When I was younger, my dad and I built my first PC. I learned that buying the parts of a computer separately and assembling it yourself was cheaper.
However, in early 2018, I realized that my graphics card was outdated and could not run the latest game in high resolution so I decided to buy a new one. This is when I saw that the prices were off the charts most of them doubled or tripled their normal retail price.
Many articles blamed the rise of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) price inflation at mining crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Crypto currency is a computer-generated revenue that has increased in price because of investors. A single Bitcoin in 2009 was worth $1,000.
Graphics cards are used by crypto-miners to earn crypto currency by solving complex mathematical equations of financial transactions.
It is a competition between multiple users in which the person that solves faster will earn more revenue.
As the price of a crypto currency increases, the demand for graphics card increases and as the value of crypto currency decreases, so does the value of graphics cards.
With such an unstable market GPU companies cannot just increase production because it is not safe for the company at the same time normal gamers like myself cannot afford GPU’s because of their inflated price as well as crypto miners that buy out all the GPU’s when the prices are low.
In order to combat this, companies sold GPUs in bundles with other gamer goods. This, however, did not work. Companies like NVIDIA and RADEON are working on GPUs designed for crypto mining which will be cheaper because it does not have the parts for gaming which will lead miners to buy those instead of the gaming GPU.
Crypto mining has generated many stories of people achieving financial success and has become a common way to earn money. GPUs take up a ton of electricity and there are mining apps that show you how much revenue you are earning compared to how much electricity you are spending. It is unknown when prices will return to normal.
Story by Jose Orros
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