Should You Buy a GPU Now or Wait? Q4 2026 Prices Across 10 Countries, According to TechSpot

If you have been shopping for a graphics card lately, you probably know the feeling. The card you bookmarked on a price-comparison site last week costs more when you open it again this week. You were planning to wait for the holiday sales, and the longer you wait, the higher the price gets.

TechSpot published its Q4 2026 GPU pricing update on November 2, and the headline says it plainly: prices are spiraling out of control. According to TechSpot's own description of its method, the report collects prices from 10 countries and compares February, September and October, so it shows the trend across the whole year. I went through TechSpot's report, added coverage from other outlets and put in my own take, to help you decide whether to buy now or wait.

For you, that means a premium model such as an Asus ROG Strix will cost more than the numbers in the report. Each country's MSRP is also converted into local currency and adjusted for tax before it is compared with the current price, so percentages from different countries can be read side by side. My own view is that this method is on the conservative side, so the increases in the report probably understate what most people actually pay.

How much more expensive have GPUs become in three months?

The latest round of increases is cumulative: prices rose 15% in August, 7% in September and about 10% in October, roughly 35% in total. TechSpot says prices stayed fairly stable in the first half of 2026, after a spike at the end of last year, but that calm period is over. Across the 10 countries, cards now sit 44% above MSRP on average, and as high as 58% in the US and Canada.

Other outlets see the same direction. PC Guide, citing a price-comparison site, reported that over the three months to September, NVIDIA cards rose 41.3% on average and AMD cards 28.3%. Tech Times found that in its October tracking, 59 of 81 monitored GPUs got more expensive month over month and only 17 got cheaper. The methods differ, so the numbers will not match, but what matters to me is that they all point the same way, and nobody is seeing prices fall.

The table below is TechSpot's latest summary. Look at the US price first, then the global average, and the gap between cards becomes easier to see.

A few things stand out. First, entry-level cards are not spared: the RTX 5050 in the US is 69% above MSRP, although the global average is only 41%, which tells you the US is an especially hard-hit market. Second, among 16GB cards the RX 9070 has risen the least, only 28%, which surprised me a little. Third, the two cards at the top of the high-end range are where things get truly strange, and that is the next section.

Why are high-end GPUs rising so absurdly?

Runaway high-end pricing means the RTX 5090 has all but disappeared from the gaming retail market, and that has pushed the RTX 5080 up with it. TechSpot's global average for the RTX 5090 works out to about $7,240, which is 262% above MSRP, and in the US the cheapest one costs $9,400, up 36% in a single month. There are reports that the card has effectively been discontinued. NVIDIA denies it, but judging by retail stock and even the marketplace run by NVIDIA itself, TechSpot believes the card no longer exists for gamers.

What makes this more interesting is that the RTX 5090 was already selling for $3,500 in the US back in February, far above its $1,999 MSRP. TechSpot concludes that the card quietly left the gaming market months ago, and prices have only now caught up with that reality. My own feeling is that flagship cards no longer behave like ordinary consumer products. They are more like rare collectibles that a few people fight over, and most gamers can skip that tier without regret.

That vacuum has landed on the RTX 5080. The cheapest RTX 5080 in the US is now $2,200, which is 120% above MSRP, and the 10-country average is 77% above, roughly $770 extra. In some regions retailers are simply out of stock. TechSpot notes that Newegg had no RTX 5080s sold directly by the retailer when the data was collected, leaving only expensive third-party listings.

TechSpot stresses that the extra $770 on the RTX 5080 cannot be blamed on memory alone, because 16GB of GDDR7 did not become $700 more expensive. It suggests price gouging, demand for AI workloads and spillover from the missing RTX 5090 as other possible factors. There is also a rumor that NVIDIA plans to replace the 16GB RTX 5080 with a 24GB version in the first quarter of 2027, and retail sources say wholesale prices have jumped in recent weeks and may rise further.

TechSpot also floats a theory: raise the price of the old model first, so the 24GB version looks less shocking when it launches. That reasoning is plausible, but it is still only a theory, and nothing has been officially confirmed. I would treat it as interesting background, not as the one reason to buy or not buy.

Why is Radeon no longer a safe haven from the price surge?

Radeon is no longer a safe haven because AMD cards rose more than GeForce overall this month (excluding the RTX 5090), unlike in previous months. The RX 9060 XT 16GB rose 17% on average in a single month, the 8GB version 10%, and both the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT 12%. TechSpot adds that the RX 9070 XT is approaching the $1,000 mark in some regions.

As for the reason, Tech Times reports that AMD raised the price of the GDDR6 memory it supplies to board partners from October 1, the fourth memory-driven price adjustment in 10 months. In other words, cost pressure has finally reached retail prices. My guess is that Radeon only looked steadier before because its turn had not come yet.

Even so, Radeon is still a much better deal than GeForce. The table below puts the 16GB cards side by side so you can see the difference directly.

TechSpot calculates that a 16GB Radeon costs about $200 more than it should, while the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB costs at least $300 more. The RTX 5070 Ti is also still far more expensive than the RX 9070 XT, about 47% on average, down from 52% last month. TechSpot's 52-game benchmark also found the RX 9070 XT averages 25% faster than the RTX 5070, and the two cards cost about the same on average across the 10 regions. To me, that is the number gamers should remember: for the same money, Radeon still buys you more.

What is actually behind this round of GPU price increases?

The main reason is a memory shortage, because AI data centers are absorbing so much supply that the GDDR memory used on graphics cards keeps getting more expensive. NVIDIA's CFO said on the company's late-August earnings call that memory prices exceeded its expectations and will be even higher next year. Tech Times also reports that Jensen Huang believes the memory shortage could last for several years.

PCSP, a seller of used workstation parts, compiled further evidence: Micron said in late September that memory supply and demand will be tighter in 2027 and 2028 than in 2026, with no sign yet of when supply will catch up. The same article also looked at the tariff explanation. By its reading, this year's tariffs do not cover consumer graphics cards, although exclusions on China-related tariffs expire on November 9, and whether they are renewed is an open question. That describes the US situation, and how much it matters elsewhere is hard to say.

Still, I do not think every price increase can be pinned on memory. TechSpot gives a good example: the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5070 Ti both carry 16GB of GDDR7 at the same speed, yet the RTX 5070 Ti has risen about $150 more. That suggests supply, demand and pricing strategy are also pushing up the final price, not just memory costs.

There is some relief at the low end. Cards with less memory have been hit less, and the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB is only 24% above MSRP on the global average, the smallest increase of any GeForce card. The 16GB RTX 5060 Ti, by contrast, is 69% above. Put simply, the more memory a card has, the harder it has been hit by rising memory prices.

So should you buy a GPU now or wait?

Whether to buy or wait depends on whether your current graphics card can still hold up, not on guessing when prices will fall. TechSpot is quite pessimistic: it says the rise has not peaked and prices are unlikely to return to MSRP this generation. I have not found any well-sourced forecast of price cuts next year either, so a strategy of waiting for MSRP currently has little to stand on.

If your current GPU still works

Then do not rush. Keep the money until your card really cannot keep up, because buying now means paying inflated prices for a performance gain that may not feel big. One thing to watch: if you are eyeing a high-end card like the RTX 5080, the rumored 24GB model could change the market if it really arrives in the first quarter of 2027, but for now that is only a rumor.

If you have to buy now

Decide how much memory you need first, then pick a model. Going by TechSpot's US data, 16GB cards have risen more, but the RX 9070 is only 28% above MSRP and still has 16GB, which I think makes it one of the more reasonable choices right now. If your budget is tighter, 8GB cards have been hit less, though you should be ready for the limits of 8GB over the long run. Before you buy, track the lowest price of the same model for a few days so you do not buy at a short-term peak.

If you want to wait

Then make the waiting conditional. Set a price you can accept, or a date by which you will replace the card, instead of waiting indefinitely. TechSpot expects prices to stay high for a long time, and memory makers expect supply to stay tight through 2027 and 2028. Open-ended waiting usually just means paying more later.

What if your country is not one of the 10 in the report?

TechSpot's report covers only 10 countries, so for everyone else its main value is the trend and the percentage over MSRP, not the dollar prices. TechSpot also says the US and Canada have the highest increases and that other regions could eventually catch up, which is a warning for markets that have not risen as much. That is a prediction, though, and what happens in your country depends on local retail prices. If you live in the US or Canada, you are already in the hardest-hit regions in this data.

Here is how I would approach it. First, use TechSpot's “how far above MSRP” figure as your baseline instead of looking only at absolute prices. Second, find the lowest in-stock price for the exact model you want on price-comparison sites or major retailers in your country, work out the increase yourself against the local launch price including tax, and see whether it is higher or lower than TechSpot's global average. Third, track it for two or three weeks. If the price keeps climbing, your market is probably heading down the same road.

What should this round of price hikes teach us?

The point of this round of price hikes is not which card rose the most, but that the idea of a cheap, good-enough graphics card is slowly disappearing. The 35% figure averages entry-level, mainstream and flagship cards together, and for anyone actually buying, each tier has its own pain point. TechSpot thinks this generation will probably never return to MSRP. That is not what anyone wants to hear, but I have not found enough evidence to argue against it.

Let me leave you with two lines. Graphics cards probably will not get cheaper just because you wait another month, so buying when you need to matters more than guessing the bottom. Instead of watching prices go up and down, first work out how much performance and memory you really need, because that is the one yardstick the price hikes cannot change.

What are the common questions about GPU price increases?

This FAQ covers the 6 questions readers ask most often when buying a graphics card in Q4 2026.

What is the difference between the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and the RX 9060 XT 16GB?

Based on the US figures in the TechSpot report, the cheapest RTX 5060 Ti 16GB costs $790 and the RX 9060 XT 16GB costs $620, and Radeon is roughly 20% to 40% cheaper across regions with the same 16GB of memory. The tradeoff with GeForce is software features and support for specific applications, which depends on how you use the card, so this data only answers the price question.

Does the TechSpot data cover my country?

Only if you live in one of the 10 countries it tracks: the US, Australia, Germany, the UK, Canada, India, the Philippines, Brazil, Poland or the Netherlands. If you do not, treat it as a trend reference and check prices at retailers in your own country.

Is it worth upgrading from an older card right now?

If your current card still runs the games you play, there is usually no rush, because you would be paying inflated prices. The TechSpot report expects no near-term relief, but that does not mean you must buy now. Replacing the card when it really cannot keep up is more reasonable.

When will GPU prices come down?

There is no reliable forecast of a price drop. The TechSpot report says this generation is unlikely to return to MSRP, and Micron says memory supply will be tighter in 2027 and 2028 than in 2026.

Has the RTX 5090 really been discontinued?

Nothing is officially confirmed. Reports say it has effectively been discontinued and NVIDIA denies this, but TechSpot found it almost impossible to buy at retailers or on the marketplace run by NVIDIA itself, and prices have soared, so it concludes the card has effectively disappeared for gamers.

Should I choose the RX 9070 or the RX 9070 XT?

According to TechSpot, the RX 9070 XT costs about 17% more than the RX 9070 on average but is only about 12% faster, so the RX 9070 offers better value. The XT only makes sense if your budget allows and you want extra performance headroom.