Radeon R9 290X Retail Prices Hit $900
by Ryan Smith on February 14, 2014 11:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- Radeon 200
Though we keep track of video card pricing regularly on an internal basis, it’s not something we normally publish outside of our semi-regular buyer’s guides. More often than not video card pricing is slow to move (if it moves at all), as big price shifts come in concert with either scheduled price cuts or new product introductions. But in a process that has defied our expectations for more than a month now, even we can’t fail to notice what Radeon prices are quite literally up to.
In a sign of the daffy times we live in, Radeon R9 290X prices have hit $900 this week at Newegg. Every card, from the reference models to the water block model, is now at $899, with Newegg apparently doing brisk enough business to be sold out of more than half of their different 290X SKUs. This of course is some $350 over the 290X’s original launch price of $550, a 64% price bump. Meanwhile the Radeon R9 290 has been similarly affected, with 290 cards starting at $600, $200 (50%) over MSRP.
The culprit, as has been the case since the start, continues to be the strong demand for the cards from cryptocoin miners, who are willing to pay a premium for the cards in anticipation of still being able to turn a profit off of them in the long run. Interestingly this also comes right as Chinese New Year comes to a close. Chinese New Year doesn’t typically affect video card prices for cards that are already released and on shelves, but the lack of production for the roughly 2 week span certainly isn’t doing the 290X market any favors given the strong demand for the cards. In the meantime however this does mean that 290X cards are unfortunately priced out of the hands of gamers more than ever before; at $900, we’d be just $10 short of a GTX 780 Ti and a Core i5-4670K to go with it.
Finally, it’s interesting to note that this phenomena remains almost entirely limited to North America. Our own Ian Cutress quickly checked a couple of UK retailers, Scan.co.uk and Overclockers.co.uk, and found that both of them had 290 series cards in stock at pre-VAT prices that were only marginally above the North American MSRPs. A PowerColor R9 290 OC can be found for £275 (~$460 USD) and an XFX R9 290X for £334 (~$560 USD). The European market of course has its own idiosyncrasies, but ultimately it’s clear that UK pricing has gone largely unaffected by the forces that have driven up North American pricing, making this one of those rare occasions where hardware is more expensive in North America than in Europe, even after taxes.
| Radeon R9 290 Series Prices | ||||
| North America | UK (excluding VAT) | |||
| Radeon R9 290X | $899 | £334 (~$560 USD) | ||
| Radeon R9 290 | $599 | £275 (~$460 USD) | ||
Update (11:30 PM): It’s interesting just how greatly things can shift in only half a day. This morning 290X prices were $899 with Newegg having 5 models in stock. But as of late this evening prices have dropped rather quickly by $200, bringing them down to $699 (just $150 over MSRP). All the while however, Newegg’s selection has dwindled to just two models, showcasing just how high the demand for these cards is and how quickly buyers will snatch them up even when they’re still well over MSRP.
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Observanator - Saturday, February 15, 2014 - link
Hey Genius, the first link that you have provided and based your argument on, is for Q4-2012 NOT Q4-2013.chizow - Tuesday, February 18, 2014 - link
Yep was late, I couldn't find a breakout of Q4 2013 numbers but they did show an increase in Q4 revenue for GPUs but most of the increase was due to console numbers. Either way I think there would have been a much higher spike in revenue in Q4 if there was not a shortage on AMD's part.dragonsqrrl - Saturday, February 15, 2014 - link
Wow, just wow. Those are your "plenty of links to the contrary" huh? The Revenue and ASP figures you're comparing are from two completely different years. I think you're trying a little too hard to connect the dots dude, and I hate to break it to you, but you're just not as smart or informed as you think you are. If you think you know something that Ryan Smith and a bunch of other tech editors don't know, take it up with them, but I would strongly suggest checking your conspiracy theories for inconsistencies before you do.chizow - Tuesday, February 18, 2014 - link
Again, I never said Cryptocoin wasn't increasing demand for AMD cards, I simply stated I believe AMD did not anticipate demand and/or were having yield issues on high-end Hawaii chips, leading to the current situation of high demand AND low supply.If the situation was as AMD said and they were able to supply the channel as they would have liked, I doubt we would have seen such a small gain in Q4 GPU revenue while Nvidia cleaned up due to low supply and low competition from AMD. I think Q1 2014 will see more of the same.
chizow - Thursday, February 20, 2014 - link
As I predicted, JPR's Q4 2013 numbers start bearing this out. Guess I am as smart and informed as I think I am.http://jonpeddie.com/publications/add-in-board-rep...
"• AMD’s quarter-to-quarter total desktop AIB unit shipments decreased 3%."
Could certainly be AMD's console APUs cutting into their wafer allocation at AMD, given they shipped and sold roughly ~8M APUs to Sony/Microsoft in Q3/Q4. Those wafers had to come from somewhere and it looks like desktop discrete supply took the brunt of it.
chizow - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
And more evidence of ASIC shortages from AMD leading to low supply of their higher-end GPUs:http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?ref=IE8...
MrSpadge - Sunday, February 16, 2014 - link
> In summary, I think AMD is using cryptocoin and the blame vendors are getting as a convenient excuse for the supply shortages and price hikes so they don't look like the bad guy in all of this.Then why wouldn't they try it in Europe (and Asia?) as well? Here prices are still normal. Supply is not great, but we're not sold out either. And it's not like there wouldn't be a ton of gamers, hardware enthusiasts, BOINC crunchers etc. here. It's just that the electricity is too expensive to make big money with whatever-coin.
chizow - Tuesday, February 18, 2014 - link
Because the additional demand isn't there in Europe and Asia from cryptocoin. I think you are seeing what true supply and demand is for AMD parts, strictly for gaming, where supply is not great but not completely sold out either.buttgx - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
Their incentive is maintaining vendor relationships.chizow - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
Vis-à-vis burning their customer relationships??? What kind of relationship with a vendor would you have if you knew your vendors were selling your parts at 2x the price but keeping the additional profits for themselves?