Report: Graphics Cards to Receive 10-15% Price Increase

As a result of increases in the cost of DDR3 memory, a number of graphics card vendors have reportedly increased prices by 10 to 15 percent.

According to a report published by DigiTimes, the recent increases in the price of memory has prompted several graphics card vendors to hike the retail price of products using DDR3 memory by 10 to 15 percent. Given that this price increase seems specific to this form of memory, we expect the impact to be restricted to the budget or entry-level market.

DigitTimes' unnamed sources also noted that they believe that prices are unlikely to return to their previous levels in the next six months unless manufacturers decide to offer promotions for specific models or bring forward the release of next-generation graphics cards.

The report further stated that since PC demand is still comparatively weak, the impact will not "upset consumers or channel retails greatly in the same run" and that the "PC replacement trend" that is expected to follow the release of Intel's Haswell platform in June may be compromised by these increased costs and the expected rise of motherboard ASP.