PC gamers looking for a cheaper graphics card may be heading into another price squeeze. PC Partner says graphics-card supply will become tight in the coming months, with entry-level models facing the sharpest pressure.
The warning comes from PC Partner, the manufacturer behind consumer-facing brands including Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli. Singapore’s The Straits Times report said the company expects graphics-card availability to tighten soon.
That outlook is already more specific for Nvidia’s current generation. A Benchlife report on the announcement says Nvidia RTX Blackwell supply in the third quarter of 2026 is below the second quarter, while supply near the end of the year will be lower still.
The pressure goes beyond VRAM
Memory shortages and data-center demand have helped create the current strain, but they are not the only problem. PC Partner also pointed to longer lead times for other graphics-card parts, including printed circuit boards and power components, compared with last year.
That wider parts crunch could make the lower end of the market especially uncomfortable. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and RTX 5070 were both being found around $800 in the latest pricing check, while an August 14 price check put the RTX 5070’s lowest tracked price at $755, up from roughly $550 earlier.
Cards with 8GB of VRAM had avoided some of the steepest increases affecting higher-memory models, but tighter production capacity could erase that gap. If entry-level supply falls while demand stays high, shoppers may face higher prices even on cards that were previously considered the safer budget choices.
AMD hardware may not avoid the same pressure. PC Partner also manufactures graphics cards for Sapphire, one of AMD’s largest board partners, so shortages involving shared boards and power components could affect Radeon products as well. That is not a model-by-model forecast for AMD, but it does mean buyers may have fewer affordable alternatives if both major GPU makers face rising production costs.
For anyone planning a PC upgrade, the warning is simple: lower-priced cards are not protected from the supply problems affecting the rest of the market. Current prices may be a moving target, and waiting for an inexpensive new option could become harder if availability continues to tighten.
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