Prime Day graphics card deals are slowly improving — here are the GPUs I'd actually buy

RTX 5070 vs RTX 5070 Ti
(Image credit: Future)
Recent updates

Update 7/8 11:30am BST / 06:30 ET: U.K. GPU prices have gone back down for the entire range bar the RTX 5080 and 5090 — the 5060 Ti, 5070 and 5070 Ti are cheaper than ever! Meanwhile, the U.S. GPU Prime Day deals are...well, there are cards now available at MSRP! Not quite the savings we wanted, but at least it's progress!

Ever since I started testing GPUs, I’ve been waiting for the moment to say my favorite graphics cards are on sale for Prime Day. I did start as a deals writer, so the high I’d feel to tell you that you could save money on an RTX 5060 Ti or RTX 5070 Ti would be significant.

And now we're here, that situation is sort of improving. I know I roasted the expectation of paying $1,000 for an RTX 5070 Ti, and that diabolical price is still present (so much for "deals"). But with stock levels normalizing — particularly on mid-range cards — it's not getting pretty easy to find a GPU at MSRP.

In the U.K., the situation is even better, because we are seeing actual deals. Like, proper discounts on RTX 50-series GPU retail prices. So don't fall for the trash savings, take a trip with me and I'll point you in the right direction.

Live in the U.K.? No need to worry!

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti

(Image credit: Future)

I’ve checked for GPU stock over the course of this entire year, and one thing has become abundantly clear — scalping is not really a thing in Britain.

That's not to say it doesn’t exist. There are still plenty of cards that are being sold for £30-50 more. But stocking issues don’t seem to be plaguing the U.K. as much, and because of that, retailers are selling some models at (or even below) recommended retail price (RRP).

U.K Prime Day Graphics Card deals

Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti
Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti: was £399 now £379 at Overclockers

This is for the model with 16GB of video memory (the right one to buy), and scalpers be damned you can get it for £2 below RRP!

Palit GeForce RTX 5070
Palit GeForce RTX 5070: was £539 now £509 at Overclockers

That's over £30 below RRP for the RTX 5070. Given my main gripe with this was the price to performance, this certainly makes it a much more tempting card to get.

Gainward GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
Gainward GeForce RTX 5070 Ti: was £729 now £679 at Overclockers

So the RTX 5070 Ti (my personal favorite of the bunch) just dropped an extra £10 below retail price!

Gainward GeForce RTX 5080
Gainward GeForce RTX 5080: was £999 now £949 at Overclockers

Now this is a surprise! Even the RTX 5080 is £50 below RRP too.

And right now, that’s where the Nvidia party ends for GPUs under RRP, as price quickly jumps up with RTX 5090.

My advice to U.S. PC gamers

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070

(Image credit: Future)

But enough showing off about the U.K. — let’s try and find my friends in the States a little something. Here are 3 tips for your GPU-buying mission:

  1. Be prepared to go over slightly: I’ll be real with you — it’s rare you’ll find the better GPU choices for MSRP. But that doesn’t mean you should dramatically overpay to grab one. Aim for a $50 flexibility if you’re keen to buy sooner rather than later.
  2. Look to bundles: While the GPU itself may be slightly scalped, if you get it as part of a bundle with maybe some RAM or a power supply, the discount on this bit may bring the cost more in-line.
  3. Consider a pre-build: Normally, the lowest cost approach to a gaming PC is to build it yourself, but that’s not necessarily the case anymore. When comparing pre-builds spotted on Newegg and Best Buy to the equally-specced pcpartpicker equivalent, we’ve seen the price of the pre-build actually be lower about 50% of the time.

Got all that? Good! Rather than go immediately for the first thing you see a big red sale sticker on (that's not actually a sale), go for these instead.

U.S. Graphics Cards - best prices

Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 Xt
Gigabyte Radeon RX 9060 Xt: $389 at Newegg

This falls into that $50 area of acceptable price increases, and you’re getting a rather impressive GPU here with 16GB of video memory and all of AMD’s upcoming FSR 4 tech that is really taking the fight to Nvidia’s DLSS.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5060 Ti
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5060 Ti: $429 at Best Buy

Well, well well! A 16GB version of the 5060 Ti at MSRP. This is going to get snapped up quick, so be speedy about grabbing this — definitely an encouraging sign of normalizing prices.

PNY GeForce RTX 5070
PNY GeForce RTX 5070: $549 at Best Buy

My main gripe with the RTX 5070 was the fact it was never available at retail price. Well, Best Buy has shocked me with this MSRP beast of a buy. Snag it while you can.

Skytech King 95 Gaming PC (RTX 5070 Ti
Skytech King 95 Gaming PC (RTX 5070 Ti: was $2,799 now $2,299 at Newegg

Anything further above this, and you’re looking at some shocking price increases. That’s why a pre-built PC could be the way forward here. To replicate the exact specs of this (AMD Ryzen 7 9800 X3D, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD, etc), you’d be spending $100 more for the parts individually.

Jason England
Managing Editor — Computing

Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.

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