Black Friday graphics card deals 2019

Your graphics card is usually the most expensive gaming PC component, which is why 2019’s Black Friday graphics card deals offer the chance for some big savings. A great graphics card also gives you some of the most obvious results of an upgrade. Ultra settings, baby!

Nvidia and AMD are still fighting it out for supremacy. Nvidia still wears the crown for highest performance as well as features, but AMD delivers incredible bang for the buck. Black Friday is the rare time where GPU prices can plummet well below their MSRPs. Just be ready for individual card deals to sell out fast.

Thankfully this year there’s no crypto mining shortage, and several new models have launched in October and November. The new Nvidia Super cards also mean you can score a 2018 RTX card for a better deal. Prices have been trending downward bit by bit over the last year, so there should be good inventory of cards at stores like Amazon and Newegg. Hopefully that means we see some great Black Friday deals.

What new cards should you be looking out for? From AMD, it’s their new 7nm GPUs like the RX 5700 XT and RX 5700, with the RX 5500 slated to arrive soon. Nvidia’s got the tuned up Super (hero) cards—the RTX 2060 Super, RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2080 Super came first, and more recently the GTX 1660 Super. Basically, you get more performance for a similar or lower price than last year.

Officially the non-Super 2070 and 2080 are discontinued as we mentioned earlier, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of stock. In fact, it means now’s a good time to get a bargain. Prices are as much as $100 below the original MSRP before a flash sale appears. The 2080 is still slightly faster than the 2070 Super, and the 2070 is slightly faster than the 2060 Super, so keep either in mind when you’re on the hunt. These Black Friday graphics card deals are likely the best prices we’ll see until next year.

Do some research into the best graphics cards to decide which graphics card you want to buy, and when Black Friday hits, find the lowest price you can. The various vendors are all pretty similar, with basic to extreme models with RGB lighting on most cards. Whether it’s Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, PNY, Sapphire, XFX, Zotac, or some other brand, performance will usually be close to other models using the same GPU.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Best graphics card deals right now

The Black Friday deals have already started, and should be getting better throughout the week. Here are the best graphics card deals we’ve found so far.

Black Friday graphics cards—When do they go on sale?

Retailers have begun rolling out their hottest deals leading into Black Friday, and it seems to start earlier each year. Discounts are already available, and they’ll become larger as we approach zero hour, with the best deals often being limited time and limited quantity offers on November 29. Amazon, Walmart, Newegg, Micro Center, and Best Buy are the places where we’ve seen have the most deals across Black Friday weekend in the past, and that’s not likely to change.

Cyber Monday will also have some good sales, and usually by the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, the sales will start to taper off. However, they won’t truly go away until the ghost of Christmas is past.

Not every graphics card is likely to see major discounts. The RTX 2080 Ti is still difficult to find below the nominal $1,199 price Nvidia offers on the Founders Edition, and $999 models (the entry price) are rarer than hen’s teeth. Newer models like the RX 5700 series and Nvidia’s Super cards are also less likely to see massive discounts, while any remaining models from previous generations that are still in stock could go on clearance. Because the best deals sell out quickly, and many sales only last as long as the supplies last, don’t hesitate to grab a card if the price falls more than 15 percent below the normal price.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

How to save money on graphics cards during Black Friday

You’ve decided it’s time. Your once-proud gaming rig is struggling to run the latest games at the resolution and settings you’d like. It’s time to upgrade, but you still want a good deal. But what constitutes a good deal? We’ll be here to guide you during Black Friday proper, highlighting the best deals and even the modest savings. But here are some tips to get you and your wallet prepared.

1. Know your needs ahead of time
Are you aiming for 60fps at 1080p, 1440p, or 4K? If you only have a 1080p display, there’s far less need to go whole hog on the graphics card. Check out our performance analysis articles to see how the latest games run across a variety of hardware, along with our GPU buying guide. More importantly, decide how much you’re willing to spend, and don’t expect extreme discounts on the latest graphics cards. Black Friday can be nice, but graphics cards rarely drop by more than 20 percent compared to the normal price.

2. Use a few price comparison websites
Speaking of which, PC Gamer is a good place to hang while Black Friday goes down. We’ll have people working around the clock to find the best deals available, but it doesn’t hurt to learn a few tools of the trade yourself. Price comparison sites like CamelCamelCamel will give you a good snapshot of your desired graphics card’s price history. That way you can sort the real deals from the pretenders. For example, we’ve routinely seen RX 590 cards selling for $190 during the past several months, even though the original MSRP was $279. A real deal on an RX 590 would be around $160 or less.

3. Check for combo deals if you’re in need of more upgrades
Chances are, if your graphics card is getting long in the tooth, the rest of your PC could probably use a few upgrades as well. Sometimes you can get an even better deal if you pick up a combo that includes a motherboard, CPU, and GPU. Or maybe even an entirely new PC is the way to go. Today’s budget PCs are faster than high-end PCs from five years ago, so think about whether a new graphics card will be sufficient. Maybe you can sell off your current PC or gift it to a friend, then get a more significant upgrade for yourself. ‘Tis the season!

(Image credit: Future)

Official prices versus street prices

When new GPUs launch, AMD and Nvidia set official prices for the first cards. Sometimes prices end up a bit higher, but more likely than not, over time the prices will trend downward. The following table compares the launch pricing to the current (as of early October 2019) prices you can find online. Some deals are already showing up, meaning the bottom of the street price range can be a good buy right now. If you find any deals priced significantly below the pre-Black Friday pricing, you know you’ve found something worth buying.

GPU Model Official MSRP Current Street Price
Nvidia RTX 2080 Super $700 $700-$800
Nvidia RTX 2070 Super $500 $500-$575
Nvidia RTX 2060 Super $400 $400-$450
Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti $1,000/$1,200 $1,050-$1,350
Nvidia RTX 2080 $700/$800 $600-$750
Nvidia RTX 2070 $500/$600 $420-$500
Nvidia RTX 2060 $350 $300-$360
Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti $450 $520+ (don’t buy)
Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti $280 $240-$300
Nvidia GTX 1660 $220 $200-$250
Nvidia GTX 1650 $150 $140-$175
AMD Radeon VII $700 $700+
AMD RX 5700 XT $400 $380-$480
AMD RX 5700 $350 $330-$390
AMD RX 590 $280 $190-$280
AMD RX 580 8GB $240 $160-$250
AMD RX 570 4GB $200 $130-$180
source: gamezpot.com