ASUS Halts RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB Production Amid Memory Crunch

Gamers, brace yourselves. ASUS has reportedly pulled the plug on its NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB graphics cards, citing 'end of life' status. This move, driven by an industry-wide memory shortage, signals tough times ahead for consumers seeking high-performance GPUs at reasonable prices. The official word came via YouTube's Hardware Unboxed, who report ASUS confirmed the RTX 5070 Ti is facing a critical supply shortage, leading to its discontinuation.

Memory Crunch Bites: 16GB Models Suffer

According to Hardware Unboxed, retailers in Australia confirm the RTX 5070 Ti is already unavailable from partners and distributors, with little hope for a resurgence, at least in the short term. The situation for the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is equally grim. ASUS has apparently ceased production of that model as well. "The 5060 Ti 16GB 'is almost done as well,'" Hardware Unboxed stated, quoting ASUS, which means options will be limited if you can even find it in stock. The core issue? Both cards feature 16GB of memory, making them significantly more expensive to produce in the current market.

The AI boom is primarily responsible for this GPU shortage. The insatiable demand for RAM and other components from data center companies has forced memory manufacturers to shift production to high bandwidth memory for AI clients, as Engadget reports. Micron Technology, for instance, announced in December it was sunsetting its Crucial brand to focus exclusively on AI components. This leaves less for consumer products and drives up prices across the board.

What This Means for Gamers

If the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB are truly headed for extinction, it's a blow to PC gaming. Many modern games demand more than 8GB of VRAM, making 16GB cards the sweet spot for new builds and upgrades. NVIDIA will reportedly focus on 8GB models, such as the RTX 5050, 5060, and 5060 Ti 8GB, along with the 12GB 5070, which for now will stick around. The higher-end RTX 5080 and 5090, with their heftier price tags and margins, appear to be immune for now.

ASUS is the first of NVIDIA's add-in board (AIB) partners to publicly acknowledge the memory crunch, but they likely won't be the last. Historically, NVIDIA provided both the GPU die and memory to its partners. However, rumors suggest that NVIDIA may be shifting the burden of sourcing memory onto its partners, adding another layer of complexity—and cost—to the equation. This definitely has the potential to shake up the entire graphics card market. For now, consumers will need to make do with fewer options and potentially higher prices, especially if they're chasing that 16GB of VRAM.