Around Black Friday, graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia are also on sale. Is it worth it, or should you wait?
For those looking to buy a graphics card from AMD or Nvidia for their gaming system, there are currently three options to choose from:
- Either buy an RTX 4080 or 4090 now.
- Wait until mid-December when AMD’s RX 7900 XT and XTX are available in stores.
- Or wait until AMD and Nvidia introduce more graphics cards for 2023.
But which option is the best? In this article, we explain which could be the most worthwhile for you right now.
It could take until 2023 for the next “real” gaming graphics cards to arrive
Is it worth waiting for the next generation? The new graphics cards like the RTX 4080 and the RTX 4090 are currently anything but cheap. If you search for the RTX 4080 on Geizhals, you have to pay at least 1,500 euros; we won’t even start talking about the RTX 4090. And Nvidia is rightly criticized by many gamers for high prices.
The graphics cards from AMD, the RX 7900 XT and the RX 7900 XTX are not yet available but are expected to cost at least 1,200 euros in Germany.
However, for all the mentioned graphics cards: They are all high-end models aimed at enthusiasts who want to game in 4K or higher. The majority of players are still gaming in Full HD or WQHD. And for these users, such an expensive model is still not worth it.
Midrange models, so-called mid-range cards, have not yet been announced. These are graphics cards aimed at the vast majority. It may take another good six months before an RTX 4060 or RX 7700 XT comes to market. Whether such cards will even come is also still unknown, but very likely.
RTX 3000 and RX 7000 are worth it in 2022 with good deals
What is the alternative? The last generation, the RTX 3000 graphics cards, and the models from the RX 6000 series are now well available.
- For an RX 6800 XT, you currently pay around 800 euros, a year ago you paid 1,300 euros.
- For an RTX 3080, you currently pay around 850 euros, a year ago you paid 1,500 euros.
The current graphics card prices are therefore far from the prices of Christmas 2022, and there are always good deals that could be worthwhile.
If you can get an RTX 3080 or an RX 6800 XT near or slightly above the MSRP, then you will make no mistake buying such a graphics card.
Because the GPUs from the last generation are still excellent models. If you buy an RTX 3080 or an RX 6800 XT now, you can still play top current games comfortably for several years. You don’t have to buy an RTX 4080 or wait another year for the mid-range cards to arrive.
Right now, it’s especially worth looking at the models from AMD. Why this is the case and what you need to consider when buying, we explain in the following article:
Why you should currently buy a graphics card from AMD instead of Nvidia
