Black Friday GPU Deals UK 2026: Do Graphics Card Prices Really Drop?

Some graphics cards do get cheaper around Black Friday. Usually it's particular versions of a card, or stock a shop wants to clear, rather than every card of a type. Discounts vary by card and retailer, and 2026 has a complication: memory chips have been scarce and expensive all year, and graphics cards are full of them.

Below are the cards to watch for November, with advice on choosing one; it isn't a list of live offers. For offers you can buy now, our graphics card deals page links straight to Amazon's own graphics card deals, with a checklist for judging them.

Do GPU prices go down on Black Friday?

Sometimes, on specific models. Graphics card offers tend to land on one maker's version of a chip (a particular ASUS, MSI or Sapphire card) rather than on the chip as a whole. Cards from a generation that's being replaced are where bigger cuts have traditionally turned up, while the newest and most wanted cards often barely move.

A Black Friday badge doesn't guarantee the best price you'll see, either. Which? tracked the Black Friday 2024 prices of 175 home and tech products at eight UK retailers, Amazon included, for a full year. Every one was the same price or cheaper at some other point in the six months either side of the day. At Amazon, the Black Friday price was matched or beaten outside the sales period in 88% of cases. The study covered appliances and tech generally rather than graphics cards. Before trusting a GPU's Black Friday badge, check what the card has actually been selling for.

Why 2026 is different: the memory shortage

Memory makers have spent 2026 selling as much as they can to AI data centres, and the products that need memory, graphics cards included, have been competing for what's left. In July the analyst firm TrendForce said DRAM, the main type of memory, would stay "extremely tight" through the third quarter, and that supply of graphics memory (GDDR6 and GDDR7) was constrained, with its prices rising alongside the rest. In early October TechRadar reported TrendForce's view that talks on fourth-quarter memory contracts pointed to further "meaningful price increases".

In late September TechRadar advised mainstream GPU buyers not to wait for Black Friday at all, because it expected card prices to keep climbing. That's one writer's view, built largely on US prices, and the sales can still bring decent offers on particular cards. Waiting doesn't guarantee a lower price, though, so if you need a card now, don't put the purchase off just because you expect it to cost less on Black Friday.

When is Black Friday 2026, and when does Amazon's sale start?

Black Friday is Friday 27 November 2026, and Cyber Monday follows on Monday 30 November. Most UK retailers no longer treat it as a single day: offers usually start the week before and run through the weekend to Cyber Monday.

As of 20 October 2026, when we last updated this guide, Amazon hadn't announced the dates of its 2026 Black Friday sale. Its UK sale started on 17 November in 2023, 21 November in 2024 and 20 November in 2025, and each year it ran through to Cyber Monday. Last year Amazon announced the dates on 13 November, a week before the sale began, so don't expect much notice.

Specialist PC retailers such as Overclockers and AWD-IT run their own Black Friday events too, so if you're after one particular card it pays to compare a few shops rather than waiting on one.

Buy now or wait?

Buy now if your current card has failed or can't run what you need, and today's price for the exact model you want fits your budget after comparing a few retailers. If your PC can't do what you need, weigh any possible saving against the cost of waiting.

Wait and watch if your current card is coping, you're flexible about which maker's version you buy, or you're after an older-generation card a retailer might want to clear.

If you wait, pick the exact card and memory size before you start comparing prices. Look at what it's actually sold for over the last few months: price trackers and comparison sites show this, and a quick search across three or four shops tells you what normal looks like. Then decide the price you'd be happy to pay and stick to it. Treat any "was" figure with suspicion until you've checked it against what the card has really been selling for.

How much graphics card do you need?

Start with your monitor's resolution and refresh rate, then work back to the card. Match your budget to your monitor and the games and settings you want to run.

1080p gaming

At 1080p, cards like the GeForce RTX 5060, RTX 5060 Ti and Radeon RX 9060 XT are the sensible starting point and run most games well at high settings. The catch is video memory. 8GB versions are cheaper, but some recent games at high texture settings already want more than 8GB, so an 8GB card can mean turning a few settings down sooner than you'd like.

1440p gaming

If you already have a 1440p monitor or plan to buy one, look at 16GB versions of the RTX 5060 Ti and RX 9060 XT at the cheaper end, and the RTX 5070 and RX 9070 XT if you want high frame rates at high settings. 12GB to 16GB of video memory is the comfortable range.

4K and high-refresh 1440p

For 4K, or 1440p at very high refresh rates, you're into RX 9070 XT, RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080 territory, all with 16GB. Even these cards usually rely on upscaling such as DLSS or FSR to hold high frame rates at 4K in the most demanding games. They're also big and power-hungry, so check the space in your case and what your power supply can handle before buying.

8GB or 16GB of the same chip?

The RTX 5060 Ti and RX 9060 XT each come in two memory sizes. The chip is the same; the 16GB version costs more and copes better with high texture settings and future games. If you tend to keep a card for four or five years, the 16GB version is usually the better buy, even at 1080p. For mostly esports games at 1080p, 8GB is fine. Check the memory size on the listing every time, because the two versions often sit side by side with near-identical names.

Graphics cards worth watching this Black Friday

These are current-generation cards from our catalogue, new and in stock on Amazon when we checked in October, and each has a full review on this site. We've left out older generations: they only make sense if a retailer clears them well below a current card of similar speed, and a retailer's own deals listing is the place to spot that. None of these is a Black Friday deal in itself, and we don't print prices on this page, because a price shown here could be out of date by the time you read it. The links show today's price on Amazon, where we earn a commission if you buy; the same cards are sold by other UK shops, so compare. Specs are as given on each Amazon listing.

For 1080p

• MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8G Gaming Trio OC: the RTX 5060 Ti chip in its cheaper 8GB form. If you keep cards for years, the 16GB MSI below uses the same chip; this 8GB card is a strong 1080p option if you play competitive games or don't mind easing texture settings. See today's price on Amazon
• Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT Gaming OC 8GB: the AMD route into 1080p gaming. Its 8GB of memory can mean lowering texture settings in demanding games; the 16GB ASUS further down is the same chip with twice the memory. See today's price on Amazon

For 1440p

• ASUS Dual Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB: the cheaper way into 1440p with memory to spare, thanks to 16GB of GDDR6. ASUS gives it a 2.5-slot cooler with its Axial-tech fans and 0dB mode, PCIe 5.0, HDMI 2.1b and DisplayPort 2.1a. Don't expect it to hold high frame rates in the most demanding games the way the bigger cards further down can. See today's price on Amazon
• MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G Shadow 2X OC Plus: NVIDIA's answer to the 16GB RX 9060 XT, for anyone who wants DLSS. It's MSI's 16GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti, the same RTX 5060 Ti chip as the 8GB MSI above with twice the video memory, which is what keeps a card useful at 1440p as games grow. See today's price on Amazon
• ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 5070 OC: a step up in speed for high-refresh 1440p, though with 12GB of video memory rather than 16GB. ASUS describes this compact version as small-form-factor ready, and it has one HDMI and three DisplayPort outputs. See today's price on Amazon
• Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB: AMD's top current card, with 16GB and two HDMI plus two DisplayPort outputs. It's the one to look at if you want fast 1440p with room to try 4K, and it's often cheaper than an RTX 5070 Ti; check its length against your case before you buy. See today's price on Amazon

For 4K and high refresh rates

• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Windforce OC SFF 16G: the NVIDIA alternative to the RX 9070 XT, worth the extra if you want DLSS and NVIDIA's ray tracing in the games you play, or if the price gap is small on the day. Gigabyte's small-form-factor version has 16GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, PCIe 5.0, three DisplayPort 2.1a outputs and one HDMI 2.1b. See today's price on Amazon
• ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5080 OC 16G: faster again, with the same 16GB, so it's for buyers chasing the highest frame rates rather than more memory. ASUS fits a 2.5-slot cooler with a vapour chamber and dual BIOS, with one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b outputs. See today's price on Amazon

For ranked picks at every budget, read the best graphics cards in the UK, or go straight to our cheaper 1080p picks and our mid-range 1440p picks.

How to tell a real GPU deal from a relabelled one

• Check the exact model, not just the chip. "RTX 5070" covers dozens of cards from different makers, and a basic dual-fan version at a low price isn't comparable with a "was" price on a premium triple-fan one.
• Look at the memory size. An 8GB card listed next to its 16GB sibling can look like a big saving when it's simply a different product.
• Don't pay new-card money for an old card. Listings for RTX 30-series and RX 6000-series cards still turn up, sometimes priced close to a current card. Unless the old card is clearly cheaper than a current one of similar speed, buy the newer one, which gets newer features and longer driver support.
• See who's selling it. On Amazon, check whether the card is sold by Amazon or a marketplace seller, and read the returns terms. Graphics cards are expensive things to send back.
• Compare shops. If one retailer's offer only matches what another charges every day, it isn't much of an offer.
• A bundled game only adds value if you'd have bought it anyway.

Before you buy: will it fit, and will your PC power it?

A cheap card stops being cheap if it needs a new power supply or won't go in your case.

• Find the card's recommended power supply wattage on the maker's spec page. If your PSU is old, cheap or close to that figure, budget for a new one. Our GPU and PSU checker and guide to PSU wattage will help.
• Check the power connectors. Many mid-range cards use standard 8-pin PCIe power, while higher-end NVIDIA cards often use the 16-pin connector, straight from a newer power supply or through an adapter, which needs more care when routing the cables.
• Measure the space in your case and compare it with the card's length and slot width on the maker's spec page. Small-form-factor versions exist for compact cases, but "SFF-ready" still needs checking against your case's limits.
• If your PC is a few years old, check the motherboard. Some cheaper cards use eight PCIe lanes rather than sixteen, which is fine in a PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 board but can cost some performance in an older PCIe 3.0 one.
• Think about your processor. A fast card paired with an old CPU won't reach its potential, particularly at 1080p, so a mid-range card may be all an older system can use.

Upgrading the whole machine rather than one card? Our Black Friday gaming PC guide covers prebuilt PCs, and our first gaming PC build guide walks through a self-build. If the new card will drive a new screen, read our Black Friday monitor guide as well.