The market for gaming PCs is currently experiencing a significant downturn in value, with prices steadily increasing due to persistent component shortages. Jacob Fox, a hardware writer who has monitored gaming PC deals weekly for two years, states that finding well-priced systems is now nearly impossible. This situation is exacerbated by the global memory shortage, which has depleted pre-shortage stocks and forced system builders to raise prices in response to escalating memory and storage costs, as well as rising GPU prices.
Comparing current pricing to that of the previous year, Fox noted a substantial increase. For instance, a gaming PC featuring an RTX 5060 Ti, which was available for approximately $1,000 last September, now typically retails for around $1,200, as seen with the AVGPC Max. Furthermore, many of these newer systems still utilize DDR4 RAM, or if they feature DDR5, it's often a single 16GB stick in single-channel mode.
At the higher end, a system with an RTX 5070 Ti, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 2TB SSD was available for $1,900 last October. Today, finding an RTX 5070 Ti gaming PC is more challenging, with comparable configurations now costing around $2,400. Opting for an RX 9070 XT can reduce the price to $2,099, but this often comes with a reduction in storage capacity to 1TB.
Even previously more affordable segments of the market have seen price inflation. Prior to the memory crisis, RTX 5060 gaming PCs were frequently on sale for under $1,000. Now, a system with similar specifications can approach $1,000, with such deals becoming increasingly rare. The situation is described as dire, particularly in the lower end of the market.
Fox suggests that prospective PC gamers will need to adjust their pricing expectations. While deals around $1,500 for an RTX 5070 system or $1,200 for an RTX 5060 Ti system are historically considered good, they now represent the current reality of the market. The ongoing demand from the AI sector, which continues to consume silicon resources, is cited as a primary factor contributing to the sustained shortages and price increases.
