RTX 5090 for $2,799, RTX 5080 for $1,899: Prices for custom Blackwell graphics cards leak

Just recently, we reported on the official prices for the upcoming Blackwell series of graphics cards from Nvidia, with the author commenting that the cost for the impressive flagship RTX 5090 unit was “about right” with the other SKUs “reasonably priced”:

• GeForce RTX 5090: $1,999
• GeForce RTX 5080: $999
• GeForce RTX 5070 Ti: $749
• GeForce RTX 5070: $549

Everyone knew the GeForce RTX 5090 was going to be expensive, considering specs like 32 GB GDDR7 VRAM and 21,760 CUDA cores (processing units). The RTX 5080 price listed above looks reasonable enough, but if a gamer wants the heavily customized Asus ROG Astral OC variant of this board, they better be ready to shell out $900 more and pay $1,899.99 - and that's before scalpers get their hands on them. Gigabyte also offers a comparatively pricey version of the RTX 5080, with its Windforce SFF supposedly costing $1,369.99.

The custom RTX 5090 boards are also ambushed by some eyebrow-raising pricing tactics, with the list shared on both Reddit and NeoGAF seemingly originating from a blunder created by B&H Photo and PC PartPicker. As can be seen below, MSI is asking for $200 more than Nvidia for its Ventus 3X OC variant, but then the premiums quickly shoot up and soon become over $400 more, then $500, and then $800 more than Nvidia's suggested retail price, with the aforementioned Asus card leading the pack:

RTX 5090

Asus ROG Astral OC: $2,799.99
Asus TUF Gaming: $2,449.99

MSI Suprim Liquid SOC: $2,499.99
MSI Suprim SOC: $2,399.99
MSI Vanguard SOC Launch Edition: $2,379.99
MSI Vanguard SOC: $2,379.99
MSI Gaming Trio OC: $2,349.99
MSI Ventus 3x OC: $2,199.99

RTX 5080

Asus ROG Astral OC: $1,899.99
Asus TUF Gaming OC: $1,699.99
Asus Prime OC: $1,499.99
Asus Prime: $1,399.99

Gigabyte Windforce SFF: $1,369.99
Gigabyte Gaming OC: $1,199.99

MSI Suprim Liquid SOC: $1,299.99
MSI Suprim SOC: $1,249.99
MSI Vanguard SOC: $1,229.99
MSI Gaming Trio OC: $1,199.99
MSI Gaming Trio OC (White): $1,199.99
MSI Inspire 3X OC (Gold): $1,169.99
MSI Ventus 3X OC Plus: $1,139.99

Add in the factor that it is very likely only a few units will be made available at launch time, and it seems obvious what’s going to happen: Scalpers will snatch up all of the stock and see what ludicrous amounts they can get away with on eBay. For something cheaper, perhaps consider a unit from the Lovelace series: The Asus Dual GeForce RTX 4070 is currently $569.99 on Amazon.