Will the GPU Insanity Ever End?

As the summer draws nearer I have started to feel more (needlessly, let's be honest) antsy about building a new PC.  With the recent news that tariffs would no longer reach the insane 145% threshold and instead be (the still stupid) 30%, I was feeling hopeful that maybe prices on GPU's would level off a bit more, but alas, that has not happened.  Much of my agonizing has been about the exact model of GPU I want to invest in--AMD's 9070xt or NVIDIA's 5070ti.

Initially, AMD looked like it was prepared to make a splash with a range of semi-decently priced GPU's.  It all hinged on supply though and since release the 9070xt has been surprisingly popular (especially since NVIDIA GPU's have absolutely dominated AMD for years--like 80%-20% of market share).  As a result, 9070xt prices have ballooned up.  The supposed MSRP on this card is $600...the cheapest card you can find right now (that is being sold by a legitimate seller) is $850 (probably more like $899).  It's absolutely bonkers!  There are also a number of reports of people with black screen issues related to this GPU.

(Here's a good video from Hardware Unboxed comparing the 9070xt and the 5070--non-ti.  It also includes information about their previous tests with the 5070ti and a nice cost/ratio comparison at the end)

NVIDIA got a lot of grief about its very dicey rollout of the 50 series GPU's--supply was extremely thin, they definitely made a lot of overexaggerated claims about performance over last gen, and they really banked on the whole "AI generated frames."  Since then the supply has gotten better, prices have dropped, and now an NVIDIA card is looking like it might be the way to go.  NVIDIA has also had its own share of driver related issues that seem like they've been ironed out.  (*There's still some shady stuff happening with their lower tier 5060 cards--like them not releasing drivers to reviewers until the card is literally on sale...so basically, no reviews).  The 5070ti was supposed to have the MSRP of $750 and you can now find cards for roughly the same price as the 9070xt--$850-$899.  I guess that's better, right?

Maybe the release of the 9060/5060 cards will help supply even more--I can hope even though the sketchy behavior of NVIDIA around the 5060 cards doesn't bode well.  I wouldn't start building until I'm officially done with the school year (which doesn't happen until mid-June where I live), so I've got a bit to wait.  I'm sort of feeling the pressure around the end of Windows 10 too.  Upgrading my current PC to Windows 11 is likely just an issue of updating the BIOS (not my favorite thing to do) or enabling TPM and then doing the upgrade--a pain in the buttocks, but definitely possible.

I'm very fortunate to be able to build a new PC, ultimately I feel grateful for that.  Hopefully it happens--it makes me very excited just to think of it.  Happy gaming (and building) wishes to everyone out there!