The hunt for cheaper GPUs is turning up some unexpected bargains
Enlarge (credit: Newegg/Gigabyte)
As anyone wanting to put together a high performance PC has likely discovered, the self-build PC market is in a terrible state right now. DDR4 RAM prices are more than double what they were 18 months ago, as demand from smartphones has pressured supply. As for GPUs... well, they're a mess. High-end video cards are being bought in their dozens by cryptocurrency miners, leaving those who want a video card to actually do graphical things high and dry. It's enough to make you want to shout with rage.
This situation has made pre-built PCs unusually competitive-components bought at scale, as part of long-term supply agreements, likely have more price stability than those sold directly to end users-but that's small consolation to those who truly want to build their own machine.
But all hope is not lost; Tom's Hardware Guide has found another source of, if not exactly cheap, at least cheaper video cards: external GPU graphics docks with preinstalled video cards.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments