Technology Miraj Islam September 26, 2026 0 Comments

Some gamers are still wondering if they should wait for a GPU deal on Black Friday 2026, but I strongly advise against it

We usually come around this time of year and the typical advice is to refrain from any potential technology purchases. That’s because Black Friday is only a couple of months away, so it always seems wise to think about being patient and thinking about what a bargain you could get at the biggest tech sale of the year.

However, not this year when it comes to GPUs, at least in my opinion.

During Black Friday 2025, we saw some decent deals on graphics cards. Not many, of course, but there were a few scattered around. I’ve noticed on Reddit that there are some gamers who have found a decently priced GPU, but are wondering if they should wait and hope for something better on Black Friday. You may be remembering some of the discounts that occurred last year (as scarce as they were).

Reasons to be afraid

(Image credit: Shutterstock/LightField Studios)

For starters, as a legion of cynical Redditors are quick to point out, Black Friday isn’t the best for graphics card deals anyway – it’s never been the strongest for this sale in terms of PC components.

As already noted, there have been bargains in the past. Despite Redditors insisting that GPU prices just quietly increase in October so they can have artificial “discounts” for Black Friday, there are actually some genuinely decent deals out there, or there have been.

However, things have gone crazy this year and as the second half of 2026 progresses, the RAM crisis has reached another grueling peak of frenetic rises.

There were more rumors about impending GPU hikes just a couple of weeks ago (following negative comments last month), and at US retailers we’ve already seen graphics card prices rise sharply over the last month. Added to this are even more negative predictions about memory shortages in general, which inevitably affect video RAM and system memory, and DDR5 prices, which are rising ridiculously right now. So now you have a recipe for a tumultuous rest of the year.

In short, I don’t see 2026 playing out any other way than seeing more GPU price increases, so why wouldn’t you buy now? At least from the perspective of whether Black Friday could somehow bring some bargains, it surely won’t.

I’m pretty convinced of that, and there are nuances here in terms of the type of graphics card you want to buy. I am referring to conventional, mid-range or low-end GPUs on the market, and not high-end graphics cards.

More beefy GPUs like Nvidia’s RTX 5080 (don’t even mention the RTX 5090) are already exceptionally expensive, and while I don’t think they’ll get any cheaper (and in fact I think they’ll probably continue to rise in price), the cost of those products is already a very bitter pill to swallow.

I don’t blame you if you don’t want to pay that much money for a graphics card, because over $1,500 for an RTX 5080 (in the US) is a pricing nightmare. But you’ll have to accept that you’ll probably have to wait a long time for better prices, maybe not until 2028. A compromise might be to buy a card like an RTX 5070 to help you out, or perhaps an AMD RX 9070

The problem is that there are no good options here… at least not for the more expensive GPUs.

red friday

(Image credit: Getty Images, Cavan Images)

I think this year Black Friday should be renamed Red Friday because of its Herring-like nature, at least when it comes to graphics cards. Don’t be tempted to wait for a deal, and if you see a reasonable price on the GPU you’re considering, get it now.

A $750 (open box) deal on an RTX 5070, the aforementioned Redditor’s dilemma, seems like a pretty solid proposition, although it’s a depressing reality considering this GPU was still around $650 just two months ago, because now you’re looking at around $850 (based on Newegg US pricing).

You can pick up an 8GB RTX 5060 Ti for just 10% more than what this GPU cost back in June (again, according to Newegg US), and I think there’s an even stronger case for buying something like this if you’re looking for the more affordable end of the market.

Obviously, do your own research based on the regional price of the GPU you’re thinking about, but whatever the case, I recommend that you don’t get fooled and wait for Black Friday, as I really think that would be a mistake.