Will PC Gaming Be Even More Expensive In 2026

Being a PC gaming enthusiast, it’s hard to ignore the rising costs of PC gaming, and by the looks of it, 2026 isn’t going to make things any easier. Rumors suggest that NVIDIA’s upcoming RTX 5090 might hit a staggering $5,000 price tag in 2026. Even if it doesn’t quite hit that number, the message is clear: high-end PC gaming is quickly drifting away into luxury territory, which only a few can afford.

The GPU Squeeze

High-end GPUs have always been pricey, and they take away a large portion of any gaming build’s budget. With the next wave of GPUs, especially the RTX 5090, we might be looking at prices that make the last generation look reasonable in comparison. The reasoning isn’t greed alone, though margins are a factor, along with shifting priorities towards data centers and AI consumption.

When the same silicon and advanced packaging can be sold to AI customers at a premium price, that naturally results in fewer GPUs being produced for gaming purposes. As a result, we gamers are bombarded with marked-up prices as distributors cope with the massive gaming demands.

This naturally brings a higher baseline price just to hit 4K, Ray-traced, high-end performance on a gaming PC. On the other hand, even if mid-range GPUs don’t smash through higher price tags, they tend to rise every time the top-end GPUs set a new high. 

RAM, SSDs, And The AI Tax

Higher prices don’t take a break at just GPUs. DRAM and NAND, the components that power your RAM sticks and SSDs, are getting swallowed up by AI workloads like never before. We’re talking about a demand spike that the gaming and hardware industry just hasn’t faced until now. PC gamers aren’t alone in this crisis, and console gamers are similarly affected. Analysts are already sounding the alarm: AI training and inference are causing massive shortages of supply, and memory prices continue to climb. 

This affects gaming PC’s more than it may seem. DDR5 is the standard now, and 32-64GB high-frequency RAM is becoming the norm for players running a modern build. When DRAM prices spike, that “extra” RAM that used to be a no-brainer upgrade turns into a serious budget decision. SSDs are in the same boat, and as NAND costs rise and its supply runs low, SSD disks, including NVMe drives, are likely to carry a higher premium than before. 

PC Builds Turn Even More Expensive

The total cost really takes a toll once you stack a high-end GPU on top of pricier RAM and SSDs. Suddenly, you’re looking at motherboards that support next-gen PCIe lanes, beefier power supplies for power-hungry GPUs, and better cooling solutions to keep the higher temps controlled. Not every component is guaranteed to spike, but the overall trend surely points upwards. 

While high-end hardware takes most of the hit, budget and mid-tier hardware costs are also going to rise proportionally. So, if you want a good enough gaming build, you’re going to find costs significantly higher than they were just a few years back.