(Design: Lily Yeh | Image Credit: Eugene Mymrin/Getty Images)
Is the era of affordable PC building over? Not yet, but with most components manufactured abroad and ever-shifting trade policies here in the US, we might be in for some choppy waters.
Following President Trump's first round of reciprocal tariffs took effect in April, we assembled a list of the main components someone would need to build a PC, and have been tracking the prices every month to see the impact. The list below is what PCMag's component experts John Burek and Michael Sexton recommend as a starting set that will satisfy most PC builders.
'We Can Do Whatever We Want'
Looking at Newegg's price of each component from January to June 2025, most prices remain the same; some have even gone down, likely because US warehouses are still stocked and we haven't started to feel the full effects of tariffs.
In early April, Trump instituted a 90-day pause on the highest tariffs in order to broker individual trade deals. That pause expires on July 8, but Trump does not appear married to that date. (Much to the chagrin of manufacturers looking to do any sort of planning, I'm sure.)
"We can do whatever we want," Trump said on Friday. "We could extend it. We could make it shorter. I'd like to make it shorter. I'd like to just send letters out to everyone [that say] 'congratulations, you're paying 25%.'"
An interesting exception are graphics cards. Prices went up in April when the tariffs first took effect, and have remained at the same price. The one we chose—MSI Shadow GeForce RTX 5070 Ti—started the year around $750, and it's now $840—a $90 jump.
The graph below shows the price for each component in our build in each month of 2025. You see those tall columns? That's the graphics card, which is the most expensive part, and also the one with the biggest jump since April (tall, green bar). Prices for the other products have fluctuated up and down depending on the month, though remain within a limited band.
Why the GPU Price Hikes? More Trouble Than Tariffs
We checked the price history on several other graphics cards, and they're trending upward, especially higher-end models. The Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT launched for $599 and is now going for $750, a nearly $300 increase. The MSI Gaming Trio OC GeForce RTX 5090 debuted in January at $2,349.99, and it's now $3,049.99 ($750 increase).
Tariffs aren't the full story when it comes to graphics cards. There are several other factors in play, including shortages, high demand, and a near monopoly from Nvidia on the most powerful GPUs. All of this creates an environment where vendors can hike up prices.
"Nvidia hadn't fully refreshed its GPU line for two years, and started pushing out all the new GeForce RTX 50 Series chips in Q1. So there was a lot of pent-up demand even before all the tariff uncertainty blew in," Burek says. "Nvidia has also been making so much bank on data-center AI silicon that you could argue that bread-and-butter consumer GPUs are becoming its side hustle! Also, AMD isn't really playing in the extreme high end of consumer GPUs anymore with Radeon, so it's all Nvidia's game there."
Graphics cards made in China are subject to a 20% tariff. Another 25% is on the horizon; it was supposed to take effect this month, but Trump paused it until Aug. 31. Still, a 20% price increase is significant, especially in an environment where prices can shift at any time. We'll check back then to see how things look in at the end of the summer.
Will Tariffs Ruin Amazon Prime Day?
If Trump reimposes any tariffs after July 8, that will be right as Amazon kicks off its annual Prime Day sale. (This year, Prime "day" is 4 days, from July 8-11.) Tariff anxiety may put a damper on deals, but it could also drive some panic buying.
Our two cents: That's probably not necessary since the inventory being sold will most likely have been purchased far in advance under pre-tariff (or tariff-pause) pricing. But it might be a different story for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
When tariffs go into effect, retailers face much larger import fees, like the $36,000 bill NY-based Adafruit was forced to pay on a shipment of components from China because of the tariffs. At some point, businesses will need to eat that cost, and perhaps downsize their staffs or make other arrangements to accommodate for it, or pass it onto the consumer through higher prices.
It's also getting harder for shoppers to strategize. Tariffs are becoming increasingly granular, focused on individual products and materials. Since April, Trump has exempted computers, phones, and PC cases from the full 145% tariff on Chinese imports. But no reprieve was given to other PC components, including fans, liquid coolers, and power supplies. In addition, PC cases were already facing a 20% tariff on Chinese imports, along with another 25% tariff on aluminum-derivative products. Video game consoles also face the full China tariff, whatever that turns out to be.
Trump also imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports in March, and then doubled it to 50% in June. These materials show up in a variety of products and appliances you might be looking to buy.
This could all change in an instant, of course. If you've already been thinking about building a computer—or anything else—you may want to grab it before July 9.