the launch price.

All in all yes prices have gone up.

I remember you can get a 4870 for over 200 quid.

Today's equivalent gtx1070 costing around 400 quid.

 

[AWPC]

All of the above also factor in GPU markets are highly volatile now & move way faster price wise. Finally unlike many other UK retail businesses Computer parts do not seem to be able to hedge against this so that create's additional volatility into the pricing.

I remember paying OCUK I think £568 for a 8800 GTX Ultra in 2006 thinking that was a LOT of money then 2 weeks ago I paid £698.99 for a fantastic GTX1080

$-£ is clearly going to be close to 1:1 parity within a few years & right now the US Presidential elections uncertainty will cause the £ to drop further in a few weeks so if your looking to buy do it soon the next batches of GPUs are not going to be any cheaper are they!

 

[Rroff]

All in all yes prices have gone up.

I remember you can get a 4870 for over 200 quid.

Today's equivalent gtx1070 costing around 400 quid.

4870 was the top AMD card for a year in that line up - the 1070 would be more like the HD 4850 though in terms of performance over the previous generation more like the 4830.

 

[DarrenM343]

When Trump wins, who knows, maybe money will flood into £'s

Definitely a large range of cards to choose from these days. Pity many seem to think they're entitled to the best at cheaper prices

 

[Mei]

companies will charge what they can as always

the size of the cards bothers me more than anything this year
WHY SO BIG!

 

[Greebo]

Just a thought but we have never got 2.5 dollars to the pound going back as far as 1990. The best year was 2007 where we got 2 dollars to the pound. The average is actually 1.6 dollars to the pound. VAT was also at 17.5% at 1991

So if we calculate at normal figures for the 1080 then you would be at £439 and not £275 which is an imaginary amount that we have never seen in terms of Graphics cards since Nvidia started in 1993 although ATI was 1985 or 2006 for it to be the AMD side.

Yeah you are right, $2.11 to the pound in 2007 was the peak.

Vat was 17.5% back then bu dont forget for just over a year, 2008-2009 it dropped to 15%

So lets say two dollars and 15% which still makes a 1080 £344 inc VAT compared to £525+ we are seeing now.

The point is £344 would compare very favourably with what I paid for gfx cards in the past. My 7970 cost much more than that and even my 260GTX cost me over £300.

 

[DarkMatter]

A lot of people seemed to have commented on these being the second fastest etc.

An alternative way of looking at it is maybe GPU manufacturers have identified that there is a market for more expensive products so products which might not have existed historically now do? So a 1070 would have been a 1080 and the 1080 would never have hit the shelves?

I feel now we live in a global market with more extremes between rich and poor so there is a huge drive for ultra cheap and also ultra expensive which might not have been there 10+years ago.