16GB graphics cards in South Africa went mainstream in 2026: 50.5% of cards in Evetech's online orders had 16GB or more, up from 37.2%, and 78.5% of RTX 5060 Ti buyers chose the 16GB version.
Half of the graphics cards bought in Evetech's online orders this year carry 16GB of memory or more. That single figure shows how buying of 16GB graphics cards in South Africa has shifted in our online sales: over the same dates in 2025, only 37.2% of the cards sold were that big. In 2026, the bigger card has become the normal choice rather than the upgrade.
From 1 January to 21 October 2026, 50.5% of the graphics cards sold in Evetech's online orders had 16GB or more of VRAM, up from 37.2% over the same dates in 2025. The cheapest 16GB card in stock on 22 October 2026 was the RX 9060 XT 16GB at R9,999.
These numbers come from Evetech online orders on the website and app, and every share is a share of graphics card units sold. Comparing July to September in both years gives the cleanest like-for-like view: cards with 16GB or more grew from 41.6% of online sales in 2025 to 55.4% in 2026.
The other end of the range moved the opposite way. Cards with 8GB or less dropped from 35.2% of online sales in July-September 2025 to 29.4% in July-September 2026.
One detail matters for reading the trend correctly. Within 2026 the 16GB share has been steady, at 51.3% in January and 52.2% in September. The change is year on year: buyers started 2026 already choosing more memory than they did in 2025, and that habit has held all year. For the rest of what South Africa bought this year, read the full Evetech Hardware Report.
VRAM is where a graphics card keeps everything it needs close at hand. Newer games ship with larger, more detailed textures, and higher resolutions need more room for each frame. Local AI models add another reason: a model generally needs to fit inside the card's memory to run well, so more VRAM means bigger models.
The clearest signal sits inside a single model. NVIDIA sells the RTX 5060 Ti in 16GB and 8GB GDDR7 versions, and 78.5% of RTX 5060 Ti buyers in our online orders chose the 16GB version, against 21.5% for the 8GB card. That is nearly 4 in 5 buyers paying for the extra memory on the same GPU.
AMD offers the RX 9060 XT with as much as 16GB of GDDR6, and it is now the cheapest way into this tier. On 22 October 2026 the RX 9060 XT 16GB was in stock at R9,999, while the cheapest NVIDIA option, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, was R13,999. Our RX 9060 XT vs RTX 5060 Ti 16GB comparison covers how the two differ, and you can browse the full RTX 5060 Ti range and RX 9060 XT range.
Above 16GB sits a smaller group: cards with 24GB or more, the tier that suits larger local AI models. These cards went from 1.7% of graphics cards sold online in July-September 2025 to 6.2% in July-September 2026. The base is small, so treat it as an early signal rather than a mass movement.
Intel's Arc Pro B60 and B70 together made up 49.7% of those 24GB-plus cards, and the Arc Pro B60 was the cheapest 24GB card in stock at R14,399 on 22 October 2026. To see how the memory tiers line up for AI work, check our GPU AI Index.
50.5% of graphics cards in Evetech's online orders from 1 January to 21 October 2026 had 16GB or more, up from 37.2% in 2025.
No, it held steady at 51.3% in January and 52.2% in September, so the jump is year on year against 2025.
78.5% of RTX 5060 Ti buyers in our online orders chose the 16GB version, and 21.5% chose the 8GB card.
The RX 9060 XT 16GB at R9,999 was the cheapest 16GB card in stock at Evetech on 22 October 2026.
Yes, but their share of online sales fell from 35.2% in July-September 2025 to 29.4% in July-September 2026.
Cards with 24GB or more grew from 1.7% to 6.2% of online graphics card sales between July-September 2025 and July-September 2026.
Shopping for a new graphics card? Half the graphics cards in our online orders now have 16GB or more, so start there and match the card to the games and AI tools you plan to run.
50.5% of graphics cards in Evetech's online orders from 1 January to 21 October 2026 had 16GB or more, up from 37.2% in 2025.
No, it held steady at 51.3% in January and 52.2% in September, so the jump is year on year against 2025.
78.5% of RTX 5060 Ti buyers in our online orders chose the 16GB version, and 21.5% chose the 8GB card.
The RX 9060 XT 16GB at R9,999 was the cheapest 16GB card in stock at Evetech on 22 October 2026.
Yes, but their share of online sales fell from 35.2% in July-September 2025 to 29.4% in July-September 2026.
Cards with 24GB or more grew from 1.7% to 6.2% of online graphics card sales between July-September 2025 and July-September 2026.
The best-selling graphics card in South Africa in Evetech's 2026 online orders was the Radeon RX 9070 XT, at 15.8% of cards sold and 24.1% in July to September, ahead of the RTX 5070 and RTX 5060.
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The cheapest 24GB graphics card for local AI in South Africa is the Intel Arc Pro B60 at R14,399, enough for 32B models. NVIDIA's cheapest 24GB card, the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell, costs R57,999 but adds CUDA support.
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RX 9060 XT vs RTX 5060 Ti 16GB for local AI: both hold about 14B models. The XFX RX 9060 XT 16GB costs R9,999 and the ASUS TUF RTX 5060 Ti 16GB R13,999; the extra R4,000 buys CUDA and faster memory.
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The MacBook Air M5 for local AI is the cheapest route to 14B models in South Africa: R24,999 with 16GB of unified memory. Windows laptops need an RTX 5070 Ti from R49,999 for the same tier.
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The cheapest laptop to run a 70B AI model in South Africa is the ASUS ProArt PX13 with Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and 128GB at R68,999. The only other is the 128GB MSI RTX Spark at R134,999.
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RTX 5070 vs RTX 5060 laptop for local AI: both carry 8GB of VRAM in every model Evetech stocks, so they run the same size of AI model. RTX 5060 laptops start at R21,999 and RTX 5070 at R27,999.
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The best-selling graphics card in South Africa in Evetech's 2026 online orders was the Radeon RX 9070 XT, at 15.8% of cards sold and 24.1% in July to September, ahead of the RTX 5070 and RTX 5060.
16GB graphics cards in South Africa went mainstream in 2026: 50.5% of cards in Evetech's online orders had 16GB or more, up from 37.2%, and 78.5% of RTX 5060 Ti buyers chose the 16GB version.
The Evetech Hardware Report 2026: the RX 9070 XT was the best-selling graphics card online at 15.8%, half of cards sold had 16GB+, AMD CPUs were in 81.3% of PCs, and Gauteng placed 45.1% of online orders.
The cheapest 24GB graphics card for local AI in South Africa is the Intel Arc Pro B60 at R14,399, enough for 32B models. NVIDIA's cheapest 24GB card, the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell, costs R57,999 but adds CUDA support.
