This. I've been planning to buy a new gaming rig for two years, but wasn't so much a priority that I would pay exorbitant prices for even midrange hardware.

When normality is restored, I'll be happy to finally upgrade.

The main difference is that gamers are consumers, while ETH miners use GPUs to make income. Even though gamers were buying scalped GPUs, I'd imagine GPUs going to back to being treated as a consumable (rather than something that generates income) would help prices.

Companies using GPUs to train models are also using them to make money. They will pick up the slack the miners leave behind.

I think you're overestimating hoe many companies use GPUs to train models, I highly doubt there are enough to drive prices up the way crypto had.

But people who don't necessarily need it and/or don't make money with it won't pay insane prices for (ab-)used mining GPUs. It won't be insanely cheap, but definitely a lot cheaper.

When the time comes, for a casual gamer which popular etehrum mining GPU’s would you be on the lookout for?

Aren't Quadros/FirePros with lots of VRAM better for that?

I will be one of them :)