A January 23rd BBC report says that graphics cards are becoming scarcer and more expensive, due to the escalating interest in cryptocurrencies. Although they are primarily designed for gaming, graphics cards have become increasingly popular because they can speed up the mining process for Bitcoin.

Mining crypto coins can earn dividends for miners running dedicated computer systems, and many are buying large quantities of graphics cards. They use these to run several mining rigs at once, to boost their profit-earning potential. Some manufacturers and retailers have responded by limiting the supply to each customer, but for gamers, the increasing scarcity of such a crucial component is catastrophic.

Many websites which covering the computer components industry report that high-end cards, like the Nvidia GTX, are being sold at a much higher price than that advertised on the manufacturer\'s site. The GTX 1080 Ti, for example, is priced by the firm\'s online store at £679 but purchased via the site of nearly every prominent electronics retailer, the same card will cost more than £900. On one site, the price is nearer £2,000. Many other retailers are listing the item as out of stock.

Nvidia has put a limit on the number of its cards that can be bought by any one customer, and asked retailers to try and vet potential purchasers so that their cards end up in the right hands - the gamers.