Both AMD and Nvidia look set to expand their flagship GPU ranges with entry level graphics cards in January 2022, finally giving those struggling to get a new graphics card the option of buying one for less than $500.
As it stands, buying a GPU is as much about luck as it is anything else. You'll need to be fast to buy one at retail prices, or you can pay well over the odds to scalpers. Those are your only real options, even for older cards like GTX 16-series GPUs. Fortunately, Nvidia and AMD are now set to replace those with a new branch of cards, most of which should be less attractive to cryptocurrency miners, and may therefore remain more readily available at more affordable prices.
AMD is set to launch two new GPUs early next year: The RX 6500 XT, and the RX 6400. They'll both use the entry-level Navi 24 GPU and will have 4GB of GDDR6 memory a piece. The 6500 XT will debut in January, with the 6400 following allowing in March.
The 6500 XT will have 1024 stream processors, giving it performance somewhere in the region of the GTX 1660 Ti. The RX 6400, on the other hand, will have 768 stream processors, so will be more of a 1650 Ti competitor.
Nvidia, however, will be countering with a new desktop card of its own. Although not officially announced, the RTX 3050 is expected to show up in January. It would reportedly have 8GB of VRAM, putting it somewhere around the 1660 Ti specs, though not as fast as the RTX 2060.
This may be followed later in the year by a slightly faster RTX 3050 Ti model, ahead of both AMD and Nvidia's next-gen GPU releases in the fall.