Rumor mill: The memory crisis is causing more depressing news for PC gamers. AMD graphics cards could soon become more expensive as a result of a second price increase by board partners. Moreover, it's claimed that 8GB Radeon GPUs will receive higher sales priority.
Following a reported 5 – 10% increase in pricing last month, AMD board partners are expected to introduce a second hike this month or in March. It's unclear how large this new increase will be, but any price hike by AIB partners will make RX 9000-series graphics cards even more expensive.
The claim comes from Board Channels, which can be hit and miss when it comes to reports like these, so take it with a grain of salt. However, the enormous impact the memory crisis is having on component prices shows no signs of easing.
The Board Channels post adds that the second price increase will bring AMD's cards closer in price to comparable Nvidia models. It also notes that the original hike spurred distributors to stock up.
Right now, in-stock RTX 5060 Ti cards range from $519 to $1,059 on Newegg. In-stock RX 9060 XT 16GB models, meanwhile, start at $329 and reach $887. Should the claims prove true, AMD's models will be priced a lot closer to Nvidia's.
A separate Board Channels post states that AMD will be prioritizing selling more 8GB GPUs, which covers both current RDNA 4 and previous generations of cards with that memory configuration. Particular emphasis will be placed on the RX 9060 XT 8GB and the RDNA 3-powered RX 7650 GRE.
We slammed the RX 9060 XT 8GB in our review, giving it a score of just 40 due to the limited performance of its smaller VRAM size. We rated the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB even lower. News that these cards could be given a higher sales priority isn't going to be welcomed by anyone.
Both AMD and Nvidia tried to justify releasing 8GB cards last year. Nvidia said they were mostly for non-Western markets, especially Asia. AMD Frank Azor wrote that the majority of gamers still play at 1080p and that worldwide, the most popular genre of game is esports.
The final part of the post claims that for 16GB models, the focus will remain on the RX 9060 XT 16GB and RX 9070 XT series. Meanwhile, production of the RX 9070 – the first RDNA 4 card to enter the Steam survey – and RX 9070 GRE will be significantly reduced.