Gamer Wang Ziqi (not his real name) has a graphics card in his hand as the console for the Asus RTX3060Ti Giant Footshark. On the morning of March 28, on the eve of returning to his hometown to work, he came to Hangzhou Bainaohui to prepare for the host and learn about the market situation of the graphics card.
In the past 2021, the graphics card market can not be described as "stimulating". Under the boom of virtual currency "mining", the shortage of goods and price increases throughout the year, many players like Wang Ziqi can't help but sigh, and normal buying a graphics card to enjoy the game has become a luxury.
However, since the beginning of this year, most of the graphics card prices are in the downward range, and some media even use the price "flash crash" to describe the current market. For consumers, price reduction is naturally a happy thing, but the reporter noticed that many digital experts called on everyone to "wait", not only waiting for a lower price, but also reminding you to be careful of "avoiding lightning": because the risk of buying a refurbished mining card has also been greatly increased.
Hangzhou Bainaohui
One market a day, part of which has broken through the initial price
Wang Ziqi told reporters that the game screen needs to be rendered in real time, and the amount of computation is very large, so in general, the configuration requirements of gamers on the computer will be relatively high. After many comparisons, in August last year, he bought the mid-to-high-end RTX 3060Ti giant shark for 4950 yuan. The graphics card, which was first sold for less than 3700 yuan, had previously soared to 5500 yuan.
On March 28, the reporter followed Wang Ziqi to the third floor of Bainaohui Computer City and asked a number of sellers who operated computer accessories business, they said that the quotation of the 3060Ti Giant Foot Shark graphics card ranged from 4100 yuan to 4750 yuan, as for the specific price, it was "difficult to say", because the recent "one market a day". The reporter found from the ASUS Jingdong self-operated flagship store that the current price of the 3060Ti giant shark is 5099 yuan, and up to 2 pieces can be purchased.
It is understood that the mainstream manufacturers of independent graphics card chips on the market are NVIDIA and AMD, commonly known as N cards and A cards. For example, the 3060Ti giant shark belongs to the N card's mid-to-high-end RTX30 series, which also includes 3060, 3070, 3070Ti, 3080, 3080Ti, 3090 and so on.
According to seller Li Wei, the model with the largest price fluctuation range is 3090 in the RTX30 series, "last year it was priced at about 20,000 yuan, and now it is about 12,000 to 13,000 yuan." The reporter referred to the first price of the series of products and the online query data of Zhongguancun and found that the overall price fell significantly. As of March 28, 3080Ti has even broken through the initial price of 8999 yuan, and the current price is 8899 yuan, with a premium rate of about -1.11%.
Similarly, the price of A-card high-end series graphics cards has also shown a downward trend, such as the asus 6600XT was priced at 3599 yuan in August last year, and the current price on the Jingdong Mall is 3399 yuan, which is only about 400 yuan higher than the starting price.
Hangzhou Bainaohui third floor seller stall
According to media reports, the price of graphics cards in overseas markets has also shown a downward trend in recent times. In the German market, the RTX 3090 fell from a high of 3,199 euros (about 22,361 yuan) in May 2021 to a recent 1,999 euros (about 13,973 yuan). In the Australian market, the price of the RTX 3080 fell by 35% in one day, and the price fell from 2299 Australian dollars (about 10,000 yuan) to 1499 Australian dollars (about 7,000 yuan), the largest decline in history.
However, the reporter also noted that compared with the high-end, the price of low-end graphics cards is relatively stable, and even the low-end model GTX1030 has increased in price due to the lack of supply, while gtX590 and GTX690 models have been unable to find a first-hand source in the market.
Although the price of the graphics card finally has signs of falling, the reporter also found that there were very few consumers who came to the third floor of Bainaohui to inquire or buy in the morning, and only two boys were seen walking into a stall within two hours. At the same time, the store is not in a hurry to buy goods. "Last year, I couldn't stock it, and I can't sell it this year." Li Wei said that it is difficult to sell graphics card retail now, and if it is stocked, it will only be smashed in the hand, and the wholesale list is also risky.
Xiao Zhu, a seller of Hangzhou East Cyber City, told reporters that some time ago, there was a boss in the same industry who bought 40 graphics cards, because the SF epidemic graphics cards were all detained in the transit field, and this batch of goods could not be delivered to the buyer, and the effort of ten days was lost by hundreds of thousands, "the price drop is too strong."
The decline is manifested in the "consumer side", and the demand for "miners" to leave the market has declined
A number of industry insiders told reporters that the supply channels of graphics cards are mainly "manufacturers - provincial general agents - agents at all levels - various stores", and many merchants have said that the price of graphics cards obtained from manufacturers is basically "fixed", and there is little change.
"Some of our goods are taken directly from the manufacturer," some are taken from the agent, and some are strung together." Xiao Zhu told reporters that across the country, the price of graphics cards in different regions is also different, compared to other places, the price of graphics cards in Hangzhou is relatively high, "but you can choose cheap channels to buy goods." ”
Xiao Zhu said that the decline in graphics card prices is mainly manifested in the "consumer side", that is, the downstream of the supply channel - the stores in the computer city and various shopping platforms.
For this graphics card price "turmoil", Huang Xin (pseudonym), a computer equipment agent who provides "Internet café business one-stop" service, analyzed: "The productivity of domestic and foreign manufacturers has gradually recovered, although it is still insufficient supply, but the situation is better than the previous two years, plus now 'mining' has not been so large graphics card demand." ”
It is understood that after the "mining tide" began in October 2020, the market rebound made the price of Bitcoin (BTC) rise wildly, and more and more people joined the "mining" team. In short, "mining" is to use a computer through a series of algorithms, in each regional chain of continuous calculation, solve the puzzle published by the network will get rewards.
In September 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency "Mining" Activities, emphasizing the supervision of virtual currency mining activities, strictly prohibiting new virtual currency mining projects, and clarifying that virtual currencies do not have the same legal status as legal tender, and their business activities are identified as illegal financial activities. Countries such as Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain and Singapore have also developed regulatory policies for virtual currencies.
"Before and after the 'mining tide', the graphics card and the price of virtual currency have a close relationship, at that time, the higher the income of virtual currency, the more people who want to enter the mining, and the price was once flipped." The price of BTC reached a high point in April 2021, and the price of graphics cards tripled in May. Huang Xin said, but in the later stage, the price of the graphics card and the virtual currency market have little to do with the virtual currency market, and the current output ratio of the virtual currency has not allowed the "miner" to have a higher income.
"Recently, the price of Bitcoin has risen for several days, but the price of graphics cards has declined." Huang Xin also revealed that around May this year, ETH 2.0 version may be launched, no one knows whether the current graphics card configuration can continue to "mining", "miners" are also worried about the return value of investment. "In addition, there are now dealers who are hoarding goods because they can't wait' to sell, coupled with the flow of second-hand mining cards into the trading market, resulting in fast price fluctuations in the current flow of graphics cards in the market."
Refurbished mine cards are difficult to identify, so they have to "endure not to buy"
As the "mine tide" receded, there were more ore cards.
The reporter searched on the idle fish second-hand platform and found that some merchants frequently posted in early March to sell refurbished mining cards in batches, and the price of mining cards was low compared with the same type of products in online and offline stores, such as RTX 3060ti mining card refurbishment price of 3700 yuan, lower than the manufacturer's guidance price.
Xiao Jun (pseudonym), who previously joined the "mining" team, told reporters that "mining" has certain requirements for graphics cards, and the most important thing is the cost performance, that is, relatively cheap, high computing power, and low power consumption. But on the other hand, the mining card that has carried out a long period of high-load "mining" work has little life left, even if it can light up the screen and start the system, there will still be black screens, flower screens, restarts and other possibilities in operation. "So at present, many of the RTX30 series are the 'hardest hit areas' of mining cards." Xiao Jun said.
On March 12, the official Microblog public account of the General Administration of Customs "Customs Release" released a message saying that Shenzhen Meilin Customs and Huanggang Customs found traces of 3 graphics cards being changed labels when inspecting the goods declared for import. After the appraisal, it was found that the actual specifications and models of 5840 graphics cards did not match the declaration, and the total value exceeded 20 million yuan. Judging from the published pictures, netizens found that this batch of checked graphics cards is suspected to be one of AMD's main partners - Xunjing XFX products, and more netizens questioned that Xunjing has engaged in a batch of "refurbished mining cards" from overseas, ready to be taken back to China to continue selling.
In this regard, Xunjing issued an official statement, saying that "there is no 'mining card refurbishment' and 'secondary sales'. However, the reporter found that the Flagship Store of Xunjing Tmall has not yet listed products.
"To verify whether a graphics card is sold after the renovation of a mining card is very difficult for ordinary consumers, and it is estimated that few people can accurately distinguish it." Some people who suspect that they have bought a mining card after receiving the failure of the graphics card after use are also easy to fall into continuous rights protection negotiations with illegal businesses, and in the end they may only be able to 'eat a long and wise' and spend money to buy lessons. Computer enthusiast Xiao Wei said that in this regard, if you want to "avoid lightning", it is still recommended that everyone buy through regular channels, "such as the official flagship store on the Internet or the dealer who can be verified by the official website of the manufacturer, then even if the failure occurs during the warranty period, there is a better after-sales disposal." ”
A large number of mining cards flow into the second-hand trading market, facing the temptation of low prices, buyers who intend to start are cautious, and some even shout out the slogan of "endure not to buy". At present, the entire market is also in a wait-and-see state.
In Xiao Wei's view, the graphics card is the necessary hardware of the computer, but the characteristics of the graphics card are very suitable for "mining", so that ordinary people can also participate in the "mining tide" to make a profit, in this case, the market consumer group of the graphics card has changed, and the gamers who want to save the computer host or people with work needs, and finally can't buy or regress because the graphics card is too expensive to buy, which leads to the deformed development of the graphics card market, "'Mining disaster' after the 'buy graphics card and then wait', in fact, is a tragedy. ”