Bizzaro GPU world: we now have GPU loot boxes, in real life... sigh

You know how hard it is to buy not just graphics cards these days, but DDR5 RAM, high-speed SSDs, high-end PSUs, next-gen consoles, and so much more are next to impossible to buy in some countries... and in roll GPU loot boxes.

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Yeah, you read that right -- a Japanese Amazon reseller is offering customers "mystery boxes" that will include a new, or used graphics card of some description. You will pay $100 for the mystery box, and not know what you're going to buy. You might spend $100 and end up with an older-gen NVIDIA Maxwell-based GPU, or an AMD Radeon RX 300-series GPU.

But... you might end up with a flagship NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3060 Ti -- or in AMD's Team Red camp you could score yourself -- for $100 mind you, a Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800, RX 6700 XT, RX 6600 XT, and many others. The Ampere and RDNA 2-based GeForce RTX 30 and Radeon RX 6000 series GPU, respectively, will be brand new -- the others, will be used cards. Not a bad gamble for $100, isn't it?

• Read more: NVIDIA: GPU shortages improve in 2H 2022, as RTX 40 series launches

I would say a large percentage of the GPUs being sold in these "mystery boxes" will be older cards, with a few new cards sprinkled in for the hype. You could also get used mining GPUs that have been crypto-mining for a few years, but that's the gamble you have to decide you're willing to pay.

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There are no returns, so be careful out there.