Michael Driscoll, an Oracle data engineer, has written a data scraper that runs through eBay listings for the latest hardware, comparing products with their sale price. The objective was to see just how pervasive scalping actually is, and to get a (flawed and incomplete, but still extremely interesting) outlook at the scalping ecosystem and their gains with the current hardware and console shortages. Driscoll analyzed sales for the Xbox Series X|S, the PS5 (discless and disc-based) as well as NVIDIA's RTX 30-series, AMD's RX 6000 series, and Zen 3 processors. There are some assumptions on the gathering and analysis of this data, but that is part of the beast.

The results are potentially desperation-inducing. AMD's Zen 3 CPUs have sold for sometimes 240% of their MSRP (looking at the biggest offender, the Ryzen 9 5950X. The RX 6800 XT graphics card has been selling for within an inch of 200% of its MSRP as well, with a median price over the past week set at $1247 (compare that to the $649 MSRP). The RTX 3080 has been selling at 180% of its MSRP for the past week, but it has been moved at 220% of its MSRP before. The case repeats with several degrees of severity for the Xbox family and PS5 consoles.

The launch of the AMD RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT was plagued with a lack of availability and inflated prices. Retailers sold out of reference models almost immediately leading to price gouging and the launch of custom boards a week later did little to ease the situation. AMD has acknowledged the situation and is working with AIBs to achieve MSRP prices. In an unofficial comment to Hardware Unboxed, an AMD representative confirmed that they hoped to reach MSRP prices within 4 to 8 weeks for custom cards. The cards are currently selling for 100+ USD higher than their suggested retail prices at retailers across the globe so this news from AMD will be welcome for many.

LIAN LI Industrial Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of aluminium chassis and PC accessories, is proud to give GALAHAD AIO enthusiasts the opportunity to complete their builds with the ST120, available in packs of 3, in black and in white. In addition, LIAN LI launches the ARGB Cable Kit for LIAN LI ARGB devices to solve the issue of port scarcity on modern motherboards to connect all devices. Creating a unified look and solving the headache of interconnectivity has never been easier.

Now available separately from the GALAHAD AIO, the ST120 offers users a way to improve their system performance while getting a uniform look. The high static pressure ST120s are PWM fans which operate between 800 and 1900 RPM, and deliver a maximum airflow of 69.17 CFM and air pressure of 2.6 mmH20, making them ideal replacement fans for any AIOs capable of hosting 120 mm fans.

NZXT, a leading designer of intuitive software, hardware, and services for the PC gaming community, today announces an expansion of the Kraken X-3 RGB and Kraken Z53 expanding their existing line of AIO liquid CPU coolers. The NZXT Kraken X-3 family will introduce a new variant that will include NZXT AER RGB 2 fans for builders wanting to maximize RGB in their build. The Kraken X-3 series includes the improved iconic RGB infinity mirror design with an enlarged ring size. The cap is upgraded to be rotatable to ensure the correct orientation of the NZXT logo, accommodating more builders. With the newest 7th generation pump for Asetek, the Kraken X-3 RGB series has industry-leading cooling performance for your CPU.

The NZXT Kraken Z-3 series will now include the NZXT Kraken Z53 240 mm AIO in addition to the previously released 280 mm and 360 mm options. The NZXT Kraken Z-3 series is the perfect addition to any gaming battlestation. A beautiful 2.36"(60 mm) LCD screen provides unlimited visual customization, and is capable of displaying vital system health data as well as any custom image or animated GIF via NZXT CAM. With unparalleled aesthetics and performance, the Kraken Z-3 series is built with the 7th generation Asetek pump and provides builders the opportunity to express themselves in an all-new way while keeping their CPU temps cool.

PowerColor, the creator of the iconic "Red Devil" flagship designs of AMD Radeon graphics cards, has today posted a teaser for the upcoming Radeon RX 6800 XT GPUs. With their custom PowerColor Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Devil graphics card, the company is bringing consumers their best engineering and design. Today, we are getting the first glimpse of what is to come. Pictured below is a backside of the GPU, with a dark metallic backplate, illuminated by the Red Devil logo. The teased picture shows a bit more of the card as well, where we can see the printed Red Devil logo. This custom design is expected to be a triple-slot and triple-fan design. With AMD reference designs being priced at an MSRP of $649, this custom card is possibly going to be pricier. Below you can see that the Red Devil has awoken amid the wait for custom cards to arrive:

Recently, it has been brought to light that a particular seller on Ebay was selling price-hiked MSI RTX 30-series graphics cards - such as the RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio - well over MSRP ($1,359 for an RTX 3080, compared to NVIDIA's $699 and MSI's $799). A more attentive look at the seller, identified as Starlit Partner, reveals that they carried only MSI-manufactured SKUs for NVIDIA's RTX 30-series, and was selling them, in most cases, as sealed and brand new. Now, scalping of NVIDIA's latest graphics card series has been thoroughly covered here on TechPowerUp; however, suspicions of ties between Starlit Partner and MSI itself, and the suggestion that this was a coordinated move in order to sell RTX 30-series inventory at marked-up pricing, deserves a longer appraisal.

As soon as the suspicion was posted in the Internet, some users donned their detective cloaks and went digging for more information, and confirmed the ties to MSI. However, MSI has already issued a statement on the issue, clarifying the scenario we were faced with. Indeed, MSI has ties to Starlit Partner, as they themselves acknowledge - the later is an individual sales subsidiary working under MSI. However, MSI further explains in the statement that Starlit Partner is tasked with the sale of refurbished items and excess inventory - and that they should never have had access to NVIDIA's RTX-30 series graphics cards in the first place. MSI launched an investigation that confirmed an error in inventory allocation allowed Starlit Partner to access inventory they shouldn't have had access to (without clarifying the error).