We've been tracking graphics card prices for exactly one year and it's never been worse than this

We first started tracking the prices of individual graphics cards on August 14, 2025, and since then we've checked on an almost weekly cadence (we've got to have holidays, y'know). And it's not been a pretty year.

In the interests of full disclosure, the methodology behind this data capture has been to have one editor spend an inordinate amount of their work day tracking down the cheapest available version of each of the current generation of GPUs from Nvidia, AMD, and yes, even Intel. They must be new in-box, so no refurbs or open box sales, and they must be from reputable sellers—no vendors on Amazon called sdfgwegggggwawfdasfsreqwwqeccccawef, in other words.

This data captures the very cheapest prices these GPUs were available for throughout the year, but what it doesn't capture is the average price, which has often been much higher. Sometimes there might be a good deal on a particular graphics card, while the rest of the market is significantly more expensive. But our idea was to capture what a reader could spend in a particular week to bag the GPU chipset they wanted. And we're carrying that on, with our weekly updates page always housing links to the cheapest cards we can find.

Back in August of last year, things weren't particularly pretty at all. There was a mix of low stock and high demand, which meant that graphics cards from all the various manufacturers were well over their respective MSRPs… and had been since launch. Every GPU launched in 2025 had one thing in common: There was little initial supply and the promised launch prices generally evaporated in a puff of corporate greed.

And that was all before the RAMpocalypse took hold.

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Changes in minimum GPU chipset price over 12 months

I am getting a lump in my throat as I write this—pretty much every GPU was available at or under its MSRP.

There was a beautifully innocent, AI ignorant moment in October, however, when—and I am getting a lump in my throat as I write this—pretty much every GPU except the RTX 5090 was available at or under its MSRP. We've never had it so good…

But then almost as soon as the Black Friday sales wrapped up at the end of November things went—and I hope you'll forgive the technical industry jargon here—utterly tits up.

The memory crisis started to bite into the GPU market, and graphics card prices started to rise back up again, starting with the RTX 5080, which then dragged up almost every GPU up the price ladder into the new year.

Lowest price per GPU

We've been measuring the lowest available price of each current-gen GPU since August 14, 2025.

Lowest pricing (Price, $)

0500100015005 Week10 Week15 Week20 Week25 Week30 Week35 Week40 Week0500100015005 Week10 Week15 Week20 Week25 Week30 Week35 Week40 Week

Week

Nvidia RTX 5080 Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti AMD RX 9070 XT AMD RX 9070 Nvidia RTX 5070 Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB AMD RX 9060 XT 16 GB AMD RX 9060 XT 8 GB Nvidia RTX 5060 Nvidia RTX 5050 Intel Arc B580 Intel Arc B570 AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE

Lowest pricing Data

Thankfully we haven't experienced the same sort of exponential price growth that has blighted either the system memory or storage markets with graphics cards. Yes, the RTX 5090 has risen in price by 83% to $4,400, but everything else hit a plateau relatively quickly and we've been living in that new normal more or less happily for most of this year.

Okay, I say 'relatively happily' but the pricing for both the RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti did hit levels that meant they could be more or less ignored by the general PC gaming populace who would never be able to countenance spending that much on a single component. And we did actually stop tracking the RTX 5090 when it hit $3,000 for that same reason: there was just no point recommending it.

And that relative stasis point for GPU pricing—there was individual fluctuation of GPUs, but little of significance—continued until, well, yesterday. I came back from a week away with the family to find Nvidia's mid-range graphics card market determined to wipe itself out. The RTX 5070 had been knocking around its $549 MSRP for a while, but all of a sudden that is over.

Tracking 12 and 16 GB graphics card pricing over 12 months

Boom, prices rocket up to $700, now $755, and largely $800 across the board. For a fourth-tier GPU that was barely an improvement over the RTX 4070 Super of the previous generation once you take out DLSS-related RTX Blackwell luxuries. The RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB card has followed it, like a rat up the ludicrous pricing drainpipe, dragging an increase of 51% up there with it.

So, we're now at a point where I'm recommending that PC Gamer readers do not buy any Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU with more than 8 GB of VRAM, simply because they've priced themselves out of any form of relevance for gamers. Thankfully, the AMD RDNA 4 cards are still priced almost sensibly, though there are hints that will soon change. But for now the 12 and 16 GB Navi 48-based cards—the RX 9070 GRE, RX 9070, and RX 9070 XT—are all priced under the level of the RTX 5070.

But we're still at a point where the top five Nvidia GeForce GPUs are priced at $650 or above and that makes me want to sick up a bit. Y'know, arching my back like a cat at the thought of an RTX 5060 Ti costing that much. Ack. Acccckhh.

(Image credit: Future)

And where do we go from here? I'll be continuing to track the pricing of graphics cards most weeks (43 out of 52 ain't bad) so we'll see when the Radeon price bump comes into effect in retail, and then we have to figure out if this generation of graphics cards is then best just left to the datacentres and AI sickos.

What happens to the next generation of GPUs? There's been the expectation of a Super refresh for the RTX Blackwell range, which can only really offer a bump in VRAM given the silicon limitations of each GPU, and then how do you price that? Here's an RTX 5080 Super, that'll be $1,499, thanks. RTX 5070 Ti Super, ma'am? Of course it has a stupid name, but we're still going to charge you $1,200.

Thank you sir, may I have another.

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