Newly Launched GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Lands in Japan, for $200

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A 2016-ERA entry-level graphics card that's not cheap at all.

Palit Microsystems
(Image credit: Palit Microsystems)

Because it's hard to get a modern graphics card, some suppliers are now trying to meet demand for entry-level options by re-launching older products. Earlier this month we reported that Japanese vendor Kuroutoshikou decided to re-start sales of its GeForce GTX 1050 Ti boards. This past weekend the card made it into retail, but its price is far from what we usually consider an entry-level. The unit costs ¥22,800 ($210 with taxes), according to Akiba PC Hotline. Meanwhile, such boards can cost even more in the U.S.

The Kuroutoshikou GF-GTX1050Ti-E4GB/SF/P2 is produced by Palit Microsystems and is based on Nvidia's GP107-400 graphics processor, with 768 CUDA cores (featuring the Pascal architecture and introduced in October 26, 2016) paired with 4GB of 128-bit GDDR5 memory with a 7 GT/s data transfer speed. The card has three display outputs: DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b and a DVI-D for legacy monitors (fitting for a legacy architecture). As for compatibility, the board does not require an auxiliary PCIe power connector and will fit into most desktops, including Mini-ITX systems, but not low-profile machines.

Nvidia's 4.5-years old GPU will hardly deliver sufficient performance in modern games (unless maybe you're happy to dial down most settings). Its performance should be comparable to or higher than that of Intel's Iris Xe G7 (96 EUs) integrated GPU, so it is still faster than the vast majority of integrated graphics solutions that are used today.

Given that the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is outdated in terms of performance and architecture, demand for such a product would be close to zero under normal conditions. But today the GPU market does not act normally, which is why the price of the product exceeds $200. In fact, Akiba PC Hotline claims that a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti was priced at ¥11,000 with taxes in October, 2019. So, in less than two years this outdated product has become twice as expensive in, at least in Japan.

But if you thought that was bad, it's worse in other countries. Based on data from CamelCamelCamel, new GTX 1050 Ti boards were recently sold for betwee $399 – $599 at Amazon.com. So maybe it's time to dig through your closet and see if your old graphics card could finance a new CPU or SSD upgrade. 

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mikeebb
    IOW they want roughly the eBay price for a good used one . Got it.

    If you have something like this lying around and not using it, definitely, it's worth liquidating. Buy low, sell high. If you're still using it and want to build new, save some cash by doing a nice board and using the olde card for now. Chances are (as I found with an even older 750ti), it'll work way better with newer PCIe and the rest - what it was designed for - than with what was on the old board. Yeah, now the GPU will be the bottleneck, but that's probably an improvement. Then when (if) GPU prices become more rational get something better.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    mikeebb said:
    IOW they want roughly the eBay price for a good used one . Got it.
    The prices for hardware in Japan tends to be more expensive than it is in the US. For example:
    This user on NVIDIA's forums complaining the GTX 1080 exceeds the equivalent of $1000 USD (note the post was 5 years ago)
    A custom 1080 Ti launching for the equivalent of $1300 USD. Granted it has what appears to be hybrid cooling and hookups for a custom loop (with its own system provided), but even hybrid cooled GPUs in the US weren't that costly and as the article notes, is much more expensive than EVGA's highest end configuration for the card
    This reddit post noting the launch prices for the RTX 20 and RTX 30 series. If you want the tl;dr
    2070 Super: 65,000 yen ($612) tax included
    2080 Super: 95,000 yen ($890) tax included
    3070: 80,000 + 10% tax = 88,000 yen ($830)
    3080: 110,000 + 10% tax = 121,000 yen ($1140)So I don't find this surprising.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    What is the best GPU in 2021? Whatever you can actually buy within reason.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    Well tue new gamimg GPU market king is here ;)
    Most likely 300€+ innhere europe!
    Reply