As various other industries feel the effects of the component shortage, gaming in particular is equally suffering significantly from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. While cars, TVs, appliances, and other various products saw supply shortages as a result, video game hardware has had an equally troublesome struggle with supply scarcity. PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles have been hard to find at MSRP, with many resorting to purchasing more expensive bundles or buying from re-sellers at a high markup. PC gaming in particular has been a major victim of this trend as well, especially for any players looking for graphics cards in the current turbulent market.
GPU stock has become so impossibly scarce that many are resulting to many unorthodox and frankly impractical methods of acquiring better performance hardware for their PCs in the last year. Whether it's been GPUs, or other hard-to-find hardware like CPUs (and in some cases, RAM and power supplies), dedicated folks trying to upgrade their rigs have even had to purchase pre-built PCs, just for the express purpose of scavenging parts piecemeal to implement in their existing rigs. Those trying to get in on PC gaming for the first time have even resorted to buying gaming laptops as well. However, as strange as it is, those aren't bad options in the current market.
Hardware Supply Shortages Will Continue Into 2022
Just as it seemed like the pandemic was going to ease up in the United States, and in certain parts of the world, variants of COVID-19 are beginning to spread as renewed worries of a new pandemic begin to mount. As a result, the component shortage that's plagued 2021 is now poised to continue throughout 2022, as the global supply chain is hampered by additional lockdowns and complications. Video games continues to be one of the hardest hit industries by the global shortage, as graphics and processing hardware continue to be the most sought after sillicon components, meaning hardware manufacturers are facing severe delays in orders and shipments.
Finding a GPU on its own is literally near-impossible because of several key factors: Supply chain issues, resale bots snatching up hardware inventory as sale pages go live, and a large percentage of supply goes direct to hardware manufacturers like Dell and ASUS, utilizing GPUs for pre-built PCs. Even though (comparatively) CPUs, RAM, storage, and other components are easier to find, GPUs are the most difficult PC gaming components to purchase. Since there's more profit to be had from pre-built rigs with the cost of labor, numerous companies that sell hardware are getting first dibs on GPUs and other hardware, leading to players buying into more pre-built PCs.
Buying Pre-Built PCs and Gaming Laptops May Be The Only Option
For those who are desperate to get improved hardware immediately, and even those who are looking to upgrade with less urgency, the only alternative for both camps is buying a pre-built PC. It's not the most ideal situation, nor is it particularly a responsible choice given how much fluctuation is occurring in the gaming market currently. Buying a full gaming PC, or even snagging a gaming laptop instead, are really the only navigable ways to circumvent the issue of getting a GPU on its own. Given how GPUs like the RTX 3070 are averaging prices of $1100+ on eBay (double the average MSRP of $499.99), pre-built rigs are an alternative that many are considering.
Obviously for first-time buyers, this isn't a huge issue. Granted a big part of PC gaming is players finally getting together their own rig after taking the time to research and learn how to build their own PC, but that's not entirely practical in 2022. Even if buying a pre-built gaming PC does cheapen that experience, it's far less of a headache then attempting to build a brand new rig in the current hardware market. Gaming laptops are even a solid option in this case, as the disparity between mobile variants of CPUs/GPUs and desktop hardware has shortened considerably in the last decade. Plus, laptops have the added practicality/convenience factors compared to desktops.
However, owners of powerful rigs already that are looking for upgrades/replacements/etc. are in a much more difficult spot than the average consumer. Buying a pre-built PC just to rip the relevant parts out to utilize in existing hardware leaves a ton of leftover material that they may not need. That means tossing up things like extra RAM, storage, motherboards, power supplies, fans, cases, and various other miscellaneous parts on sites like eBay, left to sit unsold and unused for a while. It's not justifiable, but for those who are desperate enough, this may be the only option to upgrade GPUs when resale prices are rising to meet the prices of pre-built machines.
In the end, there's still hope for a much more consumer-friendly market environment in the future for PC gamers, but it's not coming any time soon. Representatives from Intel, Nvidia, AMD, and more have expressed similar sentiments that the component shortage would continue well into 2022/2023. PC gaming has become a hard hobby to get into in the last few years, and continued supply scarcity is only going to make things harder.