Price hikes? More like price YIKES!
Just a week after Nvidia graced us with the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, touted as the cream of the crop in graphics cards, their partners have already decided to “adjust” the prices upwards. Because, you know, why not? Asus and MSI, ever so thoughtful, were the first to raise their prices in their U.S. online stores, though, amusingly, there’s no stock to actually buy at these new, “improved” prices.
This price surge could be thanks to the scarce Blackwell supply, the ever-helpful Trump tariffs, or our good friends, the scalpers. Or perhaps all of the above, because why settle for one reason when you can have a trifecta of disappointment? MSI was initially selling its custom RTX 5090 for a cool $2,000 to $2,400, with the Ventus 3X, the so-called “budget” model, at the “affordable” price of $2,000. Now, slap on an additional $400 for an 18% increase, because who doesn’t love paying more for less?
Meanwhile, the MSI RTX 5080 16GB Ventus 3X, which was just $1,000 at launch (if you could find one), now costs $1,140. That’s right, pay more for the privilege of not being able to buy it. And Newegg? They’re showing the same price hikes with, you guessed it, absolutely no stock.
Over at Asus, the story’s no different. The Asus Astral RTX 5090 has jumped from $2,799 to $3,079, and still, no one can actually get one. The RTX 5080 from Asus also saw a $200 increase, just like MSI’s variants, because consistency in disappointment is key.
The narrative, spun by some, is that these price hikes are due to high sales volume since the RTX 50-series sold out in a blink at places like Newegg. But let’s not overlook the elephant in the room: Trump’s tariffs on TSMC, ranging from 25% to 100%, which naturally inflate the final price of these beauties. And let’s not forget the scalpers, joyfully selling these GPUs at ludicrous prices on eBay, because why should Nvidia get all the fun?
The early birds got the worm, dodging this price hike, but for the rest of us, we’re left waiting for more stock and hoping for price stabilization. Those with last-gen RTX 40-series might not feel the itch to upgrade, especially since the leap isn’t exactly mind-blowing. So here we are, watching prices climb like we’re in some twisted version of “The Price Is Right,” where no one actually wins.
