• Google is rolling out an update for the Nest Wifi router ahead of the US router ban
• The ban hasn't come into effect, but could reduce router options significantly
• The Nest Wifi router is a solid choice, but we think Asus and Netgear are better options

Google has decided to go ahead with its next firmware update for the Nest Wifi router and Nest Wifi point despite the latest ban on Wifi routers manufactured outside of the US.

The update was spotted by 9to5Google, who shared that the company updated the changelog entry on April 24 with ‘stability and security vulnerability fixes’. According to the outlet, the Nest Wifi router is now running on software version 14150.883.231, and the Nest Wifi point is on version 1.56.3.497142 — the latter doubling as a Google Home speaker.

This is the first software update for the Google Nest Wifi point since May 2025, while the Next Wifi router’s most recent update was released all the way back in October 2024, meaning its April 2026 update marks exactly a year and a half since the last one.

Back in March, Google rolled out a new update to the Nest Wifi Pro to improve stability, security, and mesh performance, but this arrived before the FCC announced the ban on "consumer-grade routers" that are "produced in foreign countries", as per its ruling.

While the ban hasn’t come into effect yet, it could present quite a big problem for consumers, as a large majority of Wifi routers are made outside of the US, even ones by American tech giants like Google. Eventually, this will make purchasing US-manufactured Wifi routers even more difficult for two reasons: the first being that not a lot of routers on the market are made in the US anyway, and the second being the increasing user demand, which would ultimately put more pressure on companies to churn out new models to keep up.

However, as it stands, the Google Nest Wifi router is still safe to purchase and use now, while the ban is still up in the air. As far as the best Wifi routers are concerned, the Nest Wifi router doesn’t rank among them, but having said that, every single one of our favorites is made outside of the US.

Taking the top spot is the TP-Link Deco BE63, a solid performer with free content filters for parents, while the Asus ROG Rapture GT-BE98 is still our best premium option due to its high-speed wired connections, making it perfect for gaming enthusiasts. Even the Netgear Orbi 373 is a reliable budget-friendly option that’s easy to set up, but though Netgear is an American company, its products are produced overseas.

• Ubiquiti has added a 'memory surcharge' to its products at checkout
• This varies, and can be up to 5.8% of the cost of any product
• Some folks aren't happy with the price hikes, but others appreciate the company trying to be transparent

Ubiquiti has added a 'memory surcharge' to the products it sells. It's an additional tax that's being levied because of the high pricing of RAM and storage, and which is shown at checkout — and the move has been causing quite a stir one way or another.

Ubiquiti is a supplier of networking and Wi-Fi gear, as well as other tech, such as security cameras and video doorbells — mainly to enterprises, but also to consumers — and Tom's Hardware noticed the appearance of the memory surcharge.

The amount added is up to 5.8% of the cost of any product, and the exact charge varies based on the item being purchased.

Ubiquiti provides an explainer in the shopping cart which notes: "Due to ongoing volatility in global memory and storage markets, we are applying a surcharge to the price of selected products, effective April 24, 2026. We continue to absorb a portion of these costs to minimize impact and ensure consistent availability."

Analysis: a sneaky trick — or a move towards transparency?

For some low-cost products, this amounts to just an extra couple of dollars (or the regional equivalent), and no one's going to bat an eyelid at that kind of rise. However, for more expensive hardware, even a hike of a few percent can come out at a substantial premium.

Some buyers discovering the surcharge for the first time aren't at all happy. One Redditor complains: "Just added some parts to my cart and saw a surprise €65 'Memory Surcharge.' They claim it's due to 'market volatility' in memory and storage. Is this becoming a new trend? It feels like a sneaky way to hike prices right at checkout."

Another Ubiquiti customer on Reddit observes: "I have been building this network for my home and keep going back and forth on a few items. This [memory surcharge] just went into effect today… $56 in total added."

Granted, that's added to a total bill of approximately $700, but it's still quite a sting in the tail, and one that's left this particular person wishing they'd acted sooner.

However, in that second Reddit thread, some voices are raised in favor of Ubiquiti. Of course, no one is pleased to see prices going up, but some acknowledge that at least the company is being transparent here.

In other words, Ubiquiti could have just jacked up the asking prices on its online store by identical amounts and left it at that — and the odds are that in the case of many purchases, no one would even have noticed.

At least this way Ubiquiti is making it clear there's been a hike, and letting the buyer know why. Also, the hope is that once RAM prices settle down more, the surcharge can be removed. The danger with stealthy, hidden price hikes is that they never return to the previous level.

As this Redditor puts it: "I think this is Ubiquiti's attempt at saying they would rather not raise the price but due to circumstances out of their control (tariffs and AI memory demand) they have to. Since they are making it a surcharge, I am VERY mildly hopeful that if memory prices fall, or the US actually follows through on reimbursing tariffs, the surcharges will be dropped. For now, it's dreadful, but I get it."

Someone else adds: "Yea, I honestly prefer this over raising pricing and never coming down again."

These are fair points, the only trouble being that in the case of the current RAM crisis, the end is nowhere in sight. Indeed, depending on who you listen to, an easing of memory pricing isn't going to happen until 2028, or maybe not until the decade is out.

Still, the point about transparency and openness stands, but equally there are some disgruntled customers who may be emptying their checkout cart and looking elsewhere. Although naturally, other retailers and manufacturers are all facing the same pricing pressures due to the situation with the RAM crisis, anyway.

With Ubiquiti having taken this course, it'll be interesting to see if any other hardware vendors follow suit. But RAM-related price hikes are already being applied to many pieces of tech, rest assured, whether you can see them or not. Meanwhile, CPUs are the latest PC components that are rumored to be set for substantial price rises, as the gloomy news keeps on coming.

• Fakes are now reaching a very high standard
• An Asus ROG Strix RTX 4090 proved to be indistinguishable from a genuine Nvidia GPU on first inspection by a repair expert
• There's a worrying level of sophistication here, and we've also seen this in recent times with fake SSDs

A fake Asus ROG Strix RTX 4090 is an example of just how authentic scam hardware can seem, and it's a worrying reminder given that this kind of fraud is very much on the rise of late.

VideoCardz reports that Northwest Repair (a Kentucky-based repair shop in the US) highlighted the incident with a YouTube video (which you can see below).

As Northwest Repair (NR) points out, the color of the board didn't look at all faked, and overall, it appeared to be a factory-made, genuine Nvidia graphics card. Typical clues like missing thermal compound around the corners of the GPU chip — which would indicate the chip had been removed (and then switched out) — were not present.

On first inspection, the only discernible clue was the thermal compound being somewhat darker than normal (or more "baked"), which NR picked up on, but noted that this could be due to the RTX 4090 being used for some serious overclocking, perhaps — it's not necessarily a telltale sign of a fake.

Even the laser-engraving of the model number on the chip looked authentic, and the same was true for the video memory.

In short, this was a carefully crafted fake GPU which, as NR makes clear, is made to a standard that the repair expert hasn't witnessed before. "This is the best scam I've ever seen," he observed, noting, "We've reached a point where the scam has gotten so good that even the trained eye cannot detect it."

Only examining the board under a microscope, in fine detail, revealed the small clues (related to soldering mostly) that gave away that this was a fake.

Analysis: a reminder that we need to be ever more vigilant

The advice NR gives is clear: don't buy an expensive flagship GPU second-hand, as these days, there's too much of a risk that someone could be trying to con you out of a lot of money. The only exception is if you're buying the graphics card from a friend you can trust.

Fakes also cast doubt on the practice of buying 'open box' returns, because the buyer who returned that hardware could have switched it out for a fake — one that stands up to inspection (but not to testing, though the retailer won't necessarily check that).

The sad reality of inflated prices for all PC components is that we're seeing a rise in hardware scams targeting this market. That includes graphics card scams, and incidents where a third-party marketplace seller doesn't even bother to include a fake GPU, but just a weighty 'dummy' item instead (a packet of laundry detergent, for example, or more commonly a rock or lump of metal).

What you should be careful of most right now, though, is scams relating to RAM and SSDs, where prices have spiked to ridiculous levels, tempting fraudsters to try their hand more with these components. As well as this highly sophisticated fake of an RTX 4090, we've seen some very convincing counterfeit SSDs of late — here's what you need to know in terms of watching out for them.

The level of scamming that's been seen this year has even prompted action from RAM manufacturers — Corsair has introduced new packaging in an attempt to make life more difficult for criminals who are trying to rip off consumers.

• Intel just had an impressive Q1 fiscal, beating expectations for revenue by some way
• This is reportedly in part due to 'turning what may have been scrap or low-expectation output into revenue', according to an analyst firm
• This essentially means repurposing silicon that hasn't made the grade for its intended usage, but isn't a reflection on CPU quality, it should be noted

Intel has reportedly been able to boost its revenue by selling CPU chips that would in the past have effectively ended up on the scrapheap.

Tom's Hardware spotted a post on X from the CEO of analyst firm Creative Strategies, Ben Bajarin, who claims to have got feedback from Intel's investor relations as to where some of Team Blue's additional profits have come from (in its Q1 earnings, which were just reported).

Add your own sprinkling of salt, but Bajarin says: "Intel got an unexpected margin lift from better yield salvage. Chips that would normally have been lower-value edge-die on the wafer were binned down and still sold into usable SKUs, turning what may have been scrap or low-expectation output into incremental revenue."

Multiple chips are cut from a single wafer, but not every chip is up to par for its intended usage, and so some — particularly those cut from near the edge of the wafer, as noted — are either downgraded for use as a lower-tier CPU (where faulty cores are simply disabled), or they're just thrown away (well, recycled to other ends).

That's a boiled-down, basic view of what happens, but you get the point, and seemingly part of Intel's big jump in revenue for this quarter was down to being able to sell chips that'd normally have been 'scrap' to its customers.

As Bajarin further observed: "Customers didn't care, just said I'll take it all. That's the demand environment we are in for CPUs."

It's interesting to note that Bajarin is bullish on Intel's CPU manufacturing capabilities, to the point where in another post, he envisions that before long, AMD might be having some of its processors made at Intel Foundry (to make up for what it can't get produced at TSMC, which is struggling to cope with demand).

Analysis: bad omens?

There are some important points to note here. First, we don't know for sure that this is happening; we only have one analyst's word for it. Although it does throw some light on how Intel pulled a good deal more money into its coffers for Q1 than those in the financial know had forecast (revenue beat expectations by 10%, in fact).

The other thing to make crystal clear is that these 'subpar' chips are not somehow dodgy, meaning that you're not running a risk buying such an Intel CPU. It's a common industry practice to use chips that don't make the grade for their intended product, as noted, in a lesser product.

A chip that's failed to make the cut for a Core Ultra 9, say, can be repurposed as a Core Ultra 7, with the defective cores simply disabled (as they aren't needed for the core count of the latter). This doesn't make such a chip any different from another Core Ultra 7, or those which were made to be Core Ultra 7 models — they all have the exact same number of functional cores, with no greater chance of anything being awry. Failed Core Ultra 7 models might then become Core Ultra 5, and so on.

All of which is to say you don't need to worry about anything relating to chip quality here. All that's happening is that Intel's making more money from chips that wouldn't normally be sold, as hardware makers are buying these CPUs because there's such a demand for silicon right now, that supply is looking dicier.

Sound familiar? Yes, this may remind you of the scarce supply of memory chips — affecting RAM and storage — and as predicted, the same woes are now being visited on processors. With more and more data centers getting built to service AI demand, the servers in those behemoth buildings don't just need RAM and SSDs, they're also powered by processors, of course.

Now, here's the gloomy bit. Remember early in the RAM crisis, when prices started to spike? And further recall that they then shot up at an unfathomably fast rate. Well, we could see an acceleration of processor prices, too. Indeed, a recent report already observed some major price rises in AMD CPUs in Japan, which comes on top of other rumors of both server and consumer-targeted processors getting pricier.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this will have the same upwards trajectory as with memory pricing, but nonetheless, this rumor is a further sign that yet another PC component, and a key one, could get a good deal more expensive as 2026 progresses.

• Reuters has leaked details of SpaceX's plans ahead of its IPO
• They include "manufacturing our own GPUs"
• Whether that means chips in the current line of Tesla AI processors, or a new category of GPU or AI accelerator is unclear

SpaceX is apparently set to make its own GPUs, based on insights gleaned from its S-1 form ahead of the company's IPO, although these won't be products you'll be installing in your PC.

Tom's Hardware picked up the report by Reuters, with the news site claiming to have seen the S-1 form, which is filed by companies going public. SpaceX is expected to be worth in excess of $1 trillion – and probably closer to $2 trillion – when its shares are available on the stock market (next month, in theory).

Part of the form explains major spending plans to develop AI, which includes a mention of "manufacturing our own GPUs" in the listed 'substantial' capital expenditures.

As noted, these wouldn't be a rival for the likes of Nvidia's GeForce GPUs, but rather graphics boards built for AI tasks, commonly known as AI accelerators.

Nvidia makes those solutions, as well, of course – as does AMD – but SpaceX would seemingly rather have its own homegrown AI accelerators, because as noted in the S-1 filing, it does not have "long-term contracts ​with many of our direct chip ​suppliers". And clearly, that's going to be problematic given the current RAM crisis and its knock-on effects.

What isn't clear is whether SpaceX's mention of 'GPUs' in the filing could more broadly refer to Tesla's AI processors, which are currently on the AI4 generation, with the next-gen AI5 set to provide a big leap in performance (of a factor of 40x, it's claimed). It's possible that the company may be referring to this series of AI chips, rather than an entirely separate line of GPUs for AI tasks.

When it comes to making these chips, presumably the 'Terafab' project – a huge chip manufacturing center in Texas which involves SpaceX, xAI and Tesla – is going to be involved, even though GPUs haven't been mentioned directly in connection with this facility.

Analysis: AI5 or something else entirely, it won't be in your PC

At least to me, this does read more like a play for a new product, as opposed to a mention of existing AI chips and calling them 'GPUs' informally. That said, looking at the bigger picture, as Tom's points out, Elon Musk has referred to Tesla's AI5 chips as GPUs, and even noted that it "basically is a GPU" – and so you can see where the confusion comes in. All this could simply boil down to a liberal use of the term GPU, and mean precisely nothing.

At any rate, for the average consumer, the point to bear in mind is that whatever SpaceX is up to on the GPU front, if anything, it won't be relevant to the everyday computer user. This is all about silicon designed to drive AI performance specifically, and whether it's technically an AI chip in the existing line, or something different in terms of a new GPU accelerator designed for AI tasks, is all semantics – it won't be a graphics card as such (as in one designed to process 3D graphics).

Any confusion aside, the overall aim for Musk is clear enough, and that's to ensure AI chip supply by producing them himself, given the mentioned lack of 'long-term contracts' with chip makers.

How comforting this leak will be to would-be investors in SpaceX remains to be seen, but Musk appears to have some grand plans here, and not for the first time.

• Samsung and Kingston are increasing SSD prices according to a report from China
• We're told there will be a 'price increase of at least 10% for solid-state drives'
• On top of that, AMD Ryzen CPUs have seemingly leapt in price in Japan

SSD prices are reportedly set for another increase, and we're hearing news about CPUs getting hiked, too.

Wccftech spotted a report from Chinese tech site IT Home claiming that Samsung and Kingston have "both notified their distribution channels of a price increase of at least 10% for solid-state drives".

This comes from a source in the supply chain, we're told, and seemingly Samsung has notified three major domestic distributors of this price increase which comes into effect now.

As Wccftech makes clear, we've already seen price hikes on high-end SSDs from Samsung and Western Digital earlier this month, applied as stealth increases that amount to a doubling in cost for some models (the really big drives).

Wccftech also flagged up major price rises for AMD Ryzen processors in the Japanese market, as claimed in a report from PC Watch.

The current-gen Zen 5 lineup has been hit with around 40%-50% price hikes in some cases, with the biggest increases hitting the Ryzen 7 9700X (which is up 57%) and Ryzen 9 9900X (up 37%).

A bunch of Ryzen 9000 models have had around 20% increases applied in Japan, including the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is a popular choice for PC gamers (and is up 22%).

These price rises extend to older AMD processors as well, with some Ryzen 7000 models going up in a major way, led by the 7800X3D — the predecessor of the 9800X3D — being subject to a 41% hike.

Analysis: a broader sign of things to come

Those are really nasty CPU price increases, make no mistake, but it's not surprising that processors are getting more expensive. This has been happening for a little while now, although the increases have been relatively timid compared to RAM and storage.

However, this is the first time truly worrying rises have been seen with CPUs, and although it's limited to the Japanese market, there's a chance we'll see a similar trajectory with pricing elsewhere. Put it this way: I wouldn't bet against this being a broader sign of bad things to come, although it could still prove to be a more localized problem for Japanese retailers.

As for SSDs, assuming the source from the supply chain is correct — and we should appropriately season all these reports, of course — it's likely that SSDs will continue to get more expensive across the globe, not just in Asia. This is backed up by a recent forecast from analyst firm TrendForce, which believes that NAND flash storage could see a price surge of around 75% quarter-on-quarter.

The outlook for SSD pricing is suitably bleak, there's no getting around that, and the same goes for RAM, with TrendForce predicting around 60% rises there.

• ASRock has revealed a new trick to beat high RAM prices
• HUDIMM DDR5 RAM modules are considerably more affordable
• They cut back on performance, however, so it's a trade-off here

There's a new type of DDR5 RAM in town, and it's cheaper, but before you start rejoicing that all your memory-related prayers have been answered, bear in mind that there are weighty caveats attached here.

Tom's Hardware noticed the announcement from ASRock about its new HUDIMM DDR5 RAM module for motherboards with Intel chipsets. In a nutshell, these are designed to be a good deal more affordable, but to achieve that, performance is dropped considerably.

A standard stick of DDR5 (UDIMM) uses a two-subchannel architecture (2 x 32-bit), but with HUDIMM (the 'HU' stands for Half Unbuffered), you get a single 32-bit subchannel instead.

That sounds very technical, but what's happening is simple enough — the bandwidth and density of the RAM stick is effectively halved. And sticks that need fewer memory modules can, of course, be made a good deal more cheaply, because you're only buying half the chips to produce them.

As the company observed on X: "ASRock's HUDIMM architecture reduces chip count and cost, enabling more affordable and flexible system builds for users and system integrators worldwide."

Intel's Robert Hallock, VP and GM for its Enthusiast Channel Segment group, commented: "Innovations like ASRock's One sub-channel DRAM technology are crucial to ensuring desktop computing remains accessible despite the rising demand and costs for DDR5 memory.

"Intel's grateful for ASRock's support in bringing this to market for our 600/700/800-series chipsets, ensuring Intel users have more access to the benefits of DDR5 memory in the years ahead."

So, as noted, these new RAM offerings are compatible with ASRock's Intel 600, 700, and 800-series motherboards.

ASRock has hooked up with TeamGroup to produce these HUDIMM sticks, and needless to say, they'll be entry-level offerings. This RAM will also be manufactured for laptops, too, in the form of HSODIMMs.

Asus is reportedly looking into this type of memory, too, as per leaks on X, so we could see a broader shift towards HUDIMMs as the year progresses.

Analysis: sign of the RAM times

The catch is that the cutbacks made to this RAM mean that performance is going to be a lot slower. Is that a compromise you want to make? Perhaps it is, given the cost of DDR5 RAM right now, which has reached extortionate levels, frankly.

The twist is that ASRock's new way of working here can run alongside standard DDR5 RAM, which remains compatible in these motherboards. HUDIMM offers asymmetrical dual-channel support at the BIOS level, so you should be okay to put a HUDIMM next to a standard UDIMM, and they'll work fine in dual-channel mode (with 3 x 32-bit subchannels active — one from the HUDIMM, and a pair from the UDIMM).

If you had an 8GB HUDIMM stick alongside a 16GB UDIMM, this would, in theory, be a faster implementation than a single 24GB UDIMM stick. So you could, say, start with just an 8GB HUDIMM (or 16GB), and then expand with a UDIMM later (when pricing drops back down to a more reasonable level).

As Tom's points out, though, ASRock's marketing indicates a not inconsiderable 90ns latency with this RAM standard, and the proof will be in the pudding of how these sorts of theorized combos work out.

Meanwhile, HUDIMMs certainly represent one shortcut to lower DDR5 RAM pricing, but the compromise in terms of performance (away from mix-and-match scenarios) is going to be a heavy price in itself. Still, this may be an option some people wish to exercise, and I can't say I blame them, looking at what retailers are asking for run-of-the-mill DDR5 these days.

What this also serves as is a reminder of just how bad the RAM crisis has got, and the fact that hardware makers are looking at longer-term solutions such as this scheme isn't much comfort as to the prospective duration of this whole affair.

• More fake Samsung SSDs have been uncovered, and the drive maker has said it's 'taking consistent action against such counterfeits'
• At the same time, CPU sales are seemingly in a major slump, the worst seen in a decade, we're told
• With the PC component crisis just getting more intense, there is hope for some relief later this year – but the way it'll be realized isn't very comforting

As the PC component crisis intensifies, with CPU sales now apparently in a serious slump, we've had another warning about fake Samsung SSDs as scammers try to capitalize on expensive higher-end drives.

First off, let's look at the SSD nastiness, with German tech site ComputerBase reporting (via VideoCardz) that an Austrian buyer had the misfortune to receive two Samsung 990 Pro SSDs from a retailer that have both been confirmed to be fakes.

While the packaging of the 1TB drives looked authentic enough, and didn't ring any alarm bells, inspection of the SSDs did, as they had a blue circuit board (rather than the black color Samsung uses). They also used the wrong SSD controller (a Realtek model rather than a Pascal controller).

The real sign that something was very wrong, though, was the fact that these solid-state drives didn't work at all. (Unlike better fakes, which work, and can even appear to be the correct model when installed in a PC if you don't engage in anything other than a cursory inspection).

When Samsung was told about this incident by ComputerBase, the company provided a statement that read: "Samsung takes such reports about counterfeit memory products very seriously. We are taking consistent action against the distribution of such counterfeits.

"We recommend purchasing Samsung storage media exclusively through the Samsung Online Shop or authorized retailers. Consumers can also use the Samsung Magician software to verify that their product is genuine."

With the price of CPUs creeping up, maybe we'll also need to be wary of an uptick in processor fakes (such as the counterfeit Ryzen 9800X3D chips we've seen palmed off on unsuspecting consumers in the past).

More broadly, is it the case that pricier processors, and the squeeze from the memory crisis in general, are killing sales of desktop silicon? Apparently, this is indeed happening, as mentioned at the outset.

PC Gamer reports that TechEpiphany, who regularly posts figures from major German retailer Mindfactory, shared some recent data on X showing that processor sales have fallen sharply in the last three weeks (after being in something of a slump across the whole of March). It's mainly AMD Ryzen sales that have dropped actually – though that's partly a function of Intel sales numbers already being a great deal less at the start of 2026 – and it's an eye-opening slump.

Based on that data, and other sales figures drawn from the likes of Amazon, TechEpiphany posted on X that: "In 10 years of tracking retail CPU (and related) sales, I have never seen such a steep decline."

Analysis: an 11.5-level crisis

Saying that this is the single biggest slump which TechEpiphany has witnessed in the last decade is quite a statement regarding CPU sales. When asked 'on a scale of 1-10, how done are we?' in a follow-up post on X, TechEpiphany replied that we're at '11.5' currently.

Are processor prices really rising that steeply? Well, following rumors of major price increases late last year, they are going up, certainly, as there's a CPU shortage which is getting more serious.

However, this isn't just about processors in a bubble, but the entire custom PC market. With the prices of all components going up, and particularly RAM along with storage, building a computer from scratch – or looking at a substantial upgrade to a new motherboard platform for an existing system – has become a ridiculously pricey affair.

So, people just aren't doing that, and this is going to depress CPU sales, and indeed all components – not just the memory side of the equation, where the price hikes have been truly astronomical.

Counterfeit products being increasingly wheeled out as scammers try to profiteer from these high prices isn't going to help the situation, either. It's not great news that fake Samsung SSDs have now reached Europe, after an increase in Japan was already observed – though at least this latest bout of fakery wasn't as sophisticated as previously seen.

There's one hope here, namely that these stupidly high prices – and the PC market in general getting out of hand – is indeed resulting in a refusal to buy from consumers (as apparently seen with CPUs, but also RAM recently, too). That in itself could rebalance the supply and demand seesaw to some extent, and lead to prices falling. And as PC Gamer also spotted, MediaTek is tentatively predicting a more optimistic pricing trajectory for RAM in the second half of 2026 based on this kind of theorizing.

MediaTek's SVP and head of global sales, Eric Fischer, recently told analyst firm Counterpoint: "We're super cautious, maybe cautiously optimistic about the second half [of 2026], about where it goes because, at some point the prices are going to have an impact on the consumer's ability to spend – whether it's notebooks or [other] consumer products."

This is a sentiment we've heard elsewhere, but it isn't really all that comforting that the best hope for the RAM crisis to slacken its grip on our wallets is that pricing simply gets so high that people point-blank refuse to spend. But, here we are, and this is seemingly what it's come to...

• Asus has announced the ROG Equalizer 12V-2x6 power cable
• The cable aims to solve melting issues with high-powered GPUs like the RTX 5090
• It's compatible with all PCIe 5.0 power supplies from other manufacturers

It's no secret that high-powered GPUs, notably Nvidia's RTX 5090, are still suffering from reports of connector melting issues, even with upgraded cables that have improved power connectors — but fortunately, Asus has seemingly introduced a solution.

As reported by TweakTown, Asus has announced the ROG Equalizer, a 12V-2x6 power cable for GPUs utilizing up to 600W, one that's designed to further help protect them from melting issues.

Of course, as a rule, RTX 5090s using 12VHPWR and 12V-2x6 cables aren't experiencing melting issues, but there have been enough cases to cause concern for consumers. Both cables are effectively the same, and the only major difference for the revamped 12V-2x6 design is that it has shorter sensing pins and longer power pins, which help to ensure the cable is properly seated. It's a poor connection which theoretically causes the melting problem.

That's why Asus has opted for a 12V-2x6 power connector, but with a tweaked design that has been specifically refined for a bigger load capacity within each wire, now at 17 amps (it's usually 9.2 amps with regular 12V-2x6 cables). These are also 'premium etched cables' that are flexible to help with cable management.

Comment from r/pcmasterrace

Comment from r/pcmasterrace

Combined with the GPU Tweak III software and its Power Detector+ feature, the ROG Equalizer should effectively keep hardware safe from melting, or that's the theory. In an extreme test case from Asus, the company observed that even if the connector wasn't seated in the GPU correctly, the ROG Equalizer would still maintain a temperature of 73.4C.

Meanwhile, a standard 12V-2x6 cable would reach 146C in the same scenario, which is a very high temperature that would likely result in the connector melting.

It's a big claim from Asus, and if this can be reproduced in other independent tests once the ROG Equalizer is available, it may just be the perfect tool to eliminate any melting issues with RTX 5090 GPUs.

The ROG Equalizer is compatible with power supplies from "all leading manufacturers", which is a massive bonus for all PC owners who have ATX 3.1 (PCIe 5.0) power supplies. It will also come bundled with ROG Thor III and ROG Strix Platinum series power supplies, but there's currently no release date for those.

Despite the marketing pitch here, Asus has not done enough to convince some gamers, and there are those who suggest that graphics cards linked to connector problems are simply best avoided.

These connector melting issues have been problematic for years, ever since the RTX 4090's launch in 2022. If the ROG Equalizer can finally put an end to all this, it should make high-powered GPUs like the RTX 5090 more approachable — well, aside from the obvious stumbling block of the pricing, anyway.

• The spot price of a 16GB DDR4 chip has dropped by 5%
• It's the first time this price has fallen in over a year
• While that's obviously a good thing, there's a lot of storm remaining to weather with the RAM crisis yet

We've witnessed another hint that the RAM crisis is deescalating — at least a touch — along with an interesting move by the Korean government to try to protect consumers from the worst excesses of PC component price hikes.

Tom's Hardware flagged up a DigiTimes report that claims the spot price of a 16GB DDR4 chip has fallen by around 5% over the course of the last month.

That may not sound like a whole lot, but it's notable because it's the first monthly drop that's happened with DDR4 pricing in just over a year. (Although recently, some of the rises have been tiny, with pricing effectively staying flat — but we haven't seen a dip until now).

Still, don't get carried away with optimism here, because this has happened against a backdrop of a 2,200% increase in the cost of a 16GB DDR4 module over the past year.

Tom's Hardware also noticed another development in Asia, with what could be an important move for Korean consumers — with perhaps some hope that other countries might adopt similar policies.

Based on a report by The Korea Herald, the government is going to repurpose more of the PCs it took out of service last year, increasing the number of these computers which are reused and donated to various organizations. It'll also provide more PCs to vulnerable groups, we're told, and expand the scope of a subsidy scheme that provides money for low-income households buying computers for students.

All of that is designed to take some of the sting out of PCs getting a lot pricier, and there's something else which is more eye-opening, too. A further report from No Cut News talks about the Korean government's plans to "monitor the distribution and supply and demand conditions of the PC and laptop markets to prevent unfair practices."

That seemingly involves a few government bodies – including the Ministry of Trade – keeping a close watch on the PC market, as well as RAM sales, looking into what could be deemed as illegal activity. "Strict measures" are promised if those selling components or PCs are judged to be engaged in any opportunistic profiteering.

This should help to keep prices down somewhat, or that's the theory anyway, although bear in mind these aren't official announcements, but just reports in the Korean media at this stage.

Analysis: hopeful signs — but let's temper any optimism

We've recently seen reports of DDR5 pricing falling across the globe, and markedly in China, where the price of 16GB modules of the cutting-edge RAM has dropped by up to 30% (in terms of sales on e-commerce platforms in the country). Seeing DDR4 also take a tumble is welcome, of course, even if it's not nearly to the same degree.

We can be hopeful for some prices drops for DDR4 at retail, then, although that wouldn't be a surprise, really, given the wallet-wrenching peaks in pricing that this RAM and DDR5 have reached. As I observed in my previous article about DDR5 prices receding, there's a point where prices get so high that a growing number of consumers simply refuse to pay them — and when that filters through as a drop in demand, a price correction inevitable ensues.

There are other possible reasons for these falls, too, including theories that OpenAI has hugely scaled back its RAM-eating ambitions, leaving AI demand not quite as intense as it previously seemed. Furthermore, in that same vein we have Google's TurboQuant. This tech aims to reduce the memory use of AI in a big way — at least in certain respects — although I think it's a bit of a red herring, and I've got a feature ready for publishing explaining why. (Look out for that imminently).

Any relief we're seeing now is definitely welcome, but don't make the mistake of believing that we're near some sort of full-on turning point with RAM pricing. Many analyst firms are betting heavily against that, and with good reasons, plus hardware makers are singing similar tunes. Don't underestimate the challenges the tech world is facing here.

Given the gravity of these pricing problems, might we expect governments elsewhere around the world to step in like Korea seemingly has? I very much doubt we'll see grand plans to monitor the fairness of the pricing of PCs or components, which is a seriously thorny area to even consider. However, schemes to provide low-income students or families with help buying a laptop – or repurposing old PCs of the Windows 10 variety – certainly seem like avenues to explore, or expand on, which have plenty of potential.

• Someone bought an MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z, which is a $5,000 GPU
• They then practiced their soldering skills on the board, and broke the graphics card
• Why? It's surely because they wanted to implement a hardware mod that allows for an extreme BIOS to be run on the GPU

MSI's RTX 5090 Lightning Z is a rare limited-edition graphics card that costs $5,000 (or thereabouts) in the US, so what better way to practice your soldering than to test out your skills with the iron on said board?

Reckless? Well, that doesn't even begin to cover it really, but VideoCardz spotted this improbable-sounding tale of GPU foolishness, which was posted on YouTube by NorthridgeFix, a California-based hardware repair shop.

The broken card was sent into the repair outlet with an issue description which revealed the owner wanted to "learn how to solder tiny 0402 resistors" and that they were "practicing" on their pricey GPU.

"He tried to 'learn soldering' on an extremely rare MSI 5090 Lightning Z GPU of which only 1,300 units were ever made worldwide," NorthridgeFix observes in its YouTube blurb, adding: "I'm speechless."

Me too.

Predictably enough, the soldering lesson went badly wrong and ended up ripping one of the resistor pads, rendering the RTX 5090 non-functional, and requiring a delicate repair.

The repair isn't actually fully completed in the video clip, as it still needed further testing, but it seems like NorthridgeFix was successful in rescuing the expensive graphics card.

Analysis: solder to cry on

Why was the RTX 5090 owner even thinking about playing around with soldering resistors in this way with such a pricey piece of hardware? It's presumably because they were trying to get the MSI XOC ('extreme performance') BIOS to work so they could engage in some extreme overclocking.

That BIOS was seemingly limited in distribution and only given to pro overclockers, and MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z graphics cards bought at retail can't be flashed with it. However, the BIOS was leaked, and what's happened is that some folks have found a way around this restriction, with adding an extra resistor seemingly allowing the XOC BIOS to be used. And apparently this is what the owner of the GPU was trying to do.

There is a reason, of course, why MSI hasn't freely released the XOC BIOS: namely, because if it did, there'd likely be a fair few destroyed RTX 5090 GPUs (and warranty claims). Remember, this extreme take on the BIOS is designed to allow for 2500W of power, a truly ridiculous amount (intended for the likes of liquid nitrogen-driven world record overclocking attempts).

At any rate, extreme BIOS aside, and to state the obvious: if you're a newcomer to soldering, don't start your journey on any functional graphics card, let alone a cutting-edge flagship model – and a limited-edition effort at that. The mind boggles with this case, frankly.

• Crimson Desert is now playable on Intel Arc GPUs, seemingly after Intel's latest driver update
• The game previously wouldn't launch on any Intel GPU, due to Pearl Abyss omitting compatibility
• Visual glitches are evident, but an official future update from Pearl Abyss or Intel should fix them

Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert has provided a joyful experience to a variety of gamers on PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles, including those with gaming PCs powered by an Nvidia or AMD GPU. The same couldn't be said for Intel GPU users at launch, but the tide has suddenly turned.

As reported by Wccftech, Crimson Desert is now playable on Intel Arc GPUs, thanks to the latest GPU driver, noted by several users on Reddit. They're now able to boot into the game, which hasn't been possible since launch, with an error message previously stating 'the graphics device is currently not supported'.

This all comes after Pearl Abyss urged Intel Arc GPU users to request a refund for the game via its FAQ page, leaving both users and Intel itself bewildered by the decision to omit compatibility.

Well, thanks to backlash from Arc GPU users and Intel stating its "huge disappointment" at the lack of support, despite reaching out over the game's seven-year development period, Pearl Abyss recently promised future updates to provide compatibility; however, the latter is not exactly what we're seeing at this stage.

Crimson Desert screenshots after latest driver from r/IntelArc

Comment from r/IntelArc

While Crimson Desert is playable on Intel Arc GPUs, it's still far from being fully supported, as numerous screenshots (available above) show multiple visual glitches. Some of them look like they've been pulled from a book of nightmares, with the main character, Kliff, and other NPCs missing parts of their faces or bodies.

However, this should be expected, as this isn't an update from Pearl Abyss on the game's end, and Intel's driver patch notes don't reference Crimson Desert. Once updates arrive from both Pearl Abyss and Intel, performance and visual glitches should no longer be a concern.

Fortunately, the game being in a playable state is a step in the right direction, even if it wasn't intentional on Intel's end, and hopefully, we'll be able to move past the matter of full compatibility for Arc GPUs sooner rather than later.

• Asus RX 9070 XT GPUs have been hit with a sudden price hike in the US
• Framework has warned that while memory costs have stabilized in some areas, this is likely just a temporary reprieve
• The laptop maker predicts that "We'll continue to see volatility and cost increases through the rest of 2026."

There's been a fresh round of price rises for PC components, and that includes price hikes for certain Radeon GPUs, as well as more RAM and storage-related unpleasantness.

We'll start with the graphics cards. VideoCardz noticed that Asus RX 9070 XT models have become more expensive at the firm's US store.

For example, the Asus Prime 9070 XT OC was previously $799.99 and has now been jacked up to $939.99, which represents a hefty increase of 17.5%. The newer white model of this graphics card has gone up by 7% and will now set you back $959.99.

The Asus TUF overclocked take on the 9070 XT is up by 16.5%, meaning the GPU now tips the scales at $989.99, very nearly a grand.

There's been no official announcement from Asus regarding any rising prices, and these hikes have been applied overnight, worryingly.

On top of that, modular laptop and PC manufacturer Framework has announced more RAM and SSD price increases (hat tip to Tom's Hardware), albeit these are not as painful as we've previously witnessed.

The Framework Laptop has seen a price increase for the prebuilt model with 64GB of DDR5 RAM, although there is some more positive news with lower CPU pricing (this is down to its original level for some configurations).

With the Framework Desktop PC, the company notes that it has absorbed RAM cost increases save for the 128GB model, which has had a price hike.

On the storage front, it says new SSDs the company is buying have "substantially higher costs" and to begin with, this means the 4TB version of the WD SN850X is more expensive – and other drives are likely to be soon.

Framework adds: "Our advice here is still that if you need high capacity storage, you should configure a system with it now while we still have inventory at the older, lower cost basis."

Analysis: a temporary reprieve?

Despite the fact that some cost increases have been absorbed, and the latest round of hikes is relatively limited, Framework cautions against getting comfortable with any notion that things might be calming down with regard to the memory crisis. The manufacturer warns: "We have seen costs stabilize in some areas, but all indications are that this is a temporary reprieve and that we'll continue to see volatility and cost increases through the rest of 2026."

There have been glimmers of hope regarding a RAM reprieve elsewhere of late, too — albeit mainly based on the cost of memory getting so high that consumer demand is seriously flagging — but those hints have been weighed down with similar caveats.

The Asus GPU price hikes are more alarming here, though, as they represent some swiftly applied increases, pushing the Radeon 9070 XT graphics card up over the $900 mark for a basic model. That said, this isn't representative of the overall market for AMD's 9070 XT in the US, as you can still get this GPU (at the entry level) for not much more than $700 (at least for some models).

However, is this an early signal that we might see other board makers also increase their 9070 XT asking prices? Possibly — that is very much the worry here, and we shouldn't forget that a few months ago, back at the start of the year in the US, you could still get these AMD GPUs for around the $600 mark, which certainly isn't the case now.

• A new report from TrendForce gives us some optimistic nuggets of info about the RAM crisis
• It appears that retail prices are dropping in the US, Europe, and especially over in China right now
• The bigger picture hasn't changed much, though, according to memory chip makers, but we can still hope this is the start of a turnaround – at least for consumers

If you were hoping for some good news on RAM pricing, well, there are some glimmers of light on the horizon – though obviously we'd be very foolish to get carried away with any optimism.

VideoCardz spotted various positive signals that mainly come from analyst firm TrendForce, which has a new report (based off a bunch of sources) about how RAM pricing is now falling.

That includes recent observations we've already reported on, such as the German retail market seeing a drop of 7% for DDR5 RAM price tags in March (echoed elsewhere in Europe). The report notes that this is being reflected elsewhere, too, namely in the US and Chinese retail markets, where it's happening in even more pronounced fashion.

Wccftech recently flagged up that a Corsair 32GB DDR5 RAM kit had dropped in price by 20% in the US, for example, and in China, 16GB sticks of DDR5 have fallen by something like 25% to 30% since hitting peak prices in January through to February (this is on "local e-commerce platforms").

32GB kits in China have also dropped by 15% or more, we're told, and Harukaze5719 on X points to a drop of the equivalent of $15 over the past weekend, noting: "The market is in turmoil as prices have fallen sharply in just one or two days."

And on top of all that, we're told that spot prices have dropped sharply in one of Shenzhen's major electronics trading hubs, with 32GB RAM modules falling in price by as much as a third in some cases.

Part of the reason behind this happening is that consumers are looking at now sky-high RAM prices – which, despite the noted falls, are still ridiculously expensive, certainly in the US and Europe – and just refusing to buy. This is an inevitable 'softening' of demand from consumers as TrendForce puts it.

In the bigger picture in terms of tech developments, we also have Google's TurboQuant which reduces the memory demands that AI makes. And as Hardware Canucks flags up on X, Sam Altman has supposedly gone back on big RAM purchase announcements made for OpenAI previously, and that does align with the firm scaling back its ambitions on multiple fronts (recall the recent pulling of the plug on Sora, too).

Analysis: a welcome drop at retail

So, what to make of all this?

On the one hand, TrendForce notes of Bai Wenxi, Vice Chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance and Chief Economist for the China region (via Chinastarmarket.cn): "Looking further ahead, he expected the structural supply-demand imbalance to gradually ease, with DDR5 16GB module prices potentially normalizing by end-2026."

That is, presumably, referring to the Chinese market, and no other forecasts are calling that RAM pricing will stabilize this year – at all. Even the brighter predictions are saying this won't happen until 2027 at the earliest (and many reckon 2028, and others still believe that normalization won't occur until the end of the decade).

Additionally, TrendForce makes it clear that Taiwan-based memory chip makers are "broadly maintaining strict pricing discipline", so their profits are not dipping meaningfully (yet). TrendForce says: "Contract prices have so far held firm, and server-side HBM and DRAM demand has remained largely intact, with major suppliers reportedly locked into multi-year agreements with key clients."

This mainly appears to be a drop in prices at actual retail, then – although that's obviously great news for consumers, even if the big RAM hoovers out there on the commercial side aren't getting anything much of a break.

The report concludes: "On balance, the current DDR5 price correction appears to be a consumer-driven, short-term adjustment rather than a definitive signal of structural demand deterioration."

Still, I'll take that, and there's quite a little flurry of more optimistic predictions here, which are definitely welcome compared to the general highly negative vibe around memory price hikes. As ever, we need to watch the coming months, and keep our fingers crossed that retail prices keep going on this downward track.

• A Redditor reports that their RTX 5070 (which they were gifted) died
• PNY replaced the faulty graphics card with an RTX 5070 Ti
• These kinds of upgrades can happen with returns if you get very lucky, and others on Reddit have similar tales to share

If your graphics card goes kaput, that's obviously regarded as bad news — as even if it's still within warranty coverage, you must go through the hassle of returning it for a replacement — but such a failure could turn out to be a good thing.

The recent experience of a Redditor (as highlighted by VideoCardz) who had a PNY GPU go wrong makes this clear. They reportedly received an unexpected upgrade after their RTX 5070 went to silicon heaven.

The Reddit post states: "5070 died completely, PNY sent me a 5070 Ti to replace it. RMA process was fast, too. Basically, a free $400 upgrade."

The Redditor further explains: "To make things even better, it wasn't even my GPU originally. It was in my brother's work computer. But since he had already replaced it, he gave it to me and said if I wanted to deal with the potential hassle of the RMA [return merchandise authorization], I could keep it. So he basically gifted me a $500 GPU, which turned into a $1000 GPU, all for an hour's work and $30 shipping."

As another poster succinctly puts it: "Unlimited GPU upgrade glitch unlocked."

Obviously, we must add some seasoning, but as other posters indicate, this can happen, and there are other reported incidents of replacement GPUs happily turning into upgrades.

Such as Gigabyte replacing an RTX 4070 Ti with a 4070 Ti Super, or Sapphire switching out a dead RX 6650 XT for an RX 6700 (albeit that took a month and a half, according to the poster).

Analysis: winning the RMA lottery

It's a breath of fresh air to hear a positive tale around PC components these days, as with the price of RAM, storage, GPUs (and now CPUs) all increasing — by wild amounts in some cases — we're hearing a lot more about sometimes sophisticated scams trying to con people out of the large sums of money asking prices have now turned into.

Don't believe that a graphics card manufacturer would replace a broken GPU with a higher-tier model? Well, I get where your skepticism is coming from, but this can happen, and the mentioned Sapphire example above is a clue to why — mainly because the return took so long to action. In these cases, the problem is likely finding stock of the GPU in question.

It might be the case that PNY didn't have RTX 5070 inventory in the warehouse at the time, and wanted to get the return completed in good time (there was a quick turnaround on this RMA, as the Redditor noted) — so the firm sent an RTX 5070 Ti instead. Obviously, this is a good way to keep the customer happy, and it serves as a positive piece of word-of-mouth when aired on social media, as is the case here.

So, if you have to return a GPU in the future, you might just get lucky yourself. However, note that these instances of apparent on-the-spot upgrades as part of a return aren't the rule, but very much the exception. They certainly happen, though.

The one potential wrinkle in this scenario — as one poster pointed out — is that if you're already at the limit of the wattage that your power supply is capable of coping with in your current PC, a more power-hungry GPU won't work in your system. Although you could, of course, just upgrade the PSU in this case (or just sell the GPU, and buy the lesser model again, pocketing the profit).

• Sony has announced it has suspended production of CFexpress and SD memory cards
• This is a temporary measure, but it'll be the case for the 'foreseeable future' we're told
• There will still be stock of these memory cards in circulation for some time yet, as existing inventory is run down

The latest blow dealt by the memory crisis is that Sony is no longer shipping out SD and CFexpress memory cards to its partners, or supplying cards direct to consumers.

PetaPixel spotted the official announcement (via The Verge) in which Sony Japan said: "Due to the global shortage of semiconductors (memory) and other factors, it is anticipated that supply will not be able to meet demand for CFexpress memory cards and SD memory cards for the foreseeable future.

"Therefore, we have decided to temporarily suspend the acceptance of orders from our authorized dealers and from customers at the Sony Store from March 27, 2026, onwards."

We don't know how long this will go on for, with Sony stating that it intends to monitor supply levels and when things improve, it'll announce the resumption of production.

As PetaPixel makes clear, this affects all but a few models of these memory cards. Sony's CFexpress Type B 960GB card remains in production (it'll set you back a grand, in case you weren't aware, as these are pro-targeted), and also the lowest-end SF-UZ series SD cards (which are largely discontinued in the US anyway, it should be noted).

Analysis: time to panic?

Does this mean that photographers won't be able to buy a Sony memory card now? No, this represents the shutting down of production (for now). There's still stock which is being shipped out from Sony and in the supply chain, in transit or warehouses, as well as the products that are currently on shelves.

As ever, when this kind of move happens, it'll take some time before all this inventory runs out. But when it does run dry, then you won't be able to purchase these SD or CFexpress cards.

And with that knowledge now public, there may be more urgency for some folks to purchase (especially with more popular products) — even though prices have spiked considerably already. We've witnessed high-end SD cards shooting up massively in price, or going out of stock, and sadly, it looks like the road will only become rockier from here.

• A fake Samsung 990 Pro SSD was found to be very convincing
• It looked authentic, reported the correct capacity, and even worked like a real 990 Pro in some benchmarks
• However, a full suite of testing revealed the weakness in the drive — and there are steps you can take to protect yourself

Fake SSDs and RAM scams are becoming more commonplace now that these products have gotten so expensive, but often such knock-offs are easy to spot — although that's not the case with the latest imitation Samsung drive.

There are no clearly inauthentic packaging or product labels, or other obvious giveaways here, and as Japanese tech site Akiba PC Hotline discovered (via Tom's Hardware), you might not even realize this Samsung 990 Pro SSD was a fake clone at all. As Akiba puts it: "More sophisticated counterfeit SSDs have appeared," while warning that these fakes, which are "harder to distinguish from genuine ones, are now flooding the market" (bear in mind this is a translation).

Granted, there are clues for the tech-savvy Sherlocks out there to pick up, such as the wrong model of SSD controller on the drive (a Maxio MAP1602, rather than the Pascal controller it should be).

There are plenty of folks who wouldn't think to check that kind of detail, though, and overall, this forgery of a drive fully looked the part, plus it reported the correct capacity when installed.

It could even keep up the act through some benchmarks, and as Akiba found, some basic tests showed performance very close to what you'd expect to see with the Samsung 990 Pro. It was close enough that you wouldn't question the drive on that basis, whereas many fake SSDs would be completely off the pace with any such testing (and may not even report the correct capacity).

However, with sustained testing, Akiba found that large file writing operations (copying a big video onto the drive) saw the fake SSD fall way behind its expected performance (once it had run out of cache). In these scenarios, it was running at about a fifteenth of the speed it should have been, and given that, it's clear that something is very wrong.

Analysis: be careful where you buy – and call in the 'Magician' (or similar)

While some folks might feel that this drive isn't that difficult to spot as a fake, everything is relative here. And because it appears to be a genuine Samsung 990 Pro in terms of the packaging and drive labelling, and reports the correct size in Windows — and even passes muster in quick tests with, say, CrystalDiskMark — the reality is that this is going to fool many people. Maybe not really techie folks, as noted, but it's a convincing enough scam that it's far more dangerous than the typical efforts we've seen in the past.

The likely scenario with this drive is that the scammers have used cheap QLC instead of Samsung's TLC flash memory that should be in the 990 Pro, and this is how they're carving out a profit (and where the performance falls down in sustained workloads). Given that the Samsung 990 Pro now costs around $250 in the US even in its smallest capacity of 1TB, there's clearly money to be made — and large drives are now ridiculously expensive (for the 4TB model, you're looking at a grand, no less, these days).

So, how can you be more vigilant and avoid a scam like this? For starters, don't buy from third-party marketplace sellers, because if something is suspicious about the SSD you've purchased, you'll want to be dealing with a reputable retailer (and not, potentially, the architect of the scam itself).

Aside from that, if you buy a new SSD, make sure that you benchmark it thoroughly to put the drive through its paces and spot any potential weak points, such as the QLC switch-out seen here. Alternatively, with a Samsung drive, you can use the Samsung Magician software to check if the SSD is an authentic product — there's no pulling the wool over the eyes of this app, as you might imagine.

Other drive makers offer similar tools — or verification methods on their websites — that you can use to ensure the authenticity of a purchased product. Contact the drive maker's customer support if you're unsure about how to check up on what you've bought, and you'll doubtless be pointed in the right direction.

• We've heard about another bargain GPU in the Walmart clearance aisle
• Someone bought an RTX 5060 Ti 8GB for just $80
• That takes the cake for a low-priced GPU, and it's about 20% of the asking price that this graphics card would typically sell for

The run of lucky PC owners in the US scoring massive discounts on graphics cards (or other components, for example SSDs) in the Walmart clearance aisle continues — and this time somebody managed to buy a new Nvidia Blackwell GPU for $80.

Once again, this eye-opening bargain was highlighted on Reddit (as VideoCardz noticed), with the person in question getting an MSI Ventus 2X variant of the RTX 5060 Ti (8GB) for $80.

The Redditor observes: "Went to my local Walmart and found this in the cabinet. It seemed too good to be true, but it rang up for the stickered price." They added that they're upgrading from a GTX 1060, so the new GPU will be quite the step up.

Of course, you shouldn't be able to get any RTX 5000 GPU for that little cash, and this is way below the typical selling price, which is around $360 at Walmart currently. An asking price of $80 is 20% of the cost of many RTX 5060 Ti models, in fact.

How come the GPU is so very cheap? One theory aired on Reddit is that this graphics card is currently getting $80 knocked off at other stores, so an employee at this particular Walmart accidentally priced the product down at that level instead of applying it as a reduction.

Analysis: a quick clearance check could pay off handsomely

Does this sound unlikely? Well, it does somewhat, and obviously we must add some seasoning with this tale, as with all these affairs — fakery does happen. That said, we've seen quite a few stories of huge bargains among Walmart's clearance discounts in recent times — although 80% off is admittedly a new high.

Not every Walmart store sells graphics cards in standalone form, but if you're in the US and your local store does, it's seemingly worth taking a detour to the clearance section every time you to pop in for a quick check on what bargains might be on offer there. The same may hold true for big bricks-and-mortar retailers in other countries, too.

There have been some bargain buys on Nvidia RTX 5070 and 5080 GPUs in Walmart of late (and RTX 5090 models too — though even with a heavy discount, the flagship is still a pricey proposition, of course).

All of this is a refreshing contrast to a world in which GPU prices are heading upwards, and scams are rife (including a new twist on the rock-in-a-box graphics card swindle — with an RTX 5090 buyer ending up with a pack of laundry detergent, bizarrely).

• Processors could be in line for major price hikes
• Rumor has it that Intel and AMD are increasing CPU prices due to a supply shortage, and this could end up as serious as the situation with RAM
• Storage prices are also heading up sharply, and device makers are having to rethink plans — with a handheld even getting canned this week due to pricing difficulties

If you've not heard enough about supply woes and price hikes for various PC components, here's another bit of bad news: CPUs are now apparently in the firing line.

PC Gamer flagged a report from Nikkei Asia, which observes that the market for processors is suffering "an average price hike of between 10% to 15%", which has hit both server and PC CPUs. This information has been provided by multiple sources, we're told, all singing the same unwelcome tune.

Nikkei Asia also claims that according to these sources: "Intel and AMD have recently told clients they will increase prices for all series of CPUs from March and April, respectively."

The lead time taken to ship processors that have been ordered is increasing, too, and by a large margin. Wait times have increased from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, or indeed more.

One of the sources is an executive at a gaming PC manufacturer who says that the supply of CPUs is expected to become thinner on the ground in the second quarter of 2026. That exec said: "Intel and AMD have prioritized capacity for server CPUs, and the supply for PCs has become less ... What PC players can get in Q2 is much less than the volume we got in Q1."

They added, "What we worry about is that even if we pay more, we still cannot get more. The CPU shortage is getting more serious day by day, no less than the memory chip situation."

Analysis: AI crushes the hopes of consumers once again

If you wanted a worrying statement about the situation with CPUs, I don't think you could get a more ominous utterance than the last sentence above. If we're going to start thinking about comparing processor supply levels to what's happened with memory chips, then that's the start of a very dark path that CPUs could be about to head down. Indeed, seemingly this is already happening, and the article is citing multiple sources to this effect.

As you might guess, this is all about the AI boom. It's driving a huge need for computing power, and that isn't just about memory and storage for servers, but also processors. Meaning the drive for profits is leading to CPU makers prioritizing data center sales over consumers, just as with memory, because these are business decisions after all, and you go where you can make the most money.

Unfortunately, the storage crisis is getting worse, too. This week, we've had news of the price of a 1TB external SSD from SanDisk tripling on the Apple store (via Gizmodo). And a high-end handheld has been effectively cancelled, with Ayaneo shutting down pre-orders of its Next 2 portable gaming device, as Kotaku reports. Thanks to the spiralling costs of storage and RAM, the Next 2 would've ended up costing some $4,000, which clearly isn't tenable. (Maybe the top-end Strix Halo Ryzen CPU was a factor here, too).

Meanwhile, Asus has just treated us to a forecast of 25% to 30% price rises for its PCs in Taiwan over the next quarter, and that reality will surely be reflected globally to a large extent.

It's a bleak picture that appears to be worsening. And it's also very odd that Intel has just revealed a couple of very wallet-friendly consumer CPUs with its refresh of Arrow Lake. How those low prices will work in this climate remains to be seen, although of course, so do the stock levels of said processors – they may only be produced in small quantities.

The advice for those thinking of buying a new CPU for their PC would be to do so now, or in the near future, much as is the case for those mulling a laptop purchase.

• The buyer of an RTX 5090 in India got a nasty surprise
• They paid over $3,000 for a GPU box that contained laundry detergent
• This was from a third-party seller on Amazon, and it's a timely reminder to avoid the temptation to buy expensive goods from such sources

Someone who reportedly bought an RTX 5090 GPU from Amazon in India found a pack of laundry detergent inside the box instead of the flagship graphics card, serving as a clear warning about trusting third-party marketplace sellers.

VideoCardz spotted this tale of woe on Reddit, and of course, as with all such reports, we have to take it with some seasoning – though it appears to be authentic (it's a very detailed fabrication if it's made up).

The Redditor explains how they purchased a Gigabyte RTX 5090 on Amazon in India from a third-party seller, via an order that was 'fulfilled by Amazon', a GPU that cost around $3,200 in the local currency.

As you can see from the photo provided on Reddit (check it out below), what was actually in the battered box of the graphics card was a 1kg packet of Ghadi detergent.

The buyer has an unboxing video — though unfortunately for them, it's not continuously shot, and has been the cause of some skepticism from other Redditors — but it's clear the weight of the package (at 1.56kg on the official shipping label) is way too light for a boxed RTX 5090.

Hopefully, the latter point will prove key to getting a refund processed, but at the moment we're told Amazon has refused to issue a refund.

Seemingly this person is not the only one to have been sent laundry detergent in place of an expensive graphics card, as they have uncovered other similar complaints about the same third-party seller.

Analysis: scammers are more active in these days of pricey GPUs

Regardless of whether this is true (and as noted, that seems to be the case, although of course we can't know for sure), it serves as a timely reminder that, as GPU prices spiral, don't be tempted by deals from obscure third-party marketplace sellers on Amazon or any other retailer for that matter.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. And it just isn't worth the risk of spending thousands on a pretend product, whether that's a box with a rock or a lump of metal in it (as we've seen in the past with GPUs), or detergent (a new spin on this kind of scam). You're simply flirting with the possibility of getting burned.

Taking a punt on a cheap product isn't such a big deal, of course, but I really wouldn't consider a high-value purchase from a third-party seller, as it just isn't worth the potential grief. Yes, you should always be able to get your money back, but that process could be a stressful one.

And with expensive items, it really is sensible these days to record a full unboxing video as a matter of course (showing the whole package clearly unopened to begin with — or ideally, film from the moment of delivery).