These are the best GPU 'deals' based on real-world scalper pricing and our FPS per dollar test results

RTX 5070, RX 9070 XT, Arc B580
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Buying any of the best graphics cards right now feels like an exercise in futility. For that matter, buying virtually any graphics card at present tends to be a bad idea. We've scoured a variety of online markets to see what sort of prices we could find, and MSRPs are effectively non-existent — laughably so. Everything worth buying sells almost immediately, likely more often than not to scalper bots. What you can find "in stock" tends to be from recently established third-party marketplace sellers, with prices that can at times reach to double the official MSRPs.

Does that make the MSRPs meaningless? At present, it's hard to think otherwise. Even Nvidia itself was only selling limited numbers of RTX 5090 Founders Edition and RTX 5080 Founders Edition cards at GTC 2025 — from a mobile 'food truck.' And you had to be a conference attendee ($1,145 minimum) plus get in line early enough to even grab one.

A better question: When if ever will we see the latest generation GPUs selling at MSRPs? In light of recent tariffs, plus the ongoing graphics card shortages, it could be a very long waiting game. Even looking to places like eBay, the number of latest generation GPUs trading hands doesn't look promising.  

At the height of the cryptocurrency GPU mining crazy in mid-2021, we often saw well over 10,000 GPUs 'sold' via eBay every month. Right now, the last 30 days show less than 9,000 GPUs sold on eBay — and that's looking at the past three generations of AMD and Nvidia graphics cards.

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Jarred Walton
Senior Editor

Jarred Walton is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on everything GPU. He has been working as a tech journalist since 2004, writing for AnandTech, Maximum PC, and PC Gamer. From the first S3 Virge '3D decelerators' to today's GPUs, Jarred keeps up with all the latest graphics trends and is the one to ask about game performance.

  • why_wolf
    Despite the extreme annoyance with my GPU arriving via FedEx. It looks like I got really lucky and ordered right in the sweet spot between the old model exiting and everyone waiting for the new model to come in. Got it $10 less than MSRP. Still a rip off price but better than paying scalper prices. Fingers crossed for another 10 years of riding this guy into the ground. :P
    Reply
  • usertests
    It's annoying that these companies are scared of fabbing on 2-3 nodes at once. The 7700 XT would be great if it were in supply and down to $350 for example. By the way, it had an MSRP of $449, not $400. Unless AMD officially cut it or something.
    Reply
  • Gururu
    Great write-up!!
    Reply
  • emike09
    I get scalpers taking advantage of people, but retailers!? That's a low blow to the consumer. During the 3000 and 4000 supply issues, you could still pick up from a retailer at MSRP - if you got lucky and got one before they sold out within seconds. Anybody who buys at scalped prices is supporting this madness. STOP IT!! Be patient.

    Also don't wait 4 or 5 generations to upgrade, and buy bigger. In the event a new card comes out that you want, you won't be sitting on a GTX 1050 wishing you really had an RTX 5080, and you'll be able to get by with what you have until things settle.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    I think getting a lower end/used option that's better than what you have is a good idea if you're in an situation where you need a card and can't wait (assuming you can afford this).

    I had a GTX 970 and had planned on skipping the 10 series to get 20 series until nvidia decided to reset the pricing structure so I waited until the 30 series launch. When it became rapidly apparent getting a MSRP card was not going to happen I got a 1660 Ti for ~$50 under MSRP. While I was very frustrated that I couldn't just go buy a card when I wanted to long term worked out in my favor as I ended up with a 12GB 3080 instead of either the 10GB or 3070 I was originally intending to.

    I do feel bad for anyone with a new build or dead card that needs replacing because current times feel just as bad as the last crypto boom. I think a part of the problem is the additional time between generations. Between people waiting longer to buy cards and the companies trying to match supply to have less generational overlap we're ending up with all sorts of trouble.
    Reply
  • SSGBryan
    emike09 said:
    I get scalpers taking advantage of people, but retailers!? That's a low blow to the consumer. During the 3000 and 4000 supply issues, you could still pick up from a retailer at MSRP - if you got lucky and got one before they sold out within seconds. Anybody who buys at scalped prices is supporting this madness. STOP IT!! Be patient.

    Also don't wait 4 or 5 generations to upgrade, and buy bigger. In the event a new card comes out that you want, you won't be sitting on a GTX 1050 wishing you really had an RTX 5080, and you'll be able to get by with what you have until things settle.
    It isn't retailers.

    If you are used to getting say 4500 of the x70 class cards per month, and Nvida only delivers 450 per month - what are you going to do?

    You are going to sell those cards for as much as you can.
    Reply
  • cyrusfox
    Looks like I won this contest, picked up a used Intel A750 LE for $110! Card was mint, took a bit of troubleshooting to get it working properly with the i9-9900KF and the gigabyte z390 mobo. Besides the normal ReBar enablement and above 4G decoding, I also had to get my boot working with CSM disabled for some reason, this reddit post was the most helpful in enabling. I find arc is great even on old CPUs, although it is a bit of a gamble on Rebar and getting it to jsut work out of the box. This was a huge step up from the HD 7970 (ancient hand me down upgraded finally).
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    They are in full force selling on ScAmazon. You can usually spot them, i.e. new seller and selling near MSRP.
    Reply
  • I was looking for an upgrade, but i made the mistake of selling my 4090, before i could get my hands on a 5090.

    I had no spare GPU at my disposal, so i tried using my onboard for a few weeks.

    Of course, no decent gaming could be done with that thing.

    Eventually, my impatience got the better of me, so paying scalper was the "only" way forward.

    Before the release of the RTX-50 series, i was pretty confident that prices and availability would have smoothed out by June, but this scenario now feels like a pipe dream.

    GPU market at its worst.

    P.S. I know scalper prices are a world-wide trend right now, but, honestly, my country has one of the worst PC markets out there. Some well known vendors in Greece, are currently receiving one 5090 per week - usually every Friday - and they are selling for more than $6,000.

    Sweet Jesus! :(
    Reply
  • beyondlogic
    honestly was anyone shocked by this demand is high

    4070 super will be the last gpu from nvidia i will use fed up of there absolute nonsense.

    you want to win this just dont buy any new gpus. buy used and give them the finger. that goes for any vendor.

    i bought my 4070 super cause i saw what was on the horizon. i however waited for the super series didnt buy any of there right out of the gate buggy crap.

    retailers are bumping prices by roughly 30-50 pounds in some cases in uk. and the high end is just a complete fantasy garden of recidivous pricing.
    Reply