Graphics card prices have jumped 35% in just three months, with Nvidia's high-end GPUs reaching absurd levels and Radeon cards catching up. Our Q4 2026 update finds little reason to expect relief.
GPU Prices Are Spiraling Out of Control: Q4 2026 Update
- Thread starter Scorpus
- Start date
Been like that for the last couple of years that they start increasing prices from August to rack in extra money for the holidays.
October, November, December and January is probably the worst months to buy tech. The greedy companies increases the price always.
October, November, December and January is probably the worst months to buy tech. The greedy companies increases the price always.
godrilla
Posts: 2,479 +1,898
Don't blink the 9070 xt went up in price overnight around $1049 to 1199 each. Although the prebuilts are still decently priced in comparison. This is probably going to the worst black Friday for diy. We might get lucky with laptops, handhelds and prebuilts though.
takaozo
Posts: 1,113 +1,720
Boy I'm glad I bite the bullet and got myself a RX 9070XT for 695 Euro + 21%VAT = Total 841 Euro.
Never had I planned to pay this amount for a GPU, but this is the new reality. At least now I can play at 1440p with no upscaling needed.
The old RTX 3070 needed DLSS to be able to play newest titles because of the 8GB VRAM buffer.
It can now gather some dust with the old GTX 1060 and RTX 2060.
Never had I planned to pay this amount for a GPU, but this is the new reality. At least now I can play at 1440p with no upscaling needed.
The old RTX 3070 needed DLSS to be able to play newest titles because of the 8GB VRAM buffer.
It can now gather some dust with the old GTX 1060 and RTX 2060.
Achaios
Posts: 713 +1,712
There have been reports on reddit about Chinese ppl on the US West Coast driving vans with a test system ready on the back, frantically buying on the street any 5090 and 4090 they could get their hands on since 2-3 months back and paying in cash.
The PRC is always ahead of the curve, looks like they had insider information and started mass buying 2-3 months ago before the 5090 was discontinued.
Very likely, these former US 4090's and 5090's are now running LLM's for the greater glory of the CCP in the PRC.
The PRC is always ahead of the curve, looks like they had insider information and started mass buying 2-3 months ago before the 5090 was discontinued.
Very likely, these former US 4090's and 5090's are now running LLM's for the greater glory of the CCP in the PRC.
godrilla
Posts: 2,479 +1,898
The latest mlid podcast had an allegedly Microcenter manager saying they had millions of dollars of cash flowing in from these guys demanding a grocery list of items to buy for cash in groups and buying everything. Mostly mid to high rtx cards as well as the pros.
yRaz
Posts: 10,067 +17,984
I ordered a 9070XT 2 weeks ago for $850, that was the cheapest I could find. Cheapest I can find one now is $920US
Eldrach
Posts: 658 +860
The worst part of this, is that this is all artificial (no phun intended) - there’s heaps of stockpiles of gpu’s all over the world..waiting to be put into datacenters that won’t be ready for another 2-3 years.
We’re basically suffering from the worst case of FOMO the world has ever seen.
Massive purchases from the major players in fear of not having the hardware ready when they managed to wrangle the permits from the local authorities
We’re basically suffering from the worst case of FOMO the world has ever seen.
Massive purchases from the major players in fear of not having the hardware ready when they managed to wrangle the permits from the local authorities
Almost the same for me. I got a 9070XT for just $550 USD earlier this year on a freak sale at Walmart. Replaced my 3070 Ti that also only had 8GB and was becoming annoying to play games with. That replaced my 1070 Ti 4GB which also hit a VRAM buffer in games.
9070XT is a great card. Sucks that the prices keeping going up. Still, way better deal that an Nvidia card.
I was planning on building a new PC right when the memory crunch went into high gear last November, and decided then to might as well buy the 9070XT...
Managed to cobble together a newer DDR4 platform from some spare parts and prior upgrades from family members, and man I am so glad I did as we all watch how far things have gotten out of control...
I'm still not holding my breath for a full upgrade any time soon but at least I'm functional.
Managed to cobble together a newer DDR4 platform from some spare parts and prior upgrades from family members, and man I am so glad I did as we all watch how far things have gotten out of control...
I'm still not holding my breath for a full upgrade any time soon but at least I'm functional.
In 2-3 years those gpu's will be near obsolete...or someone will come up with a better idea for data centers.
$850's pretty good for the 9070XT. I kept going back and forth between the XT, 5070, and 5070 Ti in their first year or so. Ended up with an Open Box 5070 Ti for around $840. Hindsight 20/20, obviously should've gone for 5080 but like many of us, couldn't justify $1200+ for the 16GB card and no one expected them to go over $2000+.
With that mentality in mind, 9070XT the obvious choice if you can get one for $850 right now.
yRaz
Posts: 10,067 +17,984
I was watching them go up all summer. They were still under $800 in August. They were floating around 760-780. I actually got it for $820 but I got the 2 year protection plan after the horror stories I've been seeing with warranties lately and I still haven't forgiven Asus over my 1080ti. $30 won't break me but I might go postal if I get stuck with another $800 paperweight.
Riding the wave by not buying a GPU at current prices is the smart choice. But if you need to buy a GPU right now, go Radeon, obviously.
FYI, one of the reasons these GPU pricing updates are super useful is that a year ago (Nov-Dec timeframe), you could buy an RTX 5080 at MSRP. That didn't last long, but if you did, you got yourself a great deal. So once again, right now is just not a buyer's market, so holding off is best.
FYI, one of the reasons these GPU pricing updates are super useful is that a year ago (Nov-Dec timeframe), you could buy an RTX 5080 at MSRP. That didn't last long, but if you did, you got yourself a great deal. So once again, right now is just not a buyer's market, so holding off is best.
n3o127
Posts: 133 +93
Honestly, let's just go back to the days of DirectX 9(c) and forgo all the AI and frame-gen overhead—back to when GPUs just needed raw rasterization power instead of being artificially inflated and sold off to the data-center AI market.
yRaz
Posts: 10,067 +17,984
I feel bad for the young people looking to get into the hobby. It's no longer "I can get a high-end PC from a summer job" and with the price of parts, mistakes can be costly. I think if you're willing to make compromises like playing at 1080p, turning off RT and sticking to older games it's possible to get into it, but with current games having the high-end hardware is no longer a "nice to have" thing that was mostly bragging rights. There are games coming out today that are mostly unplayable if you don't have a $5000 rig.
If you look back just a year or so ago, you used to be able to buy a $100 used office tower with an 8th or 10thgen i7, plop a $300 GPU in it and have a perfectly acceptable and even a good gaming experience.
Maybe I'm showing my age here, but a bare minimum system with used parts and some upgrades costs over $1000. That was used car money when I was a teenager
Neatfeatguy
Posts: 2,361 +4,816
3 months ago you could have picked up a 9070XT at my local Micro Center for as low as $699. I checked the prices today and outside of one outlier (a Yeston brand one at $899 that is on sale, otherwise original price is $1099) they're all at $1049.
It didn't take long for priced to really spike. All 5080s are $2300+.
What a shitty time to be a PC gamer. All prices are so mucked up that a PC my brother built a year ago for around $1600 the same build today would be $3600. That's nuts.
It didn't take long for priced to really spike. All 5080s are $2300+.
What a shitty time to be a PC gamer. All prices are so mucked up that a PC my brother built a year ago for around $1600 the same build today would be $3600. That's nuts.
MiqWalsh
Posts: 112 +130
I am SO glad now I had my "upgrade" splurge last Xmas. Running a featherweight Linux distro as I do, and the only games I play being older indie or late 90s/early 2000s 'retro' stuff, my 2 GB GT 1030 does everything I ask of it.....so a refurb'd CPU / new GPU / new PSU upgrade that cost a total of around GBP £260 has set me up quite nicely for the forseeable future.....on top of the existing 32GB DDR4 kit I snagged 6 years ago.
Seeing where 'mainstream' hardware prices are going, I DO 'feel' for some of you guys. I'm sympathetic, truly I am. Seriously..!
Miq.
Seeing where 'mainstream' hardware prices are going, I DO 'feel' for some of you guys. I'm sympathetic, truly I am. Seriously..!
Miq.
Mr Majestyk
Posts: 2,603 +2,446
Namtrooper
Posts: 152 +87
You made a good choice. Native all the way man. 1440p is still the sweet spot.
Nintenboy01
Posts: 391 +291
at some point you can tap into FSR 4.1, at least on quality mode or native AA. It doesn't look too far off DLSS4
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