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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chizow - Saturday, February 15, 2014 - link
And would you continue selling to them without demanding a cut? Maintain supplier/vendor relationships and all that, right?Makaveli - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
The only way I can see AMD fixing is to start selling Radeon's directly from AMD.com at msrp.But i'm sure this will upset all the Resellers like New Egg because they won't be able to price gouge everyone. I will most like cause with any contracts agreement they have setup. And would probably hurt amd more in the long run. Sad state of affairs but what can you do....
chizow - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
AMD fixing this is easy.1) Withhold shipments from vendors that are gouging.
2) Ship only to vendors who agree to sell at MSRP.
Problem fixed.
But obviously AMD has no interest in doing this, because they are obviously getting a pro-rated cut from the increased in ASP.
Gigaplex - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
Why do you keep mentioning these options without mentioning the option of raising the price the vendors have to pay AMD?chizow - Saturday, February 15, 2014 - link
Because I think they are already doing this....thus there is no incentive for AMD to force vendors to drop prices.What is being asserted here is that:
1) Only vendors are responsible for the gouging.
2) Only vendors are profiting from the gouging.
I do not believe this is correct, because if that was the case, AMD could easily do as I suggested to stop this price gouging.
Right now they gain nothing, only a bad reputation from their customers while their vendors profit?
Sorry, this does not happen in the real world, and we will see this reflected in their Q1 financials (flat or reduced revenue with MUCH higher GPU ASP/Margins).
Drumsticks - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
....holy cowleliel - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
Aren't electricity prices lower in North America than elsewhere in the world? Could have something to do with it if nobody can turn a profit elsewhere.MrSpadge - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
Of course - that's pretty much the only reason for this craze.The Von Matrices - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
Correct. Market forces dictate that mining migrates to the areas with the lowest electricity prices. The greater the disparity in electricity prices, the more concentrated the mining becomes. Since North America has the world's cheapest electricity by a large margin (barring exceptions like Kuwait), this shortage of cards is primarily a North American issue.However, unlike what is being said in other posts, there is no electricity price threshold at which cryptocurrency dies because of high electricity prices. The mining market is almost perfectly elastic. An increase in average electricity prices will initially result in lower profits per miner, which causes some people to stop mining, which will cause difficulty to drop, which causes average payout to increase for the remaining miners compensating for the pricier electricity.
Hrel - Friday, February 14, 2014 - link
"even we can’t fail to notice what Radeon prices are quite literally up to." up to what?I feel like that sentence was going somewhere then just stopped.