The $5000 GPU Might Actually Be Real

If you’ve been holding off on a graphics card purchase, hoping for better deals, recent reports suggest that GPU prices might soon climb significantly. As reported by Korean Tech outlet, Newsis, industry sources indicate NVIDIA and AMD are planning price hikes across their graphics card lineups beginning early in 2026, potentially reshaping the PC-gaming hardware market and squeezing budgets for gamers and creators alike.

Much of the chatter centers on the GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA’s current flagship GPU. Originally launched with an MSRP near $2,000, some reports now claim prices for this top-tier card could escalate to around $5,000 by next year if the trend plays out. That would make it one of the most expensive consumer graphics cards ever, about 2.5 times its initial launch price.

Why GPU Prices Could Rise

At the heart of this pressure is a global supply squeeze in memory components, particularly DRAM and high-speed VRAM used on modern GPUs. Analysts say memory now constitutes a much larger share of GPU production costs, and shortages or rising pricing there ripple outward to the rest of the bill of materials. This isn’t a one-off prediction; multiple reports point to price increases rolling out gradually through January and February and potentially continuing in the months after.

For gamers and PC builders, the implications are clear but mixed. On the downside, new GPU purchases could become significantly more expensive, particularly if you were targeting high-end performance. Component shortages and price inflation might mean waiting longer for better deals, or adjusting expectations on which GPUs represent the best value. On the plus side, if price hikes do materialize, it could boost the value of current-generation cards already in use or on clearance now. Deals priced below MSRP today may look especially attractive in retrospect.

Neither NVIDIA nor AMD has officially confirmed broad price increases, so there’s still some uncertainty about exact timing and scale. However, previous reports did mention that AMD has already informed its graphics-card board partners that it will implement a price increase of at least 10% across its Radeon GPU lineup due to soaring memory module costs. With memory prices under pressure and global demand patterns shifting, 2026 might be the year graphics cards get notably more expensive for many buyers.