- A recent report suggests that Nvidia has informed its partners about price increases on GDDR6 and GDDR7 memory kits
- This means that retailers can raise prices for RTX GPUs that use GDDR6 and GDDR7 memory
- The potential price increase and a user’s dual-GPU setup both highlight the importance of hardware conservation
The RAM crisis continues to affect PC makers with rising memory prices and shortages – ultimately leading to increased retail prices for consumers – and the trend may be set to continue with Nvidia.
According to a report on Benchlife, Nvidia is rumored to be planning a price increase on its GDDR6 and GDDR7 memory kits for RTX GPUs, and has informed AIB (Add-In Board) partners such as Asus, MSI and Gigabyte, who make their own versions of Nvidia’s GPUs. Not surprisingly, the price increase for these memory kits is cited as a result of the ongoing RAM crisis.
While RTX GPU price increases are not guaranteed for consumers because this will directly affect AIB partners who manufacture the GPUs, any retail price increases are unfortunately likely. It’s a trend we’ve seen with newer PC hardware.
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Notably, Valve’s Steam Machine was originally supposed to cost less than its final $1,049 / £879 / AU$1,609 price tag, which could now also be at risk of a price increase, based on hints from a Steam Machine engineer (as reported by Bloomberg). New gaming handhelds also now often launch for more than $1,000, and the price of RAM and storage certainly plays a role.
Consumer battles
The RAM crisis is a sad state of affairs for consumers and underscores the importance of preserving PC hardware. GPUs are by no means cheap, especially with recent suggestions that AMD would also increase the prices of memory kits for its own AIB partners.
We’ve also recently seen the return of the RTX 3060 due to Nvidia’s attempt to help consumers with more options amid a tough PC hardware market. However, if these price increase reports are legitimate, the RTX 3060 will likely be subject to higher prices at retailers.
That’s exactly why GPU setups like one Reddit user’s RTX 3090 and RTX 3050 dual-GPU rig matter more than ever. In this case, the RTX 3050 is responsible for allowing frame generation via Lossless Scaling to work.
My dual GPU setup
from r/lossless scaling
A game then uses the RTX 3090’s power for high-quality graphics and performance, where the two GPUs join forces. The user states that it resulted in 144 fps at a 4K resolution over the original 71 fps without frame generation.
Honestly, a dual-GPU setup isn’t exactly common, nor is it actually recommended for gaming, as modern games are only designed for single-GPU rendering (although the use case for frame generation is notable).
Users will also need a more powerful power supply, depending on the GPUs used, and likely a new motherboard with another compatible PCIe lane.
But what I feel is more important here is that it’s a good example of why hardware preservation is so important, serving as a backup if GPUs melt or end up failing, or for experiments like what I’ve described above. With no end in sight to the RAM crisis, recycling older hardware could be a way through this.
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