RTX 5080 and other GeForce 50 series board MSRPs supposedly to blame for hefty AIB prices

History might be about to repeat itself with the launch of the GeForce 50 series from Nvidia, with the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 waiting in the wings to tempt gamers (arriving on Jan 30) while the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti are scheduled for a February release (Feb 20 according to leaks). Stock shortages, price-gouging, scalping, and very unhappy PC owners taking to the forums to blast Nvidia and its AIB partners seems likely at this stage, and a post in a thread about the RTX 5080 on the Chiphell forum (shared by @harukaze5719) certainly indicates this will be the scenario.

According to the post, it is basically Nvidia’s fault that custom board partners have had to turn to harsh pricing tactics to turn a profit. If you are wondering why Asus could charge $800 more than MSRP for its Astral RTX 5090 card or even $900 more than MSRP for an Astral RTX 5080, it may be because Nvidia “left the manufacturers with a very, very low gross profit” (machine-translated). Further sympathy for AIB partners is offered with the comment: “Making the basic version according to MSRP is equivalent to charity”. Obviously, it’s hard to shed a tear for these companies, especially as profit is still profit, but it appears to be Nvidia’s business strategy that is creating this situation.

Furthermore, there is the suggestion that there will be stock shortages in a similar vein to what passed with the GeForce 30 series, which was heavily affected by the cryptomining boom. So, even though Nvidia might advertise a GeForce RTX 5080 FE card at $999, the chances of getting one at that price are likely to be very slim. PC builders and gamers will undoubtedly have to navigate the murky waters of third-party sellers taking advantage of the market status (demand outstripping supply), while some will unfortunately resort to buying from scalpers. Previous-generation cards will offer better supply: The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4060 OC costs from $299.99 on Amazon.