Gaming PCs is not cheap, to begin with, and building them up yourself can seem like a daunting task. However, the more you dig into it, the more you’ll find that building a PC is not that difficult. There are countless guides online with video tutorials and even forums to help those that are having some trouble in terms of what to do or troubleshoot. As a result, going into 2021 with very few consoles readily available for purchase when it comes to the latest generation of video games, building a gaming PC might have seemed like a viable option.
Here’s the problem with going through that avenue. The PC market is just as tough to scavenge parts as it is for brand new consoles. This is especially true right now for GPUs or graphics cards. One of the more crucial components to an entire PC build, especially for gaming, is tough to come by. Most everyone is looking at the latest GPUs available such as Nvidia’s RTX 30 series. They were competitively priced and offered players the best performance at the moment since these GPUs were again the latest generation.
Unfortunately, just like with new video game consoles, the marketplace is barren. This was partly due to the pandemic, resellers looking to make some money through a flip, and of course, cryptocurrency. More individuals are getting into mining crypto which requires some GPUs to get the job done. We won’t go into the whole backstory of how crypto mining is done, but for PC builders that were after a GPU to finish things off, there was an empty marketplace.
Retailers were offering raffles to allow consumers a chance to purchase a GPU. With that said, the market is going towards a favor for gamers in China. A new ban on crypto in China has resulted in stock dropping prices for these GPUs. Since the government is cracking down on crypto in general, the stock price for new GPUs is steadily dropping. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can say for other markets. Hopefully, we’ll start seeing GPUs flood the marketplace which may help give consumers an honest chance of finding a GPU in stock and not paying over MSRP.
Source: PC Gamer
