- Nvidia's RTX 5070 Ti has been "essentially killed off" according to a YouTube channel
- The same is true of the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, based on chatter on the grapevine from Asus and Australian retailers
- The price of these GPUs has already risen modestly, and we can expect bigger hikes if this rumor is true
Nvidia's RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, as well as the RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB, are seemingly on borrowed time according to a new rumor.
YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed tells us Nvidia has "essentially killed off the RTX 5070 Ti" – even if this isn't officially the case as we've heard nothing from Team Green to that effect – because there's a widespread shortage with this GPU.
In fact, supply of the RTX 5070 Ti is now so thin that we're told Asus has placed the model in 'end of life' status, meaning this big graphics card maker is officially done with the Nvidia GPU (add your own seasoning, as ever, with all this).
To underline what this means, Asus is, in theory, not going to produce any more of its various RTX 5070 Ti models. Whatever Asus RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards are left on shelves now (and in warehouses) represent the remaining inventory from the company, and once that's gone, there'll be no more.
Furthermore, this chimes with what Australian retailers are saying about the RTX 5070 Ti, namely that they can't buy this graphics card from their distribution partners. Hardware Unboxed claims that these retail outlets are expecting this to remain the case throughout the entire first quarter of 2026, so through to April, at the very least.
As noted at the outset, the same is broadly true of the RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB VRAM, of which supply has been "significantly reduced to the point of being effectively discontinued". The YouTube channel informs us that Asus said this model is also in 'end of life' and will not be rolling off production lines going forward.
Retailers are again saying similar things about trying to procure the RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB, and that it's not going to be possible to buy supply of this particular GPU during this quarter – and that it might be even more unlikely to come back into stock than the RTX 5070 Ti.
Asus says it's going to focus on making other Blackwell GPU models, and that'd likely be the RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB, and the RTX 5060 (which also runs with 8GB).
We're told that the graphics card in-between all these mentioned models – the RTX 5070 vanilla version – is still being made, but at a lesser rate of knots than it was being cranked out before.
Analysis: a Blackwell hole in the mid-range – and a potential opportunity for AMD
This mirrors what we already heard from sources over in China earlier this week, and reinforces that rumor – with direct comments from Asus, and various retailers, lending even more weight. When multiple sources start to say the same thing, we obviously need to sit up and take more notice.
We'd be foolish to take this all at face value, but we'd be equally silly to ignore it – and the fact that it's all very believable. After all, in a climate where memory has become seriously problematic in terms of supply and pricing, and that includes video RAM, it's obvious there will be ramifications (ahem) for GPUs. And cheaper graphics cards that stack up VRAM – the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB in particular – make less and less sense given such prevailing conditions, where AI demands are pushing consumer GPUs onto the sidelines.
For the affected GPUs, the RTX 5070 Ti (with 16GB) and RTX 5060 Ti 16GB are still in stock – well, in the US, anyway, though Hardware Unboxed observes the latter board is going out of stock in Australia.
These GPUs are now being hit with price rises, though, in the US and Australia, to the tune of 10% to 15% or thereabouts. This is a situation that could worsen soon, if stock is going to become leaner and leaner. 20% price hikes may not be out of the question before long, and indeed Australian retailers are predicting this is what will happen to the vanilla RTX 5070, too (which is still being produced, as noted, but in smaller numbers according to the YouTube channel). As you probably already saw, RTX 5080 and 5090 pricing has already got nasty in 2026.
Ultimately, what we might be left with is a pair of 8GB-toting RTX 5060 models – the vanilla 5060 8GB, plus the 5060 Ti 8GB – holding the fort at the lower end, and the RTX 5080 and 5090 at the high end, with the RTX 5070 limply hanging on as the only option in the middle-ground from Nvidia. All GPUs are likely to get more costly, even those 8GB models – which haven't meaningfully increased in price just yet – as the RAM crisis takes further hold on the broader industry.
This could be a big opportunity for AMD's RDNA 4 GPUs to attack at the mid-range, which will be a definite weak spot for Nvidia if all this pans out, but whether that actually happens – we'll just have to see. AMD's Radeon graphics cards will face the same VRAM supply and cost pressures as Nvidia's (or indeed Intel's) GPUs, of course, but the difference is that Team Red's boards are using more affordable GDDR6 memory (rather than cutting-edge GDDR7 as employed with Blackwell graphics cards). So, there could be room for AMD to take a shot at grabbing some GPU market share back from Nvidia here.
Meanwhile, if you have your heart set on a 16GB graphics card from Nvidia – either the RTX 5070 Ti or the RTX 5060 Ti – it seems that you better make your move now before stock theoretically dwindles, and pricing potentially starts to spike.
➡️ Read our full guide to the best graphics card
1. Best overall:
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
2. Best budget:
Intel Arc B580
3. Best Nvidia:
Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti
4. Best AMD:
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
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