Graphics card?

Jaymd70 · 9 May 2021 at 18:52

Been buying various parts for a build for my son and have 1 thing missing. Yes a GPU!
Is there a way to get on a waiting list for any cards coming in and which card would you go for.
System is
AMD Ryzen 3600
MSI B450m Mortar Max
Crucial MX500 1tb
Samsung Nvme 980 pro 500gb
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 2x8gb 3600 RGB
Corsair RM650i PSU
Fractal Meshify 2 compact
Corsair SP120 RGB fans x3
Managed to pick up a Viewsonic XG270 2nd hand so looking at 1080p in very good fps at the moment and not 100% sure what he plays some mine craft but mainly COD style games and Valhalla or something like that.
Any help would be appreciated.
Budget was around £400 but I know that seems optimistic.

Joxeon · 9 May 2021 at 18:56

The only realistic way to get a GPU is to set up discord alerts or to go for a prebuilt system which they seem to have stock for most the time but the second is probably not an option since you have most the parts already.

Jaymd70 · 9 May 2021 at 19:03

Joxeon said:
The only realistic way to get a GPU is to set up discord alerts or to go for a prebuilt system which they seem to have stock for most the time but the second is probably not an option since you have most the parts already.

I have seem a few pre-built come up but like you said we purchased all the parts over the last month or so. Plus wanted to build it with him as he’s at that age (14) he needs to start learning things they don’t teach at school.
Have followed discord but seems a nightmare being quick enough.
Missed out on a 2060 by seconds and even that was £480.

The_Arbiter · 9 May 2021 at 19:05

Hate to say it, either be patient till this over (when, we don't know), or pay twice the price. Buying a prebuilt might have been a better option. But since you got this already i'd probably try and get a rx570 second hand on FB marketplace for £200. R9 290/390/fury equally powerful but a bit aged. Sadly you can't even buy a GPU from OCUK atm, maybe if you ring them?? Should be able to get a 1650 super for £400, ouch though at that price.

Though trying to buy cheap now gets you very little. While £400 is a lot, you're really looking at £200 GPUs in current situation. So my opinion is you may as well just try and get a 3060, 3060ti, 6700xt, for £600 (from an actual retailer!) and be done with it. Buying an old card you'll just end paying out again for an upgrade and get nothing back for the old card as the market will be saturated. Whatever you do, don't buy "new" from a non retailer, any warranty claims will probably be ignored.

Sorry for the bad news.

Jaymd70 · 9 May 2021 at 19:10

I know patients is the key.
We’ll keep looking and thanks I will stick to official means.

The_Arbiter · 9 May 2021 at 19:14

I will say i've not used any bots, alerts, etc and could have picked up endless cards for less than £500 without mad clicking. Can't help anymore than that as competitor talk is not allowed. But i did say previously maybe ringing OCUK might be worth a go

Jaymd70 · 9 May 2021 at 19:17

Will ring them this week.Thanks

nlel1975 · 9 May 2021 at 19:19

Graphics cards won’t be overpriced forever, manufacturers will want to get them back down to their intended RRP as soon as possible as they won’t sell nearly as many at these high prices.

newuser · 9 May 2021 at 19:28

Not good value but 2060 non supers seem to be popping up. Price generally high 500s.

nlel1975 · 9 May 2021 at 19:34

I simply refuse to buy an overpriced graphics card, I’m sticking with my RX580 until prices go back to normal. I’m after a 6800XT but by the time they come back down the next gen might be available.

CuriousTomCat · 9 May 2021 at 21:26

I'm in the same boat but I refuse to waste money on inflated prices. So I bought a second hand 2Gb 5850 for £16.20. I'm having great fun playing older games like Battlefield 3 etc.

When the mining bubble bursts and stores have too much stock, I'll get a good deal on a 3060 or whatever I fancy. Shops will be trying very hard to tempt us with deals.

FoxEye · 10 May 2021 at 00:55

The_Arbiter said:
I will say i've not used any bots, alerts, etc and could have picked up endless cards for less than £500 without mad clicking. Can't help anymore than that as competitor talk is not allowed. But i did say previously maybe ringing OCUK might be worth a go

You could say it, but there's no way anybody here would believe it. Unless you said those cards were 8800 GTs or something

When the entire world is busily F5'ing every single retailer looking for GPUs, the idea that everybody has missed this one retailer that you know of... yeah, I don't think so.

The_Arbiter · 10 May 2021 at 08:34

FoxEye said:
You could say it, but there's no way anybody here would believe it. Unless you said those cards were 8800 GTs or something

When the entire world is busily F5'ing every single retailer looking for GPUs, the idea that everybody has missed this one retailer that you know of... yeah, I don't think so.

You'll see people on here reporting the same thing. Cards are hanging about up to days now. Even OCuk are listing cards now, those however are only top end only, also silly priced ones. But these are still selling.

azazl187 · 10 May 2021 at 08:41

Maybe these are now just the prices? I can't see them dropping ever now and if they do it will be no where near RRP. Scalpers are here to stay and when they run out of people to sell to in the UK the distribution will go to other companies.

Cryptocurrency is also here to stay which will also keep prices high. We got a taste of this with the 1080ti and it sort of normalised for a bit but then went crazy again and we haven't really seen any change since.

Yes we have Brexit and covid in the mix now but I still fail to see how prices will ever normalise again. It's not just gamers that want GPUs nowadays

FoxEye · 10 May 2021 at 11:11

azazl187 said:
Maybe these are now just the prices? I can't see them dropping ever now and if they do it will be no where near RRP. Scalpers are here to stay and when they run out of people to sell to in the UK the distribution will go to other companies.

Cryptocurrency is also here to stay which will also keep prices high. We got a taste of this with the 1080ti and it sort of normalised for a bit but then went crazy again and we haven't really seen any change since.

Yes we have Brexit and covid in the mix now but I still fail to see how prices will ever normalise again. It's not just gamers that want GPUs nowadays

Tbh, I think there's a good chance you're right. These are the new prices. Scalping and mining are both here to stay.

Such a shame, because it's going to put PC gaming back into the dark ages. Well out of the reach of many.

The_Arbiter · 10 May 2021 at 11:59

FoxEye said:
Tbh, I think there's a good chance you're right. These are the new prices. Scalping and mining are both here to stay.

Such a shame, because it's going to put PC gaming back into the dark ages. Well out of the reach of many.

Merely wishing for a best of a bad situation here, but if PC gaming got overly expensive to be mainstream like it is now, we might see retraction from the big corporates and the developers might go back to being able to finish their games. Though on second thoughts, i remember games from the 2000s releasing a bit broken.

FoxEye · 10 May 2021 at 12:12

The complexity of modern AAA games means that, at best you can hope for fast patching, not that a game will be relatively bug free on launch. There's just absolutely no chance that a billion lines of code will not have a decent number of bugs in it

Heck, even discovering the bugs can be an arduous business.

arc@css · 10 May 2021 at 13:20

I would, where possible, aim to get the lowest ranking card that will suffice for now, e.g. 1650 or something close to that, and although you'll still be paying more for it than you would like, it won't amount to a very large sum of money compared to mid/higher-end cards where prices are ludicrous.

Now and then, just having a look around to keep an eye on the situation has, on occasion, shown 1650/S for a bit less than expected despite the current climate.

nlel1975 · 10 May 2021 at 14:40

FoxEye said:
Tbh, I think there's a good chance you're right. These are the new prices. Scalping and mining are both here to stay.

If you check the AMD store they have no stock but realistic prices...

https://www.amd.com/en/direct-buy/je

Technically not a competitor as they don’t sell to the UK on their website currently and list ocUK as one of the retailers.

FoxEye · 10 May 2021 at 17:16

nlel1975 said:
If you check the AMD store they have no stock but realistic prices...

https://www.amd.com/en/direct-buy/je

Technically not a competitor as they don’t sell to the UK on their website currently and list ocUK as one of the retailers.

The stock drops at AMD.com could generously be described as "infrequent". Good luck to anyone trying to get one from there.

Yes, they do happen. But they also sell out instantly, as you might imagine.