Cyber Monday Graphics Card deals: Why it's so hard to find a graphics card this year
We found two graphics cards on sale during Black Friday. Two. Not since the peak of cryptocurrency mining fever have new graphics cards and graphics card deals been this hard to come by. It's a rough time to be shopping for a new GPU for your PC, and while we hope Cyber Monday brings us something, you shouldn't get your hopes up: Graphics cards are going to remain very hard to find with any sort of discount.
In fact, it can even be hard to find a graphics card for its MSRP these days. Most are overpriced or sold out wherever you look. Why? It all has to do with the new Nvidia and AMD cards.
Manufacturing can't keep up with demand for the new RTX and RX graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD. Meanwhile, because those new cards have launched, the older hardware like the RTX 20-series is no longer being manufactured, and stock is being phased out. So now we're stuck in an awkward position: new cards are impossible to find because supply can't keep up with demand, and old cards are hard to find—and not being discounted—because there aren't all that many left.
We have articles dedicated to how and where to buy an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 3070, or 3090 and how and where to buy an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT or RX 6800. Don't expect to find deals on them. You'd be lucky to catch one at full price, outracing the bots buying them in bulk to resell on eBay.
There is one way to get a new graphics card right now: Buy a pre-built gaming PC that comes with one. PC builders have their own direct supplies of new cards, and aren't hiking up the price—although, this obviously means that you have to buy a whole PC that you may not have wanted, and pre-built PCs always cost at least a little more than their raw components. But if you want a new RTX 30-series series card, or even something more affordable, that's just the situation right now.
Cyber Monday deals: quick links
- Amazon - Cyber Monday deals on anything and everything
- Walmart - Deals on Games, Movies, Budget Laptops
- B&H Photo - Monitors, Laptops, and PCs
- Best Buy - PCs, Laptops, and Accessories
- Target - Games, Accessories, and Laptops
- Staples - Gaming Chairs and assorted office goodies
- Lenovo - Discounts on Legion Laptops and PCs
- Razer - Laptops and Gaming Accessories
- Newegg - Components and Hardware
- Microsoft - PCs, Laptops, and Games
- Dell - Alienware PCs and Laptops
Cyber Monday graphics card deals (there are none, basically)
It really is dire out there. Take a look at the graphics card section on Newegg's website and you'll mostly just see "Sold Out" and "Out of Stock" on nearly every entry. So what can you buy that isn't horribly overpriced? There are simply no high-end cards worth buying; they're either out of stock or too expensive, when you consider how much faster the new cards are. It's a waste of money to buy a card like an RTX 2070 today.
Budget card prices won't wreck your wallet, but the fact is, they're still overpriced. The best price we found was a $299 1660 Ti—when, a year ago, you could get a 1660 Super, which is just as fast, for $230. It's simply a crappy time to buy a graphics card. Here are some PCs we recommend, instead.
Alienware Aurora R11 | i7 10700KF | RTX 3080 | $2,439.99 $2,391.19 at Dell (save $48)
This isn't exactly a big savings on the Aurora R11, but it's currently our favorite pre-built gaming PC, and you can actually get one with an RTX 3080. Save yourself the hassle of searching for cards in-stock on every store on the internet.View Deal
iBuyPower gaming PC | RTX 3070 | Intel i7 | $1,629 at iBuyPower (save $220)
You can bag an RTX 3070 this weekend it seems... you just have to buy a full system wrapped around it. That's some fancy wrapping paper, including 16GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, and the 8-core, 16-thread 10th Gen Intel Core i7. The system is expected to be delivered by Christmas Day.View Deal
HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop | RX 5500 | Core i5 10400 | $869.99 $599.99 at HP (save $267 with coupon code)
With an AMD RX 5500 and Intel Core i5 10400 combo inside, this PC is built with some of the latest PC gaming tech around. It's no slouch either, and there's plenty of room to upgrade down the line. A great starting point for any PC gamer, make sure to use coupon code SMBHOL10 to maximise the discount.View Deal
What to look out for in a Cyber Monday graphics card
Short answer: Don't bother.
Long answer: Graphics cards are in high demand right now, and not just the latest models, which means that there aren't a lot of options out there. This is exacerbated by both AMD and Nvidia easing back production on the older cards as they focus on their new ones. Yes, the cards that are also completely impossible to buy.
The rate of improvement in graphics cards means that looking at anything older than the last generation of cards is probably not a great idea, although it does depend on what you want to do with it. If you're still using a 1080p screen, then the likes of the Radeon RX 580 are still a decent option at the right price. Otherwise, we'd recommend limiting yourself to the likes of the GTX 1660 Super and Radeon RX 5700 as a minimum.
Don't force yourself into buying a card that's not going to produce the performance you need though. There's no point trying to drive a 4K panel with a GTX 1050 if that's all that's available. You're better off waiting for something decent to come along. And while it might be a long wait, it's ultimately going to be worth it.