Before Nvidia launched its Ada Lovelace 40-series GPUs, it stated it would continue to sell Ampere alongside it. This was a new thing for Nvidia but also necessary because Ada launched right when crypto was drying up. That meant the market was flooded with new and used Ampere GPUs. It was also only launching its expensive GPUs first, so it still needed to have midrange and entry-level GPUs. Now Nvidia is getting a bit more serious about the situation and plans to cut prices on older GPUs. However, the cuts are so modest we have to wonder why it’s even bothering.
News of Nvidia’s plans comes from a report from the Chinese site MyDrivers (via Wccftech). It states that Nvidia is working with its partners to cut prices by about $7 on some older GPUs. Those GPUs include the GTX 16 series and some 30-series cards. Demand for GPUs has reportedly hit its nadir, and the price cut aims to help move some cards to clear the channel for newer 40-series GPUs. The cards supposedly getting a mini price cut include the GTX 1650 and 1630. The GTX 1650 is currently the most popular GPU on the Steam Survey leaderboards and sells for around $190. The GTX 1630 is a budget GPU that requires no external power and sells for $135.
The tiny GTX 1650 is the most popular GPU on Steam, according to its survey.
The report indicates that GPUs such as the GTX 1660, 1660 Ti, 1660 Super, and RTX 2060 are basically all sold out. That leaves just a few midrange cards left to remove from virtual shelves to make way for their eventual replacements. Nvidia is also keen on moving the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti out of the way. It recently updated the RTX 3060 Ti with GDDR6X memory but kept the price the same. That indicates it wants to move more of those GPUs immediately. It’s also notably held off on talking about the RTX 4060 thus far, probably because of excess channel inventory. We likely won’t hear about the RTX 4060 until the channel is almost empty.
At the same time, Nvidia is also likely staring at a glut of RTX 3080 Tis and 3090 Ti GPUs. Those are a tough sell, given their current pricing, so it’s possible they might also get a small price cut. Along these lines, Best Buy recently participated in a “clearance sale” for its high-end Ampere Founders Edition GPUs. The company offered dramatic price reductions and sold out almost instantly.
In its most recent earnings report, Nvidia shared that its gaming revenue was down 46% compared with last year. That’s a pretty brutal number, and the company says it’s partly due to excess inventory. “The year-on-year decline reflects the impact of channel inventory correction, which is largely behind us,” said Nvidia. It’s not totally behind the company, but it does seem close. We’ll know it’s really behind when the RTX 4060 launches. One thing to note is Nvidia’s GTC event takes place on March 20th. Though it’s an event for developers, it’s possible Nvidia could paper launch the GPU at that time.
Now Read:
- Nvidia RTX 4080, RTX 4070 Ti Debut in the Steam Hardware Survey
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and Radeon RX 7900 XT Top Sales Charts
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti: A Beefy GPU Hobbled by Pricing (Again)
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