Rising graphics card prices have killed demand, at least for one manufacturer's GPUs

Graphics card prices have ballooned in recent years, driven by rising demand initially from the cryptocurrency boom and, more recently, by the AI boom. Adding insult to gamers' bank account injuries, though, is the recent RAM price explosion that has seen DDR5 RAM quadruple in price and caused graphics card prices to rise even more, due to the VRAM they need also getting more expensive. However, fresh data suggests that a lot of buyers just aren't interested in paying even more for their graphics cards, or at least not for those from AMD, and as a result, prices are on their way down again.

Back in December 2025, AMD GPU price increase rumors suggested the company would be increasing the cost of its GPU+VRAM bundles to graphics card makers, and that, in turn, consumers would soon be paying more for their cards. Sure enough, prices have steadily risen recently, but new data about stock of AMD's best graphics card options suggest many buyers simply aren't willing to pay even more.

The data comes from Japanese tech site, GAZ:Log, which has collated pricing for several of AMD's current generation of graphics cards and charted this against the available stock at retailers of the cards. Plain to see from the data is that prices for the RX 9070 XT and RX 9060 XT rose drastically in mid January, but that this rise coincided with an increase in stock levels (green bars).

In the weeks following this rise, stock levels can be seen to remain high, suggesting that the cards just aren't selling. Meanwhile, seemingly as a result of this lack of interest from buyers, prices for these two cards steadily drop back down to levels seen right at the start of the year.

This still leaves prices inflated compared to a few months before, but it could be a sign that graphics card prices might normalize somewhat sooner than RAM prices are expected to settle down.

That said, this is only based on two AMD GPUs and retailer data from Japan. A quick look at historic pricing for this RTX 5080 listed on Amazon US, for instance, shows that while it has actually been even more expensive than it is now - back when stock was very low in the weeks following the launch of the RTX 5080 - its price is currently over $300 more than it was in December.

Likewise, this RX 9o70 XT is still listed at its highest price ever, at $739.99. That's only $9 more than it was up until August last year, after which prices actually dropped for a few months, but $60 more than it was in December.

Ultimately, market forces will decide where pricing eventually settles. If absolutely no one is paying such high prices for these cards, prices will fall. But, it's also possible that just a small uptick again in demand will see prices creep back up. Ultimately, it will always be your decision as to what you can afford and how much you need an upgrade at any given moment.