PC Parts Shortage in 2021 — What To Do?
Do you wanna buy a modern gaming PC in general or just upgrade it?
Well, we are here to bring you the news from the PC parts market and the current state of it.
PC parts in 2020 were hard to get. In 2021. that mission became even more challenging. We all heard the news of Playstation 5 shortages in news and articles but the pc world isn’t in a better situation either. Certain parts are extremely hard to get, or they are extremely overpriced compared to years before. The key problem, for now, is the graphics cards. Processors, motherboards and SSD-s are stable at best but even for those components price has gone up but not as drastic as the case with graphics cards. In the past, there were a few similar situations but never at this scale. Past problems usually involved manufacturers not having enough production for the demand but in 2021. the situation is a bit different. And by that, I mean a lot more complicated because the price of PC parts is getting influenced by multiple factors.
You may ask yourself what are does factors and why do they influence the price and shortages this much. Well here are a few reasons for that:
2021. COVID — 19 Pandemic
We can all agree that in 2020. was a challenging and uncertain year for all of us. We saw the arrival of what at that time seemed a scary new world. We were all forced to stay at home bored out of our minds. That is why home entertainment products saw a massive demand boom. Everything changed for us ordinary people overnight, but we weren’t the only ones affected. Massive international companies were affected greatly. Most Pc parts are built in East Asia and by that, I mean China and Taiwan. East Asia got affected by the Covid-19 pandemic hard. They were forced to stop working for a month sometimes more and that for any company is a sign of trouble. Many PC part companies got closed, and that caused a major supply problem. Production and shipments were late and the computer world got impacted heavily.
Shortage of computer ships
Pandemic wasn’t the only thing that made companies be massively behind on production. Many companies like Nvidia and Gigabyte (primary graphics card producers) have run out of chips need for the production of graphics cards. These chips are usually made by Samsung and other technology giants but the main problem was that those production giants ran out of needed resources to produce the chip. Mainly silica sands. When the global pandemic came silica supply was higher than ever and the company’s extracting it couldn’t cope with it and produced a massive chain of delays in production in the technology world.
Cryptocurrency
It’s tough to find someone who hasn't at least heard of cryptocurrency or at least Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that started in 2010. but had major success and popularity in 2018. when the value skyrocketed and everyone was into it. Well since 2018. it looked that the Bitcoin craze is going downhill and is becoming less relevant. Well in 2020. Bitcoin started rasing again and everyone was back at it. You are maybe wondering why it has such a large impact on Pc parts availability. Well, the answer to that is miners. I know what you are thinking but Miners are not mining coal or any shiny rocks, they are groups of people trying to earn large amounts of money through trading and earning bitcoins and for that, they need many unique personal computers and for many computers, you need huge amounts of pc parts.
Miners usually buy mid-range pc parts in large amounts so some graphic cards like AMD-s RX 580 are becoming impossible to get a hold off because for a long-time ti was the best “value for the money” solution in terms of mining.
Scalpers
Last but not least we have scalpers. They are majorly affecting the prices of new graphics cards making the prices of them even double they are in stores. Who are scalpers? Scalpers are people who buy any type of new product, not just Pc parts and sell it second-hand for a larger price. Why do they do it?. Simple, to make a profit. They usually aim for these types of products:
Products with supply shortages ( New Nvidia 3000 series graphics cards for example)
Products with limited production numbers (Adidas Yeezy-s shoes)
Products which you can’t buy whiteout luck (Nike limited edition shoes that you need to win a lucky draw to get permission to buy the shoes)
So with Pc parts shortage causes number now its time for a detailed look how to not get ripped off and still get a new shiny pc part.
Best way to get a hold of new Pc parts:
Use stock information sites to see where the parts are available and at what price. Browse second-hand sites and look for good deals (Avoid Pc parts used for mining because they are usually not very well maintained and have huge working hours and if you are into gaming check if parts being sold are hardware banned because of cheating.)
Wait a minute — probably your best option right now. Wait till the end of the year when production is gonna ramp up and shelves will be full again.
Buy one on amazon. If you are not short on cash and in need of pc part immediately grab yourself a top of the line graphics card or processor nobody is stopping you.
Hopefully, this blog post informed you about the PC part market in 2021. and will help you with your decision in buying a pc part. Good luck out there finding a good deal for yourself. Knowing recent times you are gonna need it.
