Though they’ve been on the market for a while now, according to The Tech Report, the prices for AMD’s lineup of Radeon R9 graphics cards have only recently dropped to or below their launch prices.
We took a look around on Newegg.com to see for ourselves, and the rates for the company’s R9 cards have indeed fallen to their originally intended prices; in some cases at least.
For instance, there are a handful of Radeon R9 270 cards going for $180, some of which also offer promo codes that slash 10 percent off their asking prices. The same goes for the 270x; though most are priced above $200, some are available at that rate, or even lower. We saw at least one going for $190. However, only one Radeon R9 280 card is priced at its intended price of $250 as of now.
Radeon R9 280X-based cards, which are meant to sell for $300, can actually be had for less than that right now on Newegg. For example, a 280x-based card from VisionTek is selling for $290 as of this writing, while a 280X card from HIS is offered for even less than that; $280. Though most of the R9 290 cards are priced significantly higher than the $400 mark that these cards are supposed to go for, we do see at least a couple from Asus and Gigabyte that match this price.
Finally, there are AMD’s high-end R9 cards; the Radeon R9 290X and 295X2. 290X-based cards are supposed to retail for $550, and some are being sold at or even below this rate. One Sapphire card is offered for $550 and is coupled with a 10 percent off code, while a PowerColor variant costs $550 flat. Another PowerColor model goes way below that, selling for $520, which is a pretty good bargain considering that the 290X is one of the best single-GPU cards on the market today. As for the 295X2, most of the ones being sold on newegg.com right now are priced at the original $1,500 rate.
So why were prices elevated to begin with? The altcoin mining trend may have contributed to a drastic shortage of cards in recent months. When speaking with AMD, we were told that the Chinese New Year, which results in a shutdown of the facilities that make these cards for two full weeks, also played a factor.
There’s no telling if these rates will stand pat though. So if you’ve been on the hunt for a decently-priced AMD Radeon R9 card, you might want to jump on one right now.