GPUs are finally getting a price cut - which means you could upgrade your system for less

A graphics card with a row of fans with a cyanotic purple backlight in a futuristic design

(Image credit: Aleksandr Grechanyuk / Shutterstock)

It looks like there could be some good news for PC gamers, as it appears graphics card prices are finally falling - could the days of over-priced GPUs be over?

Not too long ago we noticed that the Nvidia RTX 4070 fell in price, prompting AMD to drop the cost of its rival RX 7800 XT, the lowest we’ve seen this GPU at. Now, this price war seems to be affecting even more older model graphics cards.

Each time we get a new launch of GPUs it’s normally expected the price of older models will go down quite a bit, which is what we’re seeing now that Nvidia’s RTX 40 series has just received an upgrade. With the new RTX 4070 Ti Super being the latest bit of kit on the scene (alongside the RTX 4070 Super and RTX 4080 Super), earlier models, including non-Super models are expected to get some sort of discount. However, it seems like the current price cuts are steeper than we normally see with new product launches.

Digital Trends offers a great example that illustrates this big shift in pricing. The MSI Ventus RTX 4070 Ti currently retails at $720 at the time of writing, which is around $80 less than what it launched for. You can scroll through NewEgg right now and see most of the RTX 4070 TI graphics cards are on offer, ranging from $20 to $80 off - making some high-end GPUs now more affordable than ever.

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Could this be the start of a mid-range GPU tug-of-war between Nvidia and AMD?

We think so, certainly now more than ever with the reduction of the RTX 4070 being swiftly followed by AMD’s price cuts on the 7800 XT. Should AMD carry on this trend of matching Nvidia’s GPU price cuts, we could see a race to offer the biggest discount. Considering much of the appeal of AMD’s graphics cards over Nvidia is their lower prices, if Nvidia does continue slashing costs users may be more inclined towards a discounted GeForce GPU. Nvidia arguably offers better drivers and features and is very popular in the gaming community.

This could entice people who would normally default to AMD because of the cheaper price to consider Nvidia GPUs instead. Would that force AMD to keep undercutting prices to keep their ‘cheaper alternative’ status? As much as I would love to see even cheaper graphics cards, this price war has to end sometime - and every price cut still needs to make business sense - and as the underdog of the GPU market, AMD can only afford to cut prices so far.

If the two manufacturers continue to race to the bottom in terms of pricing and the RTX 4070’s price tag continues to go down (and AMD follows suit with the 7800 XT) we could potentially see retailers across regions follow this trend, hopefully making the cards more affordable across the board.

So, if you’ve been eying any of these cards and have been holding off or saving up, you may want to consider waiting a little longer just to see how this all plays out and possibly snag an even bigger discount.

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Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).