GPU prices for current-gen Nvidia and AMD: Price increases, why have the prices not dropped, and can you still buy a cheap GPU?

NVIDIA Corp. — we all know the current state of pricing for PC components is through the roof. Looking back, we have the hindsight to see what the prices were a year or two ago, and be thankful that we bought something when it was cheaper or on a really good sale.

But for those that didn’t upgrade back then, what does the future look like if you want to upgrade your graphics card?Currently, we have access to the 50-series range of graphics cards from Nvidia, and the 90-series from AMD, with a couple of entries from Intel. These cards were primarily released in January 2025, with different graphics card SKUs released throughout the year. We’re now more than halfway through 2026, with the rumoured release of the next generation of graphics cards not arriving until late 2027, or even 2028, so we’re looking at at least a year before we see any hint of a new GPU release. Why the delay or extended release cadence? Well, the simple answer is the costs. Just one aspect of the increased costs incurred with any new graphics card release will be the high-speed memory used, and, in the GPU’s case, the amount of VRAM. Prices have become exponentially more expensive due to the AI crunch, so adding more memory to a GPU is going to not only increase the production costs of any new graphics card direct from Nvidia or AMD, but also boost the expenses that AIB board partners have to incur to offer the partner GPUs. These manufacturing cost rises will of course be passed on to us poor consumers. There might even be reductions in the amount of onboard VRAM for different card SKUs; this we will have to wait to find out. There are no stock issues with picking up a new GPU; the main issue is just the cost. I keep track of all the current graphics card prices twice weekly in our GPU Price Index, and have seen the prices creep up steadily since release, especially with the higher-end and more popular GPUs, or those deemed the best performance per $. Here are two tables that show the initial MSRP launch prices of Nvidia’s 50-series and AMD’s 90-series graphics cards, along with the current price and the lowest prices that we’ve seen for each card. This generation of cards was released with a higher MSRP, and many GPUs released were well above the announced MSRP prices set by Nvidia and AMD, garnering a lot of criticism from both the press and consumers. What’s also been highly noticeable this generation is the lack of notable below-MSRP discounts in major sales events such as Black Friday or Prime Day. GPU ModelBest US PriceLowest-Ever U.S.