One of the things that I would like to do for the holiday break is play video games on my computer. My video card is getting old now though and that means most of the newer games don’t look and play so well. I either have to put up with poor frame rates or less than ideal image quality. About five years ago, this wouldn’t be a problem. I would have just ordered a new video card and it would be here in time for the holidays. As with many things for 2020, what was simple, is now complex.
For at least two years now, it seems like there have been rolling worldwide shortages of various computer components. Video cards were in short supply a few years ago due to cryptomining craze but that was problem was solved when all those currencies tanked. Then RAM was rare and the price shot up. It has subsequently gone down after demand went down and supply increased.
This year the video card shortage has come back despite the two biggest card manufacturers releasing new models in the last month. These companies launched their products yet barely anyone can get any of them. Many of the cards sold are being scalped online with scandalous markups, where sellers are asking double the MSRP. I refuse to give into such practices as it rewards those morons and it also just doesn’t make financial sense. I don’t need a new video card that badly.
So, what can I do? Well, I’ve read that card manufacturers don’t anticipate availability to be at normal levels until April of 2021. That’s four months away still. I think I’m willing to wait. I’ll find some other things to do during my break.