2026 Is Going to Suck for PC Gaming

It’s been astir a twelvemonth since AMD and Nvidia released the Radeon RX 9070 XT and GeForce RTX 5090, respectively, and this would usually mean that gaming PC prices would commencement to normalize a bit. And portion graphics cards are much affordable than past twelvemonth – astatine slightest for present – different components are ramping up the prices truthful overmuch that it’s inactive hard to enactment unneurotic an affordable gaming PC.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look similar this is going to halt immoderate clip soon. I’ve been told by aggregate manufacturers that prices for prebuilt PCs – which are usually the economical enactment successful times similar this – are going to commencement going up. Once that starts happening, it’s going to beryllium incredibly hard for anyone that doesn’t already person a decent gaming rig to get successful connected the action.

The RAM-Shaped Elephant In The Room

I retrieve erstwhile I archetypal got into PC gaming, buying a much capacious kit of RAM was the cheapest mode to marque a tiny upgrade to my gaming PC. It wasn’t exciting, but it did marque a difference, for overmuch little than buying a caller CPU oregon GPU. But, that has been wholly flipped connected its head.

Back successful November, RAM started getting much expensive, owed to vastly accrued request from AI information centers. Most AI models, you see, are incredibly memory-intensive, and these datacenters that are going up everyplace request much and much of the stuff. And due to the fact that the companies that are making these information centers person much currency than you oregon I, the representation manufacturers person shifted their priorities to these endeavor buyers. Hell, Micron adjacent announced that it was shuttering Crucial, its small subsidiary that made immoderate of the champion fund RAM connected the market.

It’s present astatine the constituent wherever this elemental 32GB kit of DDR5 RAM from G.Skill volition outgo you astatine slightest $360, whereas successful October 2025 it was astir $90, according to Camelcamelcamel. That’s a 4x leap successful price, and it doesn’t look similar it’s going to dilatory down immoderate clip soon. I reached retired to Anshel Sag, Principal Analyst astatine Moor Insight and Strategy, and helium told maine to expect this representation shortage to widen into 2027 oregon adjacent 2028. “It’s important to retrieve that successful past representation crunches oregon gluts, they were purely cyclical and the manufacture was precise roar oregon bust,” Sag told me, “but with AI we mightiness spot a structural alteration to however representation is consumed.”

We’re already seeing this representation shortage impact different PC components, too. SSDs, for one, are already starting to spot a akin emergence successful price. The 1TB Silicon Power UD90, which is expected to beryllium a fund SSD, has already accrued to $144, from $60 conscionable a fewer months ago.

While it’d beryllium bully to conscionable judge these terms increases arsenic “the inflated constituent of the week”, RAM and retention are specified an important portion of immoderate portion of tech, whether oregon not it’s for gaming, that different prices are definite to emergence successful the future.

Prices Will Rise On Other Parts and Prebuilts

I’d hesitate to telephone prebuilt gaming PCs affordable right now, but it’s inactive wide that the terms increases truly haven’t deed them rather yet. Right present you tin inactive get this Cyperpower PC with a 5070 and an RTX 5070 and a Ryzen 7800X3D for astir $1679, which is astir $100 cheaper than putting it unneurotic yourself close now. That’s not a immense savings, but hey, a 100 bucks is simply a 100 bucks.

Last week astatine CES, though, I was told by aggregate manufacturers that terms increases connected prebuilt systems are astir the corner, and that shouldn’t beryllium excessively surprising. These companies typically bargain their components successful bulk, and erstwhile they request to restock connected now-expensive memory, they’re apt to walk that terms summation connected to consumers. Anshel Sag agrees, telling maine “basically everything volition beryllium impacted, smartphones and PCs volition spot the biggest impact”, but that it’s precise apt adjacent the upcoming consoles volition apt beryllium affected successful immoderate ways, though “though they volition apt usage unified representation crossed GPU and CPU, perchance reducing the request for abstracted strategy and GPU memory”.

But it’s not conscionable implicit systems. There person been rumors swirling astir that Nvidia is going to beryllium bumping up the prices connected its Blackwell graphics cards, peculiarly the RTX 5090, due to the fact that of however overmuch GDDR7 representation is strapped onto it. Nvidia’s flagship has 32GB of the stuff, truthful it wouldn’t beryllium astonishing if Team Green raised the terms of the already-expensive paper to $5,000 arsenic Newsis (via TechPowerUp) suggests.

What’s worse is that we’re astir there. At the clip of writing, the cheapest RTX 5090 I tin find volition acceptable you backmost $4,111 connected Newegg, and that’s one listing, and it’s from a seller with less than perfect reviews. There are different listings that enactment the RTX 5090 astatine astir $4,600, with immoderate already reaching the $5,000 terms constituent that leakers warned astir a mates weeks ago.

Luckily, it doesn’t look that these immense terms increases are hitting much mainstream graphics cards conscionable yet. The RTX 5070 tin inactive beryllium recovered astir $570-$600, which is lone somewhat higher than its $549 MSRP. Team Red is faring a small worse, but adjacent astatine $600, the Radeon RX 9070 is inactive wrong striking region of its $549 starting price. I don’t expect that this volition proceed to beryllium the lawsuit for overmuch longer, but the little representation a GPU has, the little it’ll apt beryllium impacted by these pricing woes.

Is the Steam Machine a Silver Lining?

None of this precisely bodes good for the Steam Machine. Valve announced its mini gaming PC backmost successful November, and said it’d motorboat successful January oregon February of this year. But arsenic that vague motorboat model inches ever closer, it’s looking much apt that the Steam Machine is going to beryllium much costly than galore were astir apt hoping it’d be.

When the Steam Machine was archetypal announced, I assumed it would beryllium astir $800, fixed its mean power, but with representation prices being what they are, I wouldn’t beryllium amazed if it started inching towards a 4th digit. Recently, a Czech retailer posted an aboriginal store listing, spotted connected Reddit, for the Steam Machine that priced it astatine astir $950.

When I archetypal saw these posts I was instantly skeptical, but if the Steam Machine was initially expected to people a terms of astir $800, bumping up the terms to $950 successful effect to accrued representation prices would marque a batch of sense. Only clip volition archer if these leaked prices are successful immoderate mode accurate, but I’m not precisely hopeful astir it.

When Will This End?

This is hardly the archetypal clip RAM has seen a monolithic terms increase. RAM prices thin to fluctuate implicit time, depending connected demand. But this clip mightiness beryllium different. Not lone are AI information centers gobbling up memory, but beauteous overmuch each instrumentality nether the prima is utilizing much of it arsenic well.

“Just look astatine however overmuch DRAM is successful phones contiguous versus a fewer years ago,” Sag confirmed. “The aforesaid applies to laptops and the 16GB minimum threshold for CoPilot+, arsenic good arsenic gaming handhelds similar the ROG Xbox Ally X, which has 24GB successful a handheld.”

The lone mode I truly spot america getting retired of this RAM shortage immoderate clip soon is if representation manufacturers similar Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix ramp up accumulation to get much DIMMs connected store shelves. But with AI companies buying up each of this representation adjacent with the accrued prices, I wouldn’t clasp my breath.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra