Memory has gone up, SSD has gone up, mechanical disk has gone up, and graphics cards have gone up. There is an anomaly in the PC build market in 2026:A year after the release of the new generation of graphics cards, not only did they not cut prices, but they rose across the board.This has hardly happened in the graphics card market over the past decade-the normal rule is that prices loosen six to 12 months after a new card is released, waiting to be replaced by the next generation.
Measured increase: several key models
| model | Release MSRP | 2026 actual transaction median price | amount of increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | $569 | $804.99 | +39% |
| RTX 5070 | $659 | $899 | +36% |
| RTX 5090 | $1999 (MSRP) | $4699-4900 | Super MSRP 135-145% |
| AMD RX 9070 | —— | +13% from launch price | relatively stable |
The data source is the median price of overseas e-commerce transactions (Newegg caliber). Domestic channel prices rose simultaneously: RTX5070 rose from RMB 4200–4500 at the beginning of the year to RMB 5500–6000, RTX5060 Ti 16GB rose from RMB 3300 to RMB 4200, 5090 long-term in more than RMB 20,000 and no market.
Why: Memory costs eat up graphics cards
Key figures:GDDR7 accounts for more than 80% of the manufacturing cost of high-end graphics cards.
This number is counterintuitive. In the past, the cost of graphics cards was dominated by GPU cores (foundry costs) and PCB/power/cooling, and memory accounted for only 15-25%. But two things happened in this generation:
- Double the memory capacity.RTX50 series generally starts with 16GB, 5080/5090 uses 16-32GB GDDR7, bit width 256-512bit. The number of memory particles is twice as many as the previous generation of the same positioning products.
- GDDR7 unit price skyrocketed.GDDR7 is a new product with limited capacity ramp, and its production line shares wafer resources with GDDR6/DDR5. When DRAM prices rise across the board, GDDR7 rises even more fiercely (new products have no inventory buffer).
Multiply the two, and the result is: the cost of a 32GB GDDR7 on an RTX 5090 may have approached or even exceeded the cost of the GPU core itself. If the memory price rises by 50%, the graphics card will have to rise by more than 30%. The manufacturer has no other way.
The second push isAI demand to snap up consumer-grade cards. Professional cards (H200/B200 and so on) are too expensive and out of stock. A large number of small and medium-sized AI teams, university laboratories and individual developers turn to consumer flagship-RTX 5090's 32GB memory is very suitable for running local large model reasoning. This part of the demand directly pushes the spot price of high-end cards to the sky. 5090 exceeds MSRP 135% of the transaction price, a large part of which is pushed up by AI demand rather than game demand.
Why AMD is relatively stable
RX 9070 series only increased by about 13%, significantly less than NVIDIA. There are three reasons:
- Memory configuration is more conservative.RX 9070 uses 16GB GDDR6 (not GDDR7), GDDR6 is a mature product, although it also rises, but the amplitude is smaller than that of the new GDDR7.
- There is no AI buying premium.AMD cards are at a disadvantage in AI ecology (CUDA), AI developers basically do not choose, so the price of RX 9070 is purely determined by the game market supply and demand, not pushed up by additional demand.
- Pricing strategy initiative.AMD chose to grab share with cost performance in this generation and actively reduce gross profit instead of raising prices synchronously with rising costs.
This gives PC build users a clear signal:For pure gaming purposes, AMD's price/performance ratio in 2026 is significantly better than NVIDIA.But if the workflow relies on CUDA (AI training/inference, Blender GPU rendering, Adobe partial acceleration, professional simulation), NVIDIA's premium is still a necessary cost.
Procurement strategies for three types of users in 2026
game player
- 1080P high frame rate: RTX 5060 8GB or RX 9060 XT 16GB, the latter memory is larger and more suitable for 2026 3A masterpieces (many new games 1080P highest quality has exceeded 8GB memory).
- 2K high image quality: RX 9070 (about RMB 4500–5000) is the current cost-effective optimal solution, performance close to the previous generation 4080 and price 30%.
- 4K: RTX 5080 (about RMB 8500–9500) or RX 9070 XT, the former has DLSS 4 multi-frame generation advantages.
- It is not recommended to buy refurbished old cards now: RTX 30 series refurbished price has also been brought up, 3080 refurbished to 3000+, cost performance is not as good as adding money on RX 9070 and there is warranty.
Design/Video/Rendering Studio
- Memory takes precedence over core performance: 4K video editing, large scene rendering, AI drawing (SD/Flux) all eat memory, 16GB is the bottom line, 24GB is more comfortable.
- CUDA ecological dependency determines brand: NVIDIA is selected by Blender/OctaneRender/Adobe family bucket; AMD can be considered by DaVinci Resolve (good for AMD optimization).
- Multi-card is not as good as a large memory card: rendering farm thinking is outdated, single card 24GB is more practical for most studio scenes than dual card 12GB (many software do not eat dual card).
AI development/local reasoning
- Run 7B-14B quantization model: 16GB memory enough (RTX 5060 Ti 16GB / RX 9070), about RMB 4200–5000.
- Run 32B quantization model or do LoRA fine-tuning: 24GB starting (RTX 4090 used/ 5090), 24GB is the practical threshold for native AI.
- Seriously do business advice directly on the cloud or rent a card: 5090 Now 20,000 +, the same money can be rented on the cloud for a few hundred hours A100/H20. The value of local cards is in data not out of domain and low latency, not in cost.
- For enterprise-level scenarios, domestic accelerator cards (Ascend, Cambricon, Moore threads) can be considered. The cost performance of reasoning scenarios can already be achieved, and ecological maturity is the main concern.
PC Build Budget: Reality in 2026
Storage and graphics card prices rise at the same time, the budget allocation logic of PC build in 2026 will change:
| use | Typical distribution in 2024 | Recommended allocation for 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Office machine (RMB 3000–4000) | Graphics 0 (core display)/Memory 20%/SSD 15% | Core display + memory 16 GB is enough (memory price increases, don't go up to 32 GB)/SSD 512 GB |
| Game console (RMB 7000–9000) | Graphics 40%/Memory 10% | Graphics 45-50%/Memory 32GB (down to 8% but up in absolute terms) |
| Workstations ($15,000-$20,000) | Graphics 35%/Memory 15% | Graphics 35%/Memory 12%(64GB now costs RMB 7000)/Save money on monitors and storage |
A word summary:2026 PC build, memory and graphics don't pursue top matching, spend your budget on places that really affect your daily experience--Monitor, SSD capacity, cooling and power quality. These three kinds of price increases are much smaller than memory graphics cards, but the cost performance is better.
ACCPC do Guangzhou graphics wholesale (NVIDIA/AMD full series, including ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Galax, Colorful), but also do computer assembly customization--we will first ask your actual workflow and then match the order, do not copy the online "recommended configuration". Bulk purchase (more than 5 units) has channel price, including three years on-site warranty. Telephone 020-39029800.