The market for graphics cards for general consumption has gone through a difficult phase, which does not support any discussion. The high demand derived from cryptocurrency mining, along with speculation by traffickers, has created the worst crisis we have ever experienced. I know many of you remember the crisis of 2016 and yes, it is true that it was also serious, but not as much as the one that started in late 2020. The situation was so bad that we even share this “survival” guide with you.

The reason is very simple, in this last crisis was a time when it was literally impossible to buy a graphics card it was not as basic as the GeForce GT 710 and the like, as both the Radeon RX 550 and equivalent models were sold out. Subsequently, an attempt was made to alleviate the situation by relaunching the GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti, as well as other low-end or mid-low models, but given the crazy price they achieved, it was an ineffective measure.

The lower, middle and upper class graphics cards tripled the price and the situation did not change, even as availability began to improve. Fortunately, we have seen a positive development for users in the last three months due to a very strong trend towards price normalization, and now, thanks to the CEO of ASUS, we know that interest in graphics cards as a mining tool it disappears.

Goodbye to buying graphics cards for cryptocurrency mining, but why and what will it mean for users?

The fact that the CEO of ASUS provided this information makes it completely reliable, but what’s behind it? To understand all its implications, we need to do an in-depth analysis, and that is exactly what I will share with you. The first thing to clarify is that the loss of interest is not strictly equivalent to a drop in demand. When demand falls, interest in the product may continue to exist and a less serious situation arises than when that interest ceases.

If there is no interest in the product, it ceases to make sense, at least for the use it was intended for by the public. In the case of graphics cards, we would be at the end of the purchase of the mentioned components for cryptocurrency mining, namely can lead to absolute normalizationand possibly looming prices. If this happens, there may also be a flood of graphics cards in the used market, whose prices fall to very attractive levels and even below their recommended prices.

If we look more at the medium term, it should also have a positive impact on the price and availability of next-generation graphics cards, GeForce RTX 40 and Radeon RX 7000, if speculators don’t do their thing. I do not want to be optimistic, but the truth is that at the moment I have a pretty positive feeling in this regard. We must also remember that in the end the time will come when Ethereum will not be able to benefit from graphics cards, and that this will happen in the best case in a few months.

This all sounds great But why did this loss of interest occur? The main reason was the continuing decline in graphics card mining profitability, followed by the proximity of this important change in Etherea mining and culminating in the recent collapse of cryptocurrencies, a hit so huge that it lost 99% of its value. With all the cards on the table, I am absolutely convinced that we are facing a “no return” scenario, and this is a positive thing for users.