If you've been following these things at all, you probably know that the Radeon R9 290X and its little brother, the R9 290, have been selling at steep premiums for a while now. Although both cards have been relatively easy to find in stock at online retailers, they've been going for something like $200 above list.

The problem is one of supply and demand, of course. While our sources suggest that supply is healthy, demand from crypto-currency miners seems to be very strong. This puts AMD in an awkward position. The company could order additional wafers, which would put more GPUs in the market in a few months. By then, however, the crypto-currency bubble might burst, and AMD might find itself with excess inventory as miners unload second-hand Radeons on eBay.