Exactly one year ago, on August 14, 2025, PCGamer began tracking the cost of individual graphics cards, checking prices almost every week. The results of this large‑scale monitoring turned out to be extremely disappointing for consumers. The data collection methodology consisted of searching for the cheapest available version of each current‑generation graphics card from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. Only new devices in factory packaging from trusted sellers were considered, without refurbished or opened units. These data record the lowest prices at which graphics processors were available throughout the year, but they do not reflect the average market indicators, which were often significantly higher.

Back in August of last year, the market situation was far from rosy. The combination of low inventory and high demand led to graphics cards from all manufacturers being sold at prices significantly above the recommended retail price. In October, there was a brief lull when almost every graphics processor, with the exception of the flagship RTX 5090, was available at the recommended price or even lower. However, almost immediately after the Black Friday sales ended in late November, the situation changed dramatically. The ongoing memory crisis had a serious impact on the graphics card market, and prices began to rise again. The RTX 5080 model was the first to see its price go up, and it then pulled almost all other devices along with it.

Fortunately, there was no exponential price growth in graphics cards comparable to what affected the markets for RAM and solid‑state drives. The flagship RTX 5090 saw an 83 percent price increase, reaching a price of $4,400, but tracking of this model was discontinued at the $3,000 level, as it no longer made any sense to recommend it for purchase. Relative stability persisted until recently, until the mid‑range Nvidia market began to show anomalies. The RTX 5070 model remained around the recommended $549 for a long time, but then the price surged to $700, and on average across the market it reached $800. Following this, the RTX 5060 Ti model with sixteen gigabytes of memory demonstrated a price increase of fifty‑one percent.

Now, PCGamer recommends refraining from purchasing Nvidia RTX 50‑series graphics cards, as their inflated prices have made them irrelevant for ordinary gamers. Fortunately, AMD graphics accelerators based on the RDNA 4 architecture are still priced relatively reasonably. Cards based on the Navi 48 chip, namely the RX 9070 GRE, RX 9070, and RX 9070 XT, are still cheaper than the RTX 5070. At the same time, the top five Nvidia GeForce graphics cards are priced by retailers at six hundred and fifty dollars or more. What awaits the next generation of graphics processors remains unclear. An update to the RTX Blackwell lineup with the Super suffix is expected; due to physical limitations of silicon, it may offer only an increase in video memory capacity. The question is how these new products will be priced, as the RTX 5080 Super could cost $1,499, and the RTX 5070 Ti Super could cost $1,200.

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The material was prepared solely for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation.