I don’t think it’s gamers driving those hardware sales - GPU supply has been strained for over a decade due to their non-gaming uses. The introduction of cryptocurrency lead to all the high-end cards being snatched up by mining operations and scalpers, then right as crypto finally started dying down, the AI boom hit.
Anecdotally I know a ton of gamers going with low- and mid-tier GPUs like the 3060/4060 because crypto/AI speculators and scalpers have driven up the prices of the high-end cards beyond the budgets of normal people (and that’s when there are even any cards in stock).
I don’t think it’s gamers driving those hardware sales - GPU supply has been strained for over a decade due to their non-gaming uses. The introduction of cryptocurrency lead to all the high-end cards being snatched up by mining operations and scalpers, then right as crypto finally started dying down, the AI boom hit.
Anecdotally I know a ton of gamers going with low- and mid-tier GPUs like the 3060/4060 because crypto/AI speculators and scalpers have driven up the prices of the high-end cards beyond the budgets of normal people (and that’s when there are even any cards in stock).