Everyone knows there’s a PlayStation 5 shortage right now, but there’s also a shortage of next-gen video cards. It’s almost impossible to find a new Nvidia RTX card, and even harder to find one for MSRP. This situation is apparently going to continue at least until Q2, 2021, according to Nvidia’s CEO.
But Nvidia is doing something truly bizarre to help meet skyrocketing demand for video cards. According to PC World, Nvidia is reviving the GTX 1050Ti, an entry-level video card that had largely been replaced over the past two years. Nvidia denies that they ever retired the GTX 1050Ti, however, and says that they're just giving retailers what they want: more video cards.
“The products referenced below were never EOLed [end-of-lifed]. So ‘reviving’ seems like the wrong terminology to use here," an Nvidia spokesperson told PC World. "More of an ebb and flow really. We’re just meeting market demand which remains extremely high.”
However, just because there are suddenly new 1050Tis showing up four years after their initial introduction doesn't mean they're cheap. When the GTX 1050Ti first launched in 2016, it was priced at $140. Today, PC Part Picker says you can't find one for under $200, which is quite the price hike.
Another card that Nvidia is reviving is the RTX 2060, but it's even more expensive. That card started at $350 a few years back, but now it's priced at $700 or more. For that price, you could get a brand new RTX 3070 with more than double the performance--if you can find one, that is.
PC World notes that crypto miners are largely to blame for the unexpected resurrection of a four-year-old video card. The GTX 1050Ti uses 4GB of GDDR5 RAM, but modern crypto mining requires GDDR6 RAM which is only found in modern video cards. This may also explain why the RTX 2060 has doubled in price but the 1050Ti merely saw a “modest” 70% rise.
The 1050Ti is a cute card and it’s extremely energy efficient, but it’s not going to play modern high-end PC games at anywhere near maximum graphics. Still, if you want something for a media machine or to play Minecraft, you could do much worse than the 1050Ti.