Rumored Nvidia GPU price hikes could be the finishing blow for PC gaming
I already feared the worst about GPU price hikes, but a rumor suggests huge rises could arrive much sooner than expected.
A rumor claims MSI is planning some big price increases for Nvidia GPUsThe RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti could be hit with price rises of around $1,200 and $600 respectivelyAdmittedly those are the worst-case scenarios, but with big price rises already in place, these GPUs are already pretty much unaffordable anyway – so even more modest bumps in cost are going to hurt
If you thought Nvidia's higher-end GPUs were pricey enough, you'd be spot on there – but they are going to get a lot more costly still based on the latest from the rumor mill.
Wccftech highlighted that leaker Harukaze5719 on X flagged up a post on ChannelGate (a common source of supply chain rumors in Asia) with details of what's supposedly a set of big prices increases from MSI.
We're told that the RTX 5080 could be visited with a price hike of between 1,300 to 8,000 Yuan this month in China, which equates to a jump of about $200 at minimum in the US, or $1,200 in the worst-case scenario (or the equivalent across other regions).
Yes, that isn't a typo, the claim is that MSI's RTX 5080 could jump by over a grand – the MSRP of this graphics card – towards the upper end of this predicted price increase.
The rumored hike for the RTX 5070 Ti is almost as frightening and could be from $120 all the way up to a potential $600 rise.
The source further claims a rise of between $75 and $150 for the RTX 5070, and smaller price bumps of around the $50 mark for the RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti. It's mostly the higher-tier GeForce GPUs which are being hit here, though, and possibly in a really nasty way.
Analysis: a pricing shambles
Previous buzz from ChannelGate (last week, as TechPowerUp noticed) regarding several other board makers suggested price rises in the order of $400 (in the US) for the RTX 5080 and $150 for the RTX 5070 Ti, which particularly in the latter case is at the lower-end of these fresh predictions. Keep a firm grip on that saltshaker, in other words, but everyone seems agreed that there are some major hikes coming to Nvidia GPUs in Asia, and those same pricing pressures will surely apply across the globe.
We'd better hope that the higher-end of these new forecasted hikes don't become a reality, anyway, as they'd leave the GPU market in a pricing shambles, frankly.
To take the US market for example, the RTX 5080 is already $2,000, so are we looking at it being nearer $3,000 come the end of November? It certainly seems like it's heading towards $2,500, which is a frankly astonishing amount for a non-flagship GPU. (Although given the RTX 5090's vanishing act, it is the de facto flagship at this point I suppose).
The RTX 5070 Ti is the more worrying prospect here, though, because the RTX 5080 has always been an expensive card – most folks won't fork out a grand (the MSRP) for a GPU anyway, as that's the budget for the whole PC (or most of it) for the majority. Whereas the RTX 5070 Ti is a realistic buy at its MSRP, but the GPU has already entered effectively unaffordable territory even now thanks to more recent price rises.
Currently in the US you'll pay at least $1,400 for an RTX 5070 Ti from big-name retailers like Newegg or Micro Center (and more for the beefier cards). If a $600 rise is inflicted on this graphics card, you're looking at $2,000, or closing on it, for the privilege of owning one. And this is supposed to be a mainstream mid-range (well, upper-mid-range) GPU, remember.
I was already prepared for this to happen – which is why I've been recommending buying a GPU sooner rather than later, if you need one, as this year has rolled on – although I wasn't expecting this kind of steep spike (and certainly not so suddenly).
This new rumor may be wrong, or the heftier price increases this leak is theorizing may not come to pass, but I'm pretty certain we are going to see all GPUs get bumped up in price as 2027 begins, and I fear there may yet be worse to come. (Certainly the broader RAM crisis is predicted to intensify next year).
Still, at least you might be able to get some money back on your purchase by letting Microsoft use your shiny new Nvidia GPU to train its AI (in one possible future timeline, that is).
