Why it matters: After what seemed like an eternity of having to endure ridiculous prices, GPU costs are finally, albeit slowly, returning to normal levels. According to a new report, this month should see another reduction on graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD, with an average drop of around 20 percent.

We know that cryptomining was the primary reason behind the incredibly high GPU prices, though RAM shortages have also been a factor. But with crypto markets slumping in recent months, failing to come anywhere near their mid-December peak, many farms have cut their GPU orders or stopped operations entirely, leading to a fall in card prices. The effect became apparent in May when a variety of GeForce GPUs arrived back in stock at near MSRP levels.

Taiwan site DigiTimes reports that this trend is going to continue throughout July. With digital currencies stagnating, less profitable mining means lower demand for GPUs. Bitcoin has remained below $8000 since mid-May and is currently hovering around $6300---it's lowest since last November.

While there are plenty of people still mining, many use dedicated ASICs, but demand for these has also waned. All of which means that suppliers are slashing prices to try and clear inventory. DigiTimes writes that this "mining chill" will lead to a GPU price reduction of "around 20 percent in July."

Currently, the worldwide graphics card market has an inventory of around several million units and Nvidia has around a million of GPUs waiting to be released, said the sources. With cryptocurrency miners also expected to begin selling their used graphics cards to the retail channel, vendors are expected to introduce major price cuts to compete

Last month, a report claimed that Nvidia overestimated recent demand for its GPUs, thereby generating an excess inventory. It's thought that the company is holding back its new GeForce cards until the stock is cleared, which begs the question: should you buy a Pascal-based GPU now, or wait until the GTX 2070/2080 (or 1170/1180) arrives and purchase a next-gen card?