NVIDIA stops supply of chips, the RTX 4060 Ti comes at the end of May/beginning of June and AMD shows the RX 7600 at Computex (Update)

Let’s start the graphics card week with today’s review of an RTX 4070 from Palit and an information that I also got confirmed in the meantime: NVIDIA will stop supplying its board partners for a few weeks. In the previous news, there was usually explicit talk about the GeForce RTX 4070, which is now also the case for the GeForce RTX 4080 in a similar form. This doesn’t mean that NVIDIA might stop making chips, but that board partners are complaining that there are too many cards both in the channel and in factories.

The interesting part about this is that so far no one has mentioned the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which was so scolded in the beginning, and which is obviously continuing to be produced. Various inquiries in the channel and at various system integrators (SI) revealed that the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has stabilized surprisingly well and would run quite well after an initial reluctance. Just like the still quite expensive GeForce RTX 4090, in contrast to the GeForce RTX 4080 and also the new GeForce RTX 4070, which is said to have a certain overstock up to the board partners (AIC).

NVIDIA seems to pull the emergency brake here for now, whereby the reasons for the weak demand are more complex than one might think. The criticism of the mostly technology-savvy readers of relevant websites or the consumers of various videos on the common platforms does not necessarily represent the entire buyer groups. However, even the typical Media-Markt-Saturn buyer is rather reserved here, just like the buyers of ready-made PCs, who are usually very easily influenced by marketing.

A small survey of our own among acquaintances and at a few local retailers reveals an interesting picture. The buying behavior of some groups has changed completely, which can be seen in an extreme polarization. The typical RTX 4090 buyer continues to order in the usual style, while the consumers who prefer mid-range products would rather go in the direction of entry-level. This can be seen above all in the shopping cart, where higher-priced items like graphics cards are recently combined with rather lower-priced components like cheap power supplies or low-cost cases more often than average. Those who buy new hardware and acquire at least one graphics card or CPU should consequently also be unusually frugal with the other components up to the input devices as well as extended peripherals.

In the end, this can most likely be explained by the consumers’ economic situation, where there is still a (decreasing) layer of those who go along with every price and uncompromisingly continue buying, while the gap towards the other side is getting wider and wider. A GeForce RTX 4070 currently hits a vacuum with the targeted around 600 Euros, because those who still have enough money in the upper mid-range tend to buy a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, and the better-off a GeForce RTX 4090. Thus, the GeForce RTX 4080 has somehow lost its buyer base.

The same is certainly true for the GeForce RTX 4070, whose actual target group might now rather prefer products for under 500 Euros. However, that is exactly where the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is waiting. I will deliberately not speculate about the memory configuration or the memory interface at this point, because the mass of potential buyers will never be interested due to a lack of technical knowledge. It is only about the price. The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the best example, because it is more expensive than the RTX 4070 without Ti, but it sells better in comparison.

My own information about the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti isn’t really good news either, though. Although NVIDIA had meetings with some board partners last week, the actually expected embargo date for the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti was persistently kept silent. While a launch in May before Computex had been rumored recently, there is no longer any talk of it. That is not surprising, since the GeForce RTX 4070 would then finally be outdone.

Update from 04/24/2023 10:00 AM

It looks like NVIDIA will launch the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti at the end of May, beginning of June after all, and even bring it to the shelves. The number of cards actually available at launch should probably be lower than those of the RTX 4070, but again, nothing is really confirmed yet, only “noted”.

The Radeon RX 7600 and the missing siblings

One thing has also become clear in the last few months: New graphics cards are no longer sold only by performance classes, but primarily by price classes. And when the broad middle class breaks away, as already described above, only target groups in the high-end and in the area between entry level and lower middle class remain. In order to sell cards like a rumored Radeon RX 7800XT profitably, you would have to move into the GeForce RTX 4070 range, which has just proven to be sufficiently resistant to buying. However, AMD cannot (and should not) become cheaper, because that would reduce its own profit extremely and virtually starve the board partners.

What I can confirm, however, is that individual (!) AMD board partners will show a Radeon RX 7600 as a finished product at Computex, while other partners, who use both AMD and NVIDIA chips, are first exercising wait-and-see restraint. To paraphrase politely. The statement that you don’t want to produce anything just to satisfy production and where you don’t see any chances of profits then hurts a bit. There is no price basis for a Radeon RX 7700XT at the moment, because you could even slip into the loss zone because the target group shifts and the price shouldn’t fit anymore.

Of course, it’s a lot of speculation, but the current price distortions due to a strong increase in inflation are real, but obviously haven’t reached the consciousness of many consumers yet. Most of them only see butter, bread, vegetables and fruit. And there we have already reached 20 to 30 percent often enough. And this is not only due to the evil retail trade (but probably also with). And so, in the foreseeable future, the graphics card classes will probably also be oriented more towards the income classes and no longer only towards the actual performance.