Two weeks before Black Friday, the graphics card market has produced another odd headline. According to a report from Chinese supply-chain outlet ChannelGate, picked up by TechSpot, TechPowerUp and VideoCardz in early November, some graphics card makers have run out of GeForce RTX 50 stock and are telling distributors to sell older cards instead: the RTX 3060 in 12GB and 8GB versions, the RTX 3050 and some unnamed AMD Radeon models.
Forge PC has not spoken to NVIDIA or any board partner about this, and no company has commented publicly. This piece is based on the published reports and on UK price data from SpecPrice, checked on 13 November 2026.
What the report says
Some makers are out of RTX 50 stock. TechSpot, summarising ChannelGate, says the makers that still have stock are shipping what is left in small batches at higher prices.
Older cards are being pushed instead. The RTX 3060 12GB and 8GB, the RTX 3050 and some Radeon cards are named as alternatives.
The reasons given are a fresh wave of demand from cryptocurrency miners and China's online shopping season. TechSpot adds that the RTX 50 range was already running thin after reports that NVIDIA cut production this year during the memory crunch.
Do not expect the old cards to get cheaper. ChannelGate expects prices of older products to hold or creep up slightly.
VideoCardz stresses an important caveat: the report is about China, and "we do not know whether distributors in other regions are receiving similar advice."
The RTX 3060 never really went away
This is not the first time the RTX 3060 has resurfaced. TechPowerUp says NVIDIA reintroduced the RTX 3060 12GB in June, built on the same Samsung 8nm process as the original 2021 card, with 3,584 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6. VideoCardz reports that Colorful and Palit released new RTX 3060 board designs this year.
It has also become popular again. TechSpot reports that the RTX 3060 retook the top spot in Valve's October Steam Hardware Survey, on 3.62 per cent of surveyed systems, just ahead of the RTX 5070 at 3.56 per cent.
What the RTX 3060 costs in the UK
In the UK the RTX 3060 12GB is still sold new, and it is not cheap. SpecPrice's cheapest-by-model list, updated at 13:39 GMT on 13 November 2026, showed these lowest new prices. All prices are approximate and change daily.
Card | VRAM | Cheapest new UK price (13 November 2026) |
|---|
Intel Arc B580 | 12GB | about £306 |
RTX 5050 | 8GB | about £360 |
RTX 3060 12GB | 12GB | about £398 |
RTX 5060 | 8GB | about £425 |
RX 9060 XT 8GB | 8GB | about £450 |
RX 9060 XT 16GB | 16GB | about £580 |
So the five-year-old card costs more than a new RTX 5050 and more than an Arc B580, which also has 12GB of memory. It is about £27 cheaper than an RTX 5060.
What you give up with an older card
The RTX 3060's 12GB of memory is its main selling point; our VRAM guide explains why 8GB cards struggle in some newer games. But it is a 2021 design, and you miss out on newer features. NVIDIA's own DLSS compatibility table lists DLSS Frame Generation for RTX 50 and RTX 40 series cards only, and Multi Frame Generation for RTX 50 only. RTX 30 cards still get DLSS Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction. Our DLSS and FSR explainer covers what each feature does.
If you already own an RTX 3060, this is not a reason to upgrade. If you are buying new, compare it with the current-generation cards in our best budget graphics card guide before you assume the older card is the better deal.
Will this push UK prices up?
Nobody has shown that yet. The report covers Chinese distribution, and UK retailers source stock through different channels. But UK graphics card prices were already high: TechSpot's Q4 pricing update, which tracks the UK among ten countries, found cards had become about 35 per cent more expensive in three months, as our Black Friday guide notes. Tighter global RTX 50 supply would not help. Our UK price watch shows how current prices compare with recent averages.
Our verdict
The report of RTX 50 stock running out and distributors pushing RTX 3060 and RTX 3050 cards comes from China, and there is no evidence yet that UK shops are affected in the same way. In the UK, a new RTX 3060 12GB still costs about £398, more than an RTX 5050 or a 12GB Arc B580, and it lacks NVIDIA's Frame Generation. Unless you find one well below current-generation prices, buy a current card instead, and treat any "deal" on old stock with suspicion. We have not spoken to NVIDIA or its partners; this report is based on TechSpot, TechPowerUp and VideoCardz coverage of ChannelGate, NVIDIA's DLSS page and SpecPrice's UK prices.
