Gaming Hardware News: Xbox Ally X20 at $1,299
By Reiner A.·

Gaming hardware news: two-week recap, August 29, 2026

ASUS finally priced the ROG Xbox Ally X20 ($1,299.99), and Nvidia did two contradictory things at once: it gave away a free image-quality upgrade across its entire RTX lineup while keeping the RTX 50 Super cards on hold for the same reason as always — memory. And that same shortage is now showing up as real dollars at retail, not just notices to manufacturers.

The ROG Xbox Ally X20 finally has a price: $1,299.99, out October 15

ASUS opened preorders for the ROG Xbox Ally X20 on August 25: $1,299.99 for the standalone unit, $2,499.99 bundled with Xreal R1 Edition 20 AR glasses and accessories. It ships October 15, through the ASUS Store and Best Buy (Tom’s Hardware). Inside, it’s the same Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme as the regular Ally X; what changes is the 7.4-inch 120Hz OLED panel, a D-pad that goes from 4-way to 8-way, and a translucent shell.

What this means for your next purchase: you can finally do the math the last edition left hanging. The regular Ally X runs about $850 and the base Ally, $550. The X20 asks $450 more than the X for an OLED screen, a redesigned D-pad, and the same chip. If your priority is raw AAA performance, that money goes further elsewhere in the build. Where it does make sense is if you already rate OLED above almost everything else — the difference in black levels reads stronger on a handheld you hold 30 centimeters from your face than on a desktop monitor. I compare all three, plus the rest of the handheld market, in best handheld gaming PC.

Nvidia keeps RTX 50 Super on hold for the same reason everything else is getting pricier

The RTX 5080 Super, 5070 Ti Super and 5070 Super have been finished for months and are already sitting with board partners. The launch stays stuck because the 3GB GDDR7 chips needed to expand memory (24GB on the 5080 and 5070 Ti Super) now cost roughly three times more than the 2GB chips in current RTX 50 cards, and Nvidia hasn’t sorted out allocation of that denser memory (VideoCardz, TechPowerUp). Leakers can’t even agree on when it gets resolved: some still bet on before the end of 2026, others are already talking CES 2027. Any date you hear right now is a guess, not a fact.

What this means for your next purchase: this settles a question that’s been hanging for months. If you were holding off “because Super is about to drop,” the reason it isn’t dropping is the same reason the RTX card you want today costs more than it did in June: there isn’t enough memory. Waiting for Super isn’t waiting for a lower price — it’s waiting on a product tied to the same shortage that’s already pushing everything else up, with no guarantee it lands cheaper or sooner. If your current card gets you the frame rate you need, don’t wait on anything. Budget tiers are in best value graphics cards, and if you’re torn between spending on GPU or VRAM, see how much VRAM do you need in 2026.

DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction now works across your whole RTX lineup, for free

At Gamescom, Nvidia shipped DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, a second-generation model that rebuilds ray-traced reflections and lighting without the noise older denoisers left behind. What matters is who gets it: it runs on every RTX card, from the 20-series through the 50-series, not just the newest ones. It’s already live in 30 games through the Nvidia app, including Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2 and DOOM: The Dark Ages (Nvidia, Tom’s Hardware, VideoCardz).

What this means for your next purchase: in a two-week stretch where everything else got more expensive, this is the one story that hands you something for nothing. You turn it on from inside the Nvidia app itself — opt into early access first, then flip the new model on in a supported game’s graphics settings — no reinstalling anything, no new hardware. It’s also the best argument yet for buying a used RTX card instead of forcing a new one at inflated prices: a used RTX 3070 or 3080 gets the same image-quality bump as a 5090, just with fewer frames underneath it. If rising prices have you looking at the used market, check what to inspect first in used GPU: what to check before buying.

AMD’s price hikes stop being a heads-up to manufacturers — now there’s a dollar figure

Until now, Radeon price hikes were channel documentation for China or notices to board partners. There’s now a figure for the Western market: a rumor with a decent track record points to 8GB Radeon cards adding roughly $20 and 16GB cards roughly $40 at retail, as pre-hike inventory works through the channel. The cause is the same one I’ve flagged for weeks: GDDR6 spot prices keep climbing (Tom’s Hardware).

What this means for your next purchase: last edition I told you the RX 9070 XT’s China price hike “hadn’t reached your store yet,” and that gap was your window. This is exactly the kind of data point that closes part of it: $40 isn’t huge, but it confirms the hike is real and headed to retail, not stuck in an internal memo. Same pattern as always: the 16GB card rises twice as much in dollars as the 8GB one. If you were buying a mid-range Radeon, do it from current stock before it rotates out; if you’re waiting, pad your budget by that $20-40 now. Compare by today’s price, not by trend, in Nvidia vs AMD graphics cards.

HyperX launches new headphones, mouse and mic — and they aren’t priced any higher

At its Level Awakening event, HyperX unveiled three new products: the open-back Cloud Alpha Air headset ($149.99), the wireless Pulsefire Haste 3 Pro mouse ($129.99, a 47g carbon-infused shell with a new in-house sensor), and the SoloCast 2 Pro microphone ($89.99, dual condenser capsules with a built-in pop filter). They ship in September (TechPowerUp).

What this means for your next purchase: none of the three redefines its category, but something here still matters this fortnight: these are normal launch prices, with none of the memory surcharge hitting GPUs, RAM and motherboards. Peripherals don’t carry GDDR6 or GDDR7 inside, so if this month’s budget already went into components, there’s no artificial urgency and no hike to dodge here. The Cloud Alpha Air lands in the mid-range open-back slot covered in best gaming headsets; the Pulsefire Haste 3 Pro will enter the comparison in best gaming mouse for small or large hands once test units arrive; and if the SoloCast 2 Pro interests you for streaming, buying criteria are in best gaming microphone.

What to do with all this

  • If you were eyeing the ROG Xbox Ally X20: compare it against the regular Ally X first. You’re paying $450 extra for an OLED screen and D-pad, not more performance — it only makes sense if you already rate OLED above nearly everything else.
  • If you were waiting on RTX 50 Super to buy a GPU: stop waiting. It’s on hold because of the same memory shortage already inflating the current generation, and nobody has a reliable date.
  • If you own any RTX card from the 20-series on: update your driver now. DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction is free and doesn’t depend on buying anything — it’s the best reason not to force a purchase this month.
  • If your budget already went into a GPU, RAM, or a motherboard: look at peripherals instead. It’s the only category this fortnight that didn’t get more expensive.

Sources

A note on where this data comes from: the Ally X20 price, DLSS 4.5, and the HyperX products are official announcements or direct coverage of them. The RTX 50 Super delay and the $20-40 Radeon hike are supply-chain reports, not statements from Nvidia or AMD — treated here as likely, not confirmed.

What about last edition? Here’s the August 13 recap, covering RTX 50 street-price hikes and the RX 9070 XT crossing $1,000 in China.