Club Benefits
The state of Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs is in flux. With the RAM crisis causing prices to skyrocket and supply to dwindle, Nvidia was put in the position to confirm that it will “continue to ship” its graphics cards. But a recent leak claims otherwise.
Speaking with industry sources, reputable tipster Moore's Law Is Dead (MLID) claims Nvidia is now putting its entire RTX 50-series GPU production on hold, and it's in order to meet AI demand. What's more, the RTX 5060 with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM will be cut for the foreseeable future.
According to the leak, which sees several sources commenting on the cut in RTX 50-series production, RTX 5060 supply will "get worse until at least Q4 [2026]," while other models in the lineup, including the RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5090 will be "unobtanium" — in other words, unobtainable.
Yep - now the 5060 is done...and it get's worse...In tonight's video, I leak that @nvidia's effectively pausing production on RTX 50 Series for the foreseeable future in order to meet capacity for AI customers.🤦♂️Yes. The entire series. Effectively.https://t.co/t5ZTe9ADZbJanuary 22, 2026
As MLID puts it on a post on X, the "5060 is done," and "the entire series" is put on hold. But going into the comments, there's more to it, as GPUs such as the RTX 5050, RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB, RTX 5070 and RTX 5080 will still be available, albeit still in low supply.
Previously, Asus had allegedly put the RTX 5070 Ti into End of Life (EoL) status, but this was retracted after Nvidia claimed RTX 50-series would continue to ship as usual. However, with the memory shortage hitting the tech market hard, and Gigabyte stating Nvidia's GPU strategy is about "revenue per gigabyte," it's looking more likely that Team Green's graphics cards won't be easy to buy this year.
Is RTX 50-series production shifting?
We've heard that Nvidia's plan is to prioritize GPUs with lower video memory, which means that since the RTX 5060 Ti comes in bother 8GB and 16GB models, Team Green will push production of the 8GB version. One source speaking to MLID appears to back this up.
"I [Distributor] just got done with multiple phone calls with AIBs — it sounds like the 5060 is done for the next 6 months. Everyone says that Nvidia vastly overbooked Al sales, and therefore needs to pause almost all RTX 50 Series Production until at least Q3 2026. The 5090, 5070 Ti, 5060 Ti 16GB, and 5060 will soon be unobtanium... and the 5080, 5070, and 5060 Ti 8GB will trickle in with incredibly low volume."
So, while some GPUs, which include many of the best graphics cards you can get, will soon be near-impossible to grab, the rest will still be in production, but still at a "low volume." Or, at least, until Q3 of 2026 (around July to September). However, according to an unknown major retailer, there's a different idea.
"On Monday we [Major Retailer] were told that we should soon expect 5060 supply to get worse until at least Q4. In fact, we were specifically told that the 5050 and 5060 Ti 8GB are going to be most of the volume through summer. Yes, there will be a trickle of 5080s and 5070 supply... but not enough. Nvidia will 're-examine' in Q4."
Yes, there will be a trickle of 5080s and 5070 supply... but not enough. Nvidia will 're-examine' in Q4.
Anonymous retailer via Moore's Law Is Dead
With this in mind, it's looking like the RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB will be most seen on shelves, while Nvidia will rethink its production plans towards the end of 2026. In any case, it's another reason to believe that we'll soon see the RTX 5060 on its way out. The last source also supports this claim.
"For the foreseeable future, Nvidia's effectively only selling us [AIB] 5080, 5070, 5060 Ti 8GB, and 5050 kits. As for "why" Nvidia's effectively pausing 5060 production - it all comes down to cost & RAM. The 5050 uses GDDR6, and the 5060 Ti uses the same amount of GDDR7 as a 5060 — so they are preferable. Oh, and get ready for a ~30% baseline price increase to GPUs imminently."
Not only can we expect a cut in production on Nvidia's most popular GPUs, but now, it appears we may also see a 30% price increase. Of course, this isn't entirely surprising, considering Intel also expects costs to rise after 'about 9 to 12 months' of stock on laptops runs out, but it's still something to anticipate — if these comments ring true.
Prepare for a GPU drought
It's still uncertain just how Nvidia's GPU strategy will play out, but with even more sources pointing to a limited supply of RTX 50-series graphics cards, it's looking like GPUs will become a precious commodity in the near future.
Interestingly, Tom's Guide got to chat with CEO of U.K. PC supplier Scan, Elan Raja, who said the "RTX 5070 GPU is the sweet spot" when it comes to what PC gamers are actually buying. Fortunately, this is one of the graphics cards that apparently won't be in such short supply (for now), and that's due to its offering 12GB of VRAM, as opposed to its sibling, the RTX 5070 Ti, delivering 16GB of video memory.
In any case, if MLID's sources are predicting the near future, expect many of Nvidia's GPUs to be in incredibly short supply, with some being near impossible to find. So, would you grab an RTX 50-series GPU now or wait for supply to return after the RAM crisis passes? Let us know your thoughts!
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
