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GPU pricing looked unusually calm for most of 2026 — no scalper premiums, no lottery-style restocks, just steady competition pushing mid-range prices down. That's changed in the last few weeks: a global memory-chip shortage has pushed NVIDIA's RTX 40-series cards sharply higher, while AMD's competing lineup has mostly held steady. If you're building or upgrading a 1440p rig, which card actually makes sense right now depends more than usual on which side of that split you're shopping.
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Why NVIDIA's Prices Spiked
NVIDIA's recent price increases trace back to memory, not the graphics chips themselves. Demand for GDDR6, GDDR7, and high-bandwidth memory has surged as AI data center buildouts compete with consumer electronics for the same limited chip supply, with VRAM now estimated at more than 80 percent of the bill of materials on some higher-end cards. NVIDIA has already pushed through roughly two price increases in 2026, with industry reporting pointing to a possible third hike of 20 to 30 percent later this year. AMD and Intel have raised prices on their own GPUs too, though AMD's RX 7800 XT has so far stayed close to its original MSRP. Analysts expect the underlying DRAM shortage to persist into 2028, so this isn't a short-term blip. Our full breakdown of the RTX 4070 price climb covers the numbers in more detail.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
The RTX 4070 launched at $599 and spent much of 2026 settling into genuinely good bargain territory around $450-$520. That's no longer the case: the memory shortage has pushed street prices well north of $700 at major retailers as of late September, undoing most of the value case that made it worth recommending earlier this year. It's still a strong 1440p card with DLSS 3 frame generation and solid ray-tracing performance, but at current pricing it's competing with cards a tier above rather than looking like a discount. Founders Edition stock is thinner than partner cards, so don't be surprised if MSI, ASUS, or Gigabyte variants are the ones actually available.
RTX 4070 Super
The RTX 4070 Super, which also launched at $599 with a meaningfully wider CUDA core count, has been swept up in the same price spike — it peaked above $900 in mid-September before easing back to around $745. That's still well above its earlier-2026 range, so the old advice to pay a little more for the Super doesn't land the same way when both cards are elevated. If the gap between a listed 4070 and 4070 Super narrows to well under $100, the Super remains the smarter pick, but don't expect either one to feel like a bargain right now.
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
AMD's RX 7800 XT is the card actually worth leading with right now. It typically trades blows with the 4070 Super in rasterized 1440p performance and ships with 16GB of VRAM versus the 4070's 12GB, which matters for texture-heavy modern titles and creative workloads. While NVIDIA's mid-range lineup has been swept up in the memory shortage, the 7800 XT's retail price has stayed essentially flat around $599, with used and open-box listings dipping toward $475. That stability, next to NVIDIA's spike, has turned what used to be a close call into a clear value win for AMD, at least until memory pricing settles down. The trade-off is still weaker ray-tracing performance and no DLSS (FSR is solid but not identical), so the right pick still depends on whether ray tracing matters to your game library.
What actually matters when comparing listings
- Board partner cooler quality. A cheap open-box or blower-style card from a lesser-known partner can run hotter and louder than a well-reviewed dual/triple-fan design, even at the same core spec.
- VRAM for your resolution. 12GB is fine for 1440p today; if you're eyeing 4K or heavy modding, the 7800 XT's 16GB buffer has more headroom.
- PSU wattage requirements. Check your power supply's rated wattage and connector count against the card's actual spec sheet before ordering, not just the "recommended PSU" marketing number.
- Warranty transfer. Open-box and renewed listings sometimes carry a shorter or non-transferable warranty — confirm before treating the discount as pure upside.
Bottom line
None of these prices are locked in — GPU pricing shifts weekly, and this round of NVIDIA increases is tied to a memory shortage that analysts expect to persist for years, not weeks. Right now, that makes the RX 7800 XT the more reliable 1440p value pick, with the RTX 4070 and 4070 Super worth buying only if you find a listing close to their pre-shortage range. Compare all three before checking out, and treat any RTX 4070 near $500 as the exception rather than the new normal.
Not sure a discount is real? Our Best Gaming Deals hub rounds up GPUs, peripherals and free games and shows how to spot a real deal.
