The GPU market is back, baby, and it's astonishing 'market watchers who have been predicting its doom for decades'

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(Image credit: Future)

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition graphics card

There’s been relatively little news on the discrete graphics card front for a while. The most exciting developments have been regarding integrated solutions such as those found inAMD Strix Point laptops. It’s a little surprising, then, to find out that the discrete graphics card market did pretty damn well last quarter.

Research fromJon Peddie Research (JPR)says there were increased shipments in the graphics add-in board (AIB) market compared to Q2 2024 and last year. We’re talking a 9.4% increase compared to Q1 and a 47.9% increase year-on-year.

The analyst firm explains, “AMD’s quarter-to-quarter total desktop AIB unit shipments increased 9% and increased 3% from last year. Nvidia’s quarter-to-quarter unit shipments increased 9.7% and increased 61.9% from last year while continuing to hold a dominant market share position at 88%.”

However, it points out that Intel “remained flat, as the company has yet to gain significant traction in the add-in board market.” This isn’t so surprising given that there’s been diminishing hype over the company’s discreteArc A750andA770graphics cards.

While the president of JPR, Jon Peddie, points out that “overall shipments are down compared to two years ago,” it’s nevertheless a good sign that graphics card shipments have mostly been on the up since then. In fact, the past year has been pretty consistently great for graphics card shipments, as Peddie points out, “With one little dip in Q1 (seasonally normal), we’ve seen four quarters of growth.”

Q2 2024 shipments roughly match Q4 2023 according toJPR’s chart, but note that fourth quarter sales are usually higher than other quarters because of the holiday season, especially Black Friday. A Q2 matching a Q4 is good news.

What’s more is there’s been a steep increase in “attach rate”, meaning the proportion of graphics card shipments “attached” to desktop desktop CPU shipments. In other words, graphics card shipments have increased not just absolutely but proportionally to desktop CPU shipments.

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So, it’s not as if the increased graphics card shipments are just because there are more PC systems being sold overall. Graphics card shipments seem to have increased despite fewer desktop CPU shipments. In fact, proportionally, this research shows that interest in having a discrete graphics card in one’s system has shot up on a steep curve since the start of 2024 and was steadily increasing prior to that, since Q3 2022.

Your next upgrade(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.

Your next upgrade

(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.

(Image credit: Future)

Nvidia RTX 4070 and RTX 3080 Founders Edition graphics cards

Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.

Whatever the reason, it’s good news for us gamers because more demand usually encourages the creation of more supply and cheaper prices… Okay, I won’t get carried away on the price front given it’s (mainly) Nvidia we’re talking about, here.

Still, good news is good news. As Peddie says, “The add-in board market continues to surprise and astonish market watchers who have been predicting its doom for decades.” Take that, naysayers. Let’s just hope next-genNvidia BlackwellandAMD RDNA 4graphics cards aren’t flops and that chart can keep pointing upwards.

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More about graphics cards

Is the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.It’s time for me to admit that AI-accelerated frame generation might actually be the way of the future and that’s a good thing

Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics card

Is the new RTX 5070 really as fast as Nvidia’s previous flagship RTX 4090 GPU? Turns out the answer is yes. Kinda.

Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition rendered on a green background.

It’s time for me to admit that AI-accelerated frame generation might actually be the way of the future and that’s a good thing

LatestCruel is a frantic run-and-gun shooter where you boot cultists out of windows in a cursed apartment block that wants you deadSee more latest►

Latest

Cruel is a frantic run-and-gun shooter where you boot cultists out of windows in a cursed apartment block that wants you dead

Cruel

Cruel is a frantic run-and-gun shooter where you boot cultists out of windows in a cursed apartment block that wants you dead

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