US PC Builder Warns Retail GPU Prices Set to Climb as Supply Rumors Mount

StinceBuilt said on X that it was "starting to see increasing supply constraints on graphics cards," adding that "retail GPU pricing is expected to climb significantly, and these elevated prices could stick around for quite some time."

Separately, Wccftech reported, citing the Board Channels forum that tracks supply chain chatter in China, that AMD has raised the price of the GDDR6 video memory it sells to board-making partners. If that rumor is accurate, the graphics card makers buying that memory would pass the increase on to consumers. Bench Life noted that video RAM is not the only component getting more expensive, with the cost of other parts, including the main circuit board itself, also rising.

A third report, highlighted by VideoCardz, came from the leaker MegaSizeGPU, who claimed on X that Nvidia will not allocate any more GB202 Blackwell chips to the RTX 5090 and will send that silicon to RTX Pro cards for AI workloads instead. TechRadar treated that claim with the most caution, judging it unlikely that Nvidia would announce an official discontinuation; the more probable outcome, in its reading, is that so few chips are set aside for the GeForce flagship that stock dwindles to almost nothing. A more recent rumor indicates a successor, in theory the RTX 6090, is probably not due until 2028.

TechRadar said there is already some evidence of scarcity in the US, where Newegg does not sell the RTX 5090 directly and buyers must go through third-party sellers, often based in Asia, with prices approaching $9,000. In the UK, cards start at £6,000 and above but are at least available directly from retailers, and TechRadar questioned how long that availability would last.

On AMD, the reported increase in Radeon-related costs backs up similar recent rumors, while the notice from the US PC maker adds to warnings already sounded about graphics card pricing. TechRadar's assessment was that buying sooner rather than later remains the better option even at current prices, because it expects conditions could get substantially worse in 2027. It also raised the question of how long a recovery from these pricing pressures might take for GPUs, and said it suspects the answer may be considerably longer than buyers would hope.

Editor's Summary

Three separate reports over one weekend pointed to rising graphics card costs: AMD is said to have raised GDDR6 prices for board partners, other card components are getting more expensive, and Nvidia is claimed to be steering GB202 silicon toward AI-focused RTX Pro cards rather than the RTX 5090. A US custom PC builder, StinceBuilt, warned customers that retail GPU prices are expected to climb significantly and could stay high for some time. Scarcity of the RTX 5090 is already visible in US retail listings, where prices approach $9,000 through third-party sellers.