RTX 5090 Price Could Hit $5,000 in 2026 as GPU Market Spirals

PC gaming has survived crypto booms, supply‑chain chaos, scalpers, and the Great GPU Famine of 2020–2022. But 2026?

Yeah, 2026 is shaping up to be the year the market finally snaps in half.

According to a new report out of South Korea, NVIDIA is preparing to push the RTX 5090 — a card that launched at $1,999 — all the way up to a jaw‑dropping $5,000 by the end of next year. And before you ask: no, this isn’t a typo, and no, this isn’t a joke. This is the logical endpoint of an industry being eaten alive by AI demand and memory prices that have gone completely feral.

Insider Gaming backs the same claim, citing sources who say the price hikes could begin as early as January 2026, with NVIDIA and AMD both planning monthly increases across their entire GPU lineups — consumer cards, workstation cards, and even AI server hardware.

This isn’t a spike.

This is a slow, grinding ratchet.

AI Is Eating the GPU Market Alive

The core villain here isn’t NVIDIA, or AMD, or even the usual “corporate greed” punching bag.

It’s memory.

According to the Newsis report, memory now accounts for over 80% of the total manufacturing cost of a modern GPU. That’s not a margin problem — that’s a structural collapse. When the bill of materials is dominated by one component, and that component’s price skyrockets, the entire product line gets dragged into the abyss.

Insider Gaming echoes the same point: the explosion of AI data centers has “absolutely shattered the hardware market” over the last few months, and we’re “not out of the woods yet”.

Translation:

AI companies are buying GPUs by the warehouse, and gamers are left fighting over scraps.

AMD Isn’t Escaping This Either

The Newsis report doesn’t let AMD off the hook. Their upcoming RX 9000 series is also expected to rise in price — “not as steeply,” but still enough to hurt.

Both companies are reportedly planning continuous monthly price increases across 2026, affecting:

• Consumer GPUs
• Workstation GPUs
• AI data‑center GPUs
• Server‑grade accelerators

Basically, if it has VRAM, it’s going up.

The Ripple Effects Are Already Showing

Newsis notes that the memory crisis is already impacting:

• Next‑gen console development
• Smartphone manufacturing
• General hardware pricing
• DRAM availability

RAM prices hit an all‑time high in 2025, and the trend is accelerating into 2026.

This isn’t just a GPU problem.

It’s a tech‑industry‑wide pressure wave.

The RTX 5090 at $5,000: A Symbol of the Collapse

Okay, yeah, the RTX 5090 was never going to be cheap. But $5,000? 

That’s not a price tag — that’s a down payment for the loan you need to buy it!

Insider Gaming reports the card could climb from $1,999 at launch to $5,000 by late 2026, depending on how aggressively memory costs spike.

And the kicker? This isn’t even the ceiling.

It’s just the current rumor, and that’s, quite frankly, terrifying.

If memory prices keep rising, the GPU market could enter a feedback loop where every new card becomes part of a luxury item lineup.

One reddit user u/ImJustHereToSearch put this very well:

“Why even bother putting them in stores at that point.”

What Rising GPU Prices Mean for PC Gamers in 2026

We’ve joked for years that GPUs were becoming luxury goods. Now? It looks like all that joking became a premonition of our gaming futures. 

If these reports hold, 2026 could be the year PC gaming hits a breaking point — not because of performance, or innovation, or competition, but because the cost of the raw materials has spiraled into something unrecognizable.

The RTX 5090 hitting $5,000 isn’t looking much like a rumor; more like an inevitable conclusion.

And unless the memory market cools off, the next generation of GPUs might not be for gamers at all — they’ll be for whoever can outbid the AI companies.

FAQs

Who makes the RTX 5090? 

NVIDIA

What is the it?

The RTX 5090 is a high-end computer graphics card used for gaming, handling AI workloads, and other demanding graphics and computer tasks/

Who sells the it? 

You’ll be able to buy it from major retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Newegg, Micro Center, and directly from NVIDIA’s website.

Why is it rumored to cost so much?

AI companies are buying GPUs in massive quantities, pushing consumer prices higher