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Checked 9 Nov 2026

Industry news

What's moving in handheld PCs, graphics and eGPUs. The summaries are mine. Specs, prices and performance claims are the makers', retailers' and outlets' figures, and I haven't tested them. Reports and rumors are labeled.

Price tracker

What the same parts have cost each month since January, with the latest price highlighted. The cheapest DDR5-6000 32GB kit in Akihabara has risen 22% since January, the RTX 5070 at Newegg has risen 31% since March and the cheapest 2TB Samsung 990 PRO in Akihabara has risen 109% since January.

Checked 9 Nov 2026. Graphics cards: US prices in US dollars. Memory and SSD: Akihabara shop prices in yen, tax included. Each percentage compares a part with its own earlier price, so exchange rates don't affect it.

Memory · Tokyo

DDR5-6000 32GB kit (2×16GB)

¥72,98017–24 Oct 2026

Lowest shop price in each month's survey

+22% since Jan

DDR5-6000 32GB kit (2×16GB): ¥59,980 in 17–24 Jan 2026, ¥72,980 in 17–24 Oct 2026, up 22%.¥0¥20K¥40K¥60K¥80KJanMarMayJulSepNov¥72,980

The six-shop average was ¥75,356 in January and ¥75,621 in October.

Akihabara, Tokyo · yen, tax included · Source: AKIBA PC Hotline! ↗

Graphics card · US

GeForce RTX 5070

$8491–8 Nov 2026

Median of each day's lowest new price

+31% since Mar+55% vs MSRP $549

GeForce RTX 5070: $649 in Mar 2026, $849 in 1–8 Nov 2026, up 31%.$0$250$500$750$1,000JanMarMayJulSepNovMSRP $549$849

Before this record starts, PC Gamer found it at its $549 MSRP at Walmart on 22 January. PC Gamer ↗

US · Newegg, new cards · Source: BestValueGPU ↗

NVMe SSD · Tokyo

Samsung 990 PRO 2TB

¥89,98017–24 Oct 2026

Lowest shop price in each month's survey

+109% since Jan

Samsung 990 PRO 2TB: ¥42,980 in 17–24 Jan 2026, ¥89,980 in 17–24 Oct 2026, up 109%.¥0¥30K¥60K¥90K¥120KJanMarMayJulSepNov¥89,980

In the US, Gamers Nexus found the same drive at Newegg for $190 in November 2025 and $400 in March 2026. Gamers Nexus ↗

Akihabara, Tokyo · yen, tax included · Source: AKIBA PC Hotline! ↗

More graphics cards

See every reading
MonthDDR5-6000 32GB kit (2×16GB)GeForce RTX 5070Samsung 990 PRO 2TBGeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GBRadeon RX 9070 XTGeForce RTX 5090
Jan 2026¥59,980 17–24 Janno reading¥42,980 17–24 Janno readingno readingno reading
Feb 2026¥54,980 14–21 Febno reading¥42,980 14–21 Febno readingno readingno reading
Mar 2026¥50,800 14–21 Mar$649¥56,980 14–21 Mar$569$729$3,799
Apr 2026¥54,980 11–18 Apr$629¥69,800 11–18 Apr$499$709$3,699
May 2026¥59,980 16–23 May$629¥56,980 16–23 May$569$709$3,949
Jun 2026¥59,980 13–20 Jun$609¥96,980 13–20 Jun$569$699$4,199
Jul 2026¥49,980 11–18 Jul$629¥79,970 11–18 Jul$569$699$4,099
Aug 2026¥59,980 8–22 Aug$799¥96,980 8–22 Aug$779$719$4,499
Sep 2026¥52,990 12–19 Sep$839¥89,980 12–19 Sep$779$768no reading
Oct 2026¥72,980 17–24 Oct$849¥89,980 17–24 Oct$779$849$9,344
Nov 2026no reading$849 1–8 Novno reading$769 1–8 Nov$949 1–7 Nov$7,999 1–8 Nov

How these are tracked

  • DDR5-6000 32GB kit (2×16GB). AKIBA PC Hotline! (Impress Watch) surveys memory prices at six Akihabara shops over about a week in the second half of each month. Each point is the lowest price it found for a DDR5-6000 16GB×2 desktop kit, tax included, and links to that month's report. The same survey runs every month, which keeps the months comparable. The lowest price is one shop's offer that week, so a single sale can move it. Source: AKIBA PC Hotline!.
  • GeForce RTX 5070, GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, Radeon RX 9070 XT and GeForce RTX 5090. BestValueGPU checks the lowest new price at Newegg every day and filters out one-off mislisted prices. Each point is that month's median of those daily lows. Its record of new prices starts in March 2026, and the November point covers only the days checked so far. The RTX 5090 has no new price for September. Source: BestValueGPU (GeForce RTX 5070, GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, Radeon RX 9070 XT, GeForce RTX 5090).
  • Samsung 990 PRO 2TB. AKIBA PC Hotline! surveys SSD prices at four to six Akihabara shops over about a week in the second half of each month. Each point is the lowest price it found for the Samsung 990 PRO 2TB without a heatsink (MZ-V9P2T0B/IT), tax included, and links to that month's report. Source: AKIBA PC Hotline!.

Topics I'm tracking

GPU prices

GPU prices are out to lunch

Graphics cards are selling far above their launch prices, and the memory that goes into them keeps getting more expensive.

  • RTX 5060 Ti 16GB$799.99 against $429+86%
  • RTX 5080$1,679.99 against $999+68%
  • RTX 5070$869.99 against $549+58%
  • RTX 5070 Ti$1,169.99 against $749+56%
  • RX 9070 XT$799.99 against $599+34%

Newegg prices on 3 Oct 2026 against launch MSRP, from one retailer on one day. Bars run from 0 to 100% over MSRP. Source: Digital Citizen, 4 Oct 2026.

  • Team Group's CEO said on the company's 2 Nov earnings call that the memory shortage will likely get worse through late 2027, with "no downward price trend whatsoever". He expects supply and demand to balance in the second half of 2028 at the earliest. Contract prices for 16GB DDR5 chips went from $8.70 in October 2025 to $48 in September 2026. Acer's CEO disagrees and expects prices to start falling in the second half of 2027. Tom's Hardware ↗

  • ReportBoard partners reportedly raise RTX 50 prices this month. Colorful's reported rises run from $22–30 on an RTX 5060 and $150 on an RTX 5070 Ti to $380–450 on an RTX 5080 and $330–550 on an RTX 5090D v2, and GALAX reportedly adds $30 to the RTX 5060. The report comes from Chinese sources, and NVIDIA hasn't confirmed it. Wccftech ↗

  • ReportAMD reportedly plans to raise the price of the GPU and GDDR6 memory bundles it sells to board partners in November, which would hit Radeon RX 9000 cards. The report comes from the supply-chain source ChannelGate, which says GDDR6 prices rose about 8–10% in Q3. Higher prices may take a few weeks to reach shelves, and AMD hasn't confirmed it. Wccftech ↗

  • RumorThe RTX 5080 has followed the RTX 5090 off NVIDIA's US marketplace, which now lists no 80- or 90-class cards. Unnamed rumors say a 24GB RTX 5080 is coming in 2027. NVIDIA hasn't commented. eTeknix ↗

  • ForecastTrendForce expects DRAM contract prices to rise about 20% this quarter. That's slower than the roughly 80% and 40% rises of the last two quarters, but prices are still climbing, and spot prices keep going up too. TrendForce ↗

  • ReportThe RTX 5090 has vanished from NVIDIA's own marketplace, and Micro Center now lists it as "Not Carried" rather than out of stock. NVIDIA's Jeff Fisher told Taiwanese media the card hasn't been discontinued, as reported by Notebookcheck. Third-party sellers on Amazon asked about $8,500, per Tom's Hardware. Notebookcheck ↗ The FPS Review ↗

  • ReportAMD has reportedly raised its suggested Radeon prices in China for this quarter. The RX 9070 goes up ¥700 to ¥6,299, and the RX 9070 XT stays at ¥6,999. AMD hasn't confirmed it. TweakTown ↗

  • TrendForce expects memory contract prices to rise again this quarter, by 10–15% for DRAM and 15–20% for NAND flash, with AI servers served first. PC makers are already cutting SSD sizes in mainstream models. Evertiq ↗

  • TechSpot's survey of 10 countries found GeForce prices up 19% in a month and Radeon up 11%. Cards averaged 28% over MSRP, not counting the RTX 5090, which sat 136% over its $1,999 MSRP. TechSpot ↗

DLSS

DLSS 4.5 is here, and DLSS 5 is getting lighter

  • DLSS 5 reaches Hogwarts Legacy on 5 Nov, under Neural Rendering in the game's options, for RTX 50 Series GPUs and laptops, RTX Spark PCs and GeForce NOW Ultimate. War Thunder gets DLSS 5 in a few weeks, NVIDIA says. Game Ready driver 621.14 supports it. NVIDIA ↗

  • Cyberpunk 2077's 22 Oct update adds DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi Frame Generation and moves the game's frame generation, Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution to DLSS 4.5's second-generation models, NVIDIA says. Game Ready driver 621.01 supports it. NVIDIA ↗

  • NVIDIA says a new DLSS 5 model runs twice as fast, with about half the GPU cost of the September version and about 20% less VRAM at 4K. It claims up to 1.4X more frames in NBA 2K27. DLSS 5 is still RTX 50 and RTX Spark only, and reaches Hogwarts Legacy on 5 Nov. These are NVIDIA's own figures. NVIDIA ↗

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 ships with DLSS 4.5: upscaling on any RTX card, frame generation on RTX 40, and dynamic multi frame generation up to 6X on RTX 50. Campaign early access starts 16 Oct, and Game Ready driver 617.42 supports it. NVIDIA ↗

  • DLSS 5 launched for RTX 50 cards only, and it costs a lot of frames. In NBA 2K27, TechSpot's RTX 5090 at 4K fell from 192 to 76 fps with it on, and an RTX 5070 at 1440p from 217 to 67 fps. NVIDIA says RTX 40 support comes later. TechSpot ↗

FSR 4

FSR 4.1 reaches its first handheld

  • Tom's Guide tested FSR 4 on the ROG Xbox Ally X20. At the same Balanced setting it ran no faster than FSR 3, and sometimes a little slower: God of War Ragnarök went from 39 to 38 fps. FSR 4 Performance beat FSR 3 Balanced, at 43 fps, and looked sharper. Tom's Guide ↗

  • ASUS has put a preview GPU driver with FSR 4.1 in Armoury Crate SE for the ROG Xbox Ally X and X20, under Update Center, then Preview Updates. ASUS warns preview updates may be buggy, and the driver rolls out to everyone once it leaves preview. The base ROG Xbox Ally's update is "coming soon", with no date. ASUS ROG ↗

  • FSR 4.1 now runs on Radeon RX 6000 cards and Ryzen AI Max chips with Adrenalin 26.10.1. A lighter model covers Ryzen AI 9 laptops and the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, Ryzen Z2 Extreme and Ryzen Z2 A handheld chips, but the ROG Xbox Ally X is the only handheld AMD names. Timing depends on each maker, and AMD doesn't mention the Steam Deck or Legion Go. AMD ↗

  • AMD and Xbox say FSR 4.1 is also coming to the Xbox Series X|S consoles, and Xbox's CTO says it will be tuned for the ROG Xbox Ally X and X20. There's no date yet. Pure Xbox ↗

  • AMD's Jack Huynh says official FSR 4 support reaches APUs, gaming laptops and handheld PCs before the end of 2026. A lighter version for RDNA 3-based APUs is in the works, which TechSpot says would cover Ryzen AI Max devices, most ROG Ally models and the Legion Go. There's no device list or date yet. TechSpot ↗

  • RumorLeaked specs for the Ryzen Z3 and Z3 Extreme claim Zen 6 cores and a 12-unit "RDNA 4m" GPU with hardware suited to FSR 4. AMD hasn't announced either chip. Guru3D ↗

  • A lighter INT8 version of FSR 4 reached Radeon RX 7000 cards. RX 9000 cards have had it since launch. RDNA 2 devices like the Steam Deck and the base ROG Xbox Ally will likely wait until next year. TechSpot ↗

More news

  • SteamOS

    An unofficial project brings XMX-accelerated XeSS to Proton

    An independent developer's experimental project, xess-xmx-linux, runs XeSS upscaling and XeSS Frame Generation on Intel's XMX matrix units in Proton games, instead of the slower DP4a path Proton uses today. It was built on a OneXPlayer 3 with the Arc G3 Extreme and also tested on an Arc B580. PC Gamer reports about 29% more frames in Cyberpunk from upscaling alone, about 145% with frame generation, and 16% in Forza Horizon 6. It isn't an Intel release; Intel's own Proton support is still pending.

    Source: PC Gamer

  • Market

    Switch 2 sales fall 37%, and Nintendo plans no further price rise

    Nintendo sold 6.49 million Switch 2 consoles from April to September, down from 10.36 million a year earlier, and now expects 16.5 million for the year to March 2027. Reuters reports that Nintendo's president told investors the company can get enough RAM to build the Switch 2 and plans no further price increase. The price went from $449 to $499 this year.

    Sources: Notebookcheck, PC Gamer

  • Driver

    NVIDIA Game Ready 621.14 is the new WHQL driver

    Game Ready 621.14 is ready for World of Warcraft: Forever and for DLSS 5 in Hogwarts Legacy, which starts on 5 Nov for RTX 50 Series and RTX Spark. It's the first WHQL driver since 621.01 and the 621.12 hotfix. My pick for stability is still Game Ready 617.42.

    Source: NVIDIA

  • eGPU

    ASUS launches the ROG XG Station 3 Thunderbolt 5 eGPU dock

    The open-frame dock has two Thunderbolt 5 ports and two 10Gbps USB-C ports, and charges a laptop at up to 140W. It takes RTX 50, Radeon RX 9000 and Arc cards. Unlike the XG Station 2, it ships without a power supply, so you add your own SFX or SFX-L unit. ASUS hasn't announced a price or release date.

    Source: Notebookcheck

  • Mini PC

    GMKtec teases a mini PC with OCuLink or two SSDs

    GMKtec's next mini PC is about the size of its Panther Lake EVO-T2S. It will come with either one SSD slot and an OCuLink port for an eGPU, or two SSD slots for up to 16TB, and GMKtec is asking fans to vote. The name, chip and price aren't confirmed.

    Source: Notebookcheck

  • Driver

    AMD Adrenalin 26.10.2 is a fix-only optional driver

    AMD's 26.10.2 adds no new games. It fixes crashes and timeouts, including ones when opening overlays such as Xbox Game Bar and when using FSR Frame Generation on RX 9000 cards. It's an Optional release, so 26.10.1 stays AMD's Recommended driver, and AMD's notes say the package doesn't support handheld PCs.

    Source: AMD

  • Software

    Winhanced 1.0 beta brings FSR 4.1 to AMD handhelds

    Winhanced is a free, controller-friendly launcher for Windows 11 handhelds and an alternative to Xbox's full screen experience. Version 1.0, a beta from 31 Oct, adds an in-game overlay with power modes and dynamic TDP, FSR 4.1 on AMD handhelds that AMD doesn't officially support yet, built-in OptiScaler (not in games with anti-cheat), game compression and GeForce NOW.

    Source: PC Guide

  • Driver

    NVIDIA hotfix 621.12 fixes the 621.01 video freeze

    Hotfix driver 621.12 fixes the video freezes and black screens some RTX 50 and RTX Spark owners saw after updating to Game Ready driver 621.01. It also fixes an Unreal Engine 5.8 crash with Hit Lighting, HDMI corruption through a StarTech Thunderbolt 3 adapter on RTX Spark systems, and flicker on the MSI N16 Flip. NVIDIA will fold the fixes into its next WHQL driver, with no date given. Be aware that NVIDIA calls hotfix drivers beta and says they get a much shorter QA process. My pick for stability is still Game Ready 617.42.

    Sources: Club386, HotHardware

  • Pre-order

    Acer Predator Atlas 8 opens for pre-order at $1,299

    Acer's handheld has Intel's Arc G3 Extreme chip, 24GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and an 8-inch 1920×1200 120Hz screen with VRR. Pre-orders are open at Best Buy, and Club386 puts it $500 below the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, which uses the same chip.

    Source: Club386

  • Mini PC

    ASUS ROG NUC 16 gets a Phantom Blade Zero Edition

    Added late: this launched in China on 26 Oct. The 3-liter mini PC, made with the game's studio S-GAME, has an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, 32GB of DDR5-6400 (up to 128GB) and an RTX 5070 Laptop GPU with a 1TB SSD or an RTX 5080 Laptop GPU with a 2TB SSD. It also has Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7 and 2.5Gb Ethernet. Notebookcheck puts China prices at about $3,740 to $4,720, and ASUS hasn't given prices or dates for other markets.

    Source: Notebookcheck

  • Driver

    NVIDIA confirms a 621.01 bug that freezes video and blanks screens

    NVIDIA has logged a bug in Game Ready driver 621.01 that can freeze video or black out the screen for a few seconds in Chrome, Edge and VLC. Most reports come from RTX 5080 owners. There's no fix date yet, and some users are rolling back to 617.42, a step NVIDIA hasn't endorsed.

    Source: Hardware Busters

  • Report

    Microsoft reportedly plans a handheld for 2027

    Fortune reports that Microsoft plans to ship a handheld in 2027 and its Helix console in 2028, with the console expected to cost $1,200 to $1,800. It's unclear whether the handheld would be made by Xbox or a partner. Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet says the report misrepresents the work, and Microsoft hasn't confirmed any plans or dates.

    Source: Windows Central

  • Mini PC

    Lenovo ThinkCentre X Ultra launches with Ryzen AI Max chips

    Lenovo's 1.6-liter mini PC is launching worldwide with a Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495, AI Max+ 492 or AI Max+ 388 and up to 128GB of memory, of which up to 96GB can go to graphics. It should start at $3,699 in the US next month.

    Source: Notebookcheck

  • Mini PC

    Acer Revo Box AI goes on sale with USB4 for an eGPU

    The Ryzen AI 9 465 model, with Radeon 880M graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, is $739.99 at Best Buy, down from $879.99. It has one USB4 port for an eGPU, two 2.5GbE ports, HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort.

    Source: Notebookcheck

  • Guide

    No RTX 5090? What's left at the top

    With the RTX 5090 gone from shelves, the RTX 5080 is now the fastest GeForce on NVIDIA's marketplace, at about $1,800 on Newegg according to TechRadar. TechRadar's buying guide names the RX 9070 XT best overall, the RTX 5070 Ti best NVIDIA card and the Arc B580 best budget card. An RTX 5080 with 24GB of memory is rumored for early 2027, but NVIDIA hasn't announced it. The price bars above show how far each card sits over its MSRP.

    Sources: TechRadar, Notebookcheck

  • Report

    A cheaper Arc G3 handheld chip shows up in HWiNFO

    A pre-release HWiNFO build adds support for a "Panther Lake-H 080". A leaker says it has eight E-cores and four Xe-cores, no P-cores, aimed at cheaper handhelds. Intel hasn't announced it.

    Source: TweakTown

  • Windows

    Xbox mode gets Exit to Desktop and power options

    A refreshed Gaming Task View in Windows 11's Xbox mode adds a navigation bar with Exit to Desktop and Power Options. It's in testing for Windows Insiders, in Beta build 26220.9739 and Experimental build 26340.9750, with no date for everyone else.

    Source: Windows Central

  • Reviews

    ROG Xbox Ally X20 reviews: a better screen, the same speed

    Reviewers agree the OLED is a big step up: Notebookcheck measured 627 nits against 459 on the Xbox Ally X, but gaming performance was "pretty much identical" (Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p Ultra: 29.3 against 28 fps). The X20 costs $1,299.99, $300 more than the Ally X's launch price. Tom's Guide calls it "tricky to recommend for the price" and BGR "tough to recommend" to Ally X owners, while Press Start calls it the culmination of Windows handhelds but says the price is the hardest pill to swallow.

    Sources: Notebookcheck, Tom's Guide, BGR, Press Start

  • Reviews

    RTX Spark laptops: strong for AI, less so for games

    Reviews of NVIDIA's Arm-based RTX Spark laptops praise the GPU and local AI speed but not the prices. Tom's Hardware tested a $5,899 Surface Laptop Ultra: Gears of War: E-Day averaged 77.7 fps with 2X frame generation, and the reviewer found input latency higher than he'd accept. Its verdict: a dedicated RTX 50 gaming laptop is still the better pick for games.

    Sources: Tom's Hardware, The FPS Review

  • Launch

    ROG Xbox Ally X20 goes on sale

    ASUS's OLED Xbox Ally launches on 15 October at $1,299.99. It keeps the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme and adds a 7.4-inch 120Hz OLED, 24GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and an 80Wh battery. A bundle with ROG XREAL R1 glasses costs $2,499.99.

    Source: God is a Geek, 26 Aug 2026

  • Driver

    Intel's Arc driver adds day-0 Call of Duty: MW4

    Driver 101.9150 also adds Planet Zoo 2. Intel claims up to 31% more frames in Resident Evil Requiem at 1080p Medium on Core Ultra series 2 graphics, the generation inside the MSI Claw 8 AI+. That's Intel's own figure, against its previous driver.

    Source: Intel release notes (PDF)

  • Price

    The first MSI Claw drops to $562

    Best Buy cut the original MSI Claw (A1M, Core Ultra 7 155H, 1TB) by $187 in a clearance sale.

    Source: Tom's Hardware

  • Driver

    AMD Adrenalin 26.9.2 adds six new games

    The optional driver adds Call of Duty: MW4, Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft Dungeons II and three more. It fixes driver timeouts in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on RX 7000, War Thunder on RX 6000 and HITMAN on RX 9000. AMD's notes say it doesn't support handheld PCs, whose drivers come from the maker.

    Source: AMD release notes

  • SteamOS

    SteamOS 3.8.28 adds gamepad support for more handhelds

    The update moves to Linux 6.18.50 and adds initial gamepad support for the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, KONKR FIT and AYANEO Pocket S2. It also fixes the original Legion Go's gyro on older controller firmware, and battery readings on Legion Go models.

    Source: GamingOnLinux

  • eGPU

    UGREEN's LinkStation Pro dock gets Thunderbolt 5 and OCuLink

    The eGPU dock has an 850W power supply built in, Thunderbolt 5 at 80 Gbps and an OCuLink port at 64 Gbps. It costs 2,999 yuan (about $447) and is only sold in China so far.

    Source: Notebookcheck

  • Specs

    GPD BOX and G2 dock listed with MCIO 8i

    DroiX lists the GPD BOX mini PC with an MCIO 8i port rated PCIe 5.0 x8, while the matching G2 dock's MCIO link is listed at PCIe 4.0 x8, with USB4 v2 as the other option.

    Source: DroiX, updated 4 Sep 2026

  • Announcement

    Acer shows the Predator Atlas 7 and a foldable concept

    At IFA, Acer announced the Predator Atlas 7 with an Intel Arc G-series chip, a 7-inch 1080p IPS screen and up to 24GB of RAM, shipping in September. Acer didn't give a price at the announcement. It also showed Project DualPlay Mini, a foldable handheld concept.

    Sources: Thurrott, Tom's Hardware

  • Launch

    Valve prices the Steam Machine

    The Steam Machine launched on 30 June at $1,049 for 512GB and $1,349 for 2TB, sold through a randomized reservation list.

    Source: Notebookcheck

  • Market

    MSI warns handheld prices may rise again

    MSI says rising RAM and SSD costs are pushing handheld prices up. The Claw 8 EX AI+, with Intel's Arc G3 Extreme, was listed at $1,699 on MSI's site.

    Source: Digital Citizen