If you’ve been waiting to upgrade your graphics card, the news isn’t great. GPU prices are surging in 2026, driven by insatiable AI datacenter demand for the same memory chips that gaming GPUs need. And the situation is getting worse before it gets better.
The Numbers Are Brutal
Across the entire RTX 50 series, there’s been an average global price increase of 19% over the past three months. What $1,000 bought you in November 2025 (an RTX 5080) now only gets you an RTX 5070 Ti. Some specific examples:
- RTX 5090: MSRP was ~$1,999 at launch. Current street prices have ballooned to $3,500+, with premium and liquid-cooled variants exceeding $5,000
- RTX 5080: Now roughly 25% more expensive than November 2025 — what was a $1,000 card is now closer to $1,250
- RTX 5070 Ti: Prices have risen from ~$730 to ~$830 for the cheapest available models, with ASUS confirming memory supply constraints are limiting production
It’s not just GPUs either. DDR5 pricing has jumped roughly 40% and SSD prices are up more than 70% over the same period.
Why It’s Happening
ASUS officially announced price hikes effective January 5, 2026, citing AI-driven memory shortages. Memory now accounts for over 80% of total GPU bill of materials, and AI companies can absorb costs that gaming consumers simply can’t — buying in bulk quantities that make gamers a secondary priority for allocation.
Expired China tariff exemptions are adding further pricing pressure. And NVIDIA has reportedly paused nearly all RTX 50 series production until at least Q3 2026 due to overbooking AI sales. The RTX 50 SUPER series has been “delayed indefinitely.”
One outlet put it bluntly: NVIDIA is “basically exiting high-end PC gaming” in 2026.
What Budget Gamers Should Do
If you need a GPU now, the previous generation is your friend. The RTX 4070 and even the RTX 3060 remain excellent options for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The used market for RTX 40-series cards is particularly strong right now as miners and early adopters unload hardware.
If you’re building a new PC, consider our budget PC build guides — they’re designed around realistic pricing, not paper MSRPs that don’t exist in the real world.
The cold reality: 2026 is a terrible year to buy a high-end GPU. If your current card handles your games acceptably, wait it out.
