AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards are down to their lowest prices ever. The RX 6950 XT debuted at a steep MSRP of $1,099 but has dropped to just $600 at the time of writing, nearly half as much as its official price. The card comes bundled with a copy of “The Last of Us” worth $60, offering stellar 4K gaming performance barring ray-traced titles. Rampant demand has dried up stocks, but backorders are on the way.
In stark contrast, NVIDIA’s last-gen offerings are going well over their MSRPs, with the RTX 3090 starting at $1,299, $300 less than its sticker price. The GeForce RTX 3090 delivers roughly the same level of raster performance as the RX 6950 XT but costs over twice as much. Of course, you get higher ray-tracing performance and DLSS support, but is that really worth the massive markup?
We see similar conditions in the lower segments of the market. The Radeon RX 6750 XT is going for $369, a sizable $180 off its $549 launch price. The ASRock Challenger Pro is hands down the best value-for-money GPU on the market, going neck-to-neck with the RTX 3070 Ti for $150 less.
NVIDIA’s Ampere stack looks better across the upper midrange segment. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is going for $959, $240 less than its debut MSRP of $1,199. The next-gen GeForce RTX 4080 retails at $1,199, while the 4070 Ti is priced at $799. The RTX 3070 Ti, with its $599 price tag, is down to $519, an $80 cut off its retail value.
