The graphics card situation is a difficult topic these days. So it is not surprising if your colleague says that he still has a GTX 1080 Ti installed in his PC. But that might change soon.
Currently, all cryptocurrencies are crashing. Bitcoin briefly fell to 34,000 US dollars and Ethereum to below 2,000 US dollars. Since the last all-time high in November, the price of the two largest cryptocurrencies has more than halved. Among other things, this crash is related to the US National Bank, which reported an inflation rate of over 7% last year and thus has to boost interest rates.
But what does this mean for graphics card prices in concrete terms? Since the crypto trend in 2021, graphics cards became very popular because they are good for mining (even more so the high-end graphics cards). That means that the prices of graphics cards are proportional to the prices of all cryptocurrencies. This, in turn, should mean that the graphics cards should be cheaper. And in fact, the prices have dropped sharply. On EBay, you can currently buy a graphics card cheaper than in November, when cryptocurrencies reached their high.
However, it is currently advisable to wait with a graphics card purchase, because a system change is scheduled for Ethereum in June. From Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. This means that Ethereum can no longer be mined with graphics cards. This in turn means that the graphics cards will be useless for the miners who own quite a few graphics cards. Either they sell them or switch to mining another coin.
