Nvidia’s vendor partners are intent on keeping the prices of its 50-series graphics cards high.
Recent reports observed the vendor, MSI quietly bumping the prices of the recently announced RTX 5070 Ti GPU, to costs beyond its sanctioned MSRP, with some models reaching $1,000. While sources noted third-party retailers can dictate the prices of components on their catalogs, complaints have seemingly prompted a swift response from the vendor. Since the early reports, MSI has updated its pricing of the RTX 5070 Ti 16G Vanguard SoC to $920. This is still much higher than the $749 MSRP Nvidia announced at launch; however, it should hopefully quell some gripes pundits shared about the development.
Nvidia’s 50-series graphics cards have been plagued with issues surrounding various launches and availability, but the biggest issue yet has been the prices attached to various GPUs. The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti has been on sale for approximately two weeks, having launched on February 20.
With high-end GPUs in the 50-series, such as the RTX 5080 and the RTX 5090, already feeling the brunt of delays and low availability, many were likely looking at the RTX 5070 Ti as a cheaper mid-range option. To see price hikes this early in the launch cycle might be concerning for consumers who were looking to shop around.
Notably, MSI placed its price inflation on its custom retailer-exclusive branding, which may have various tweaks from the vanilla chip, such as higher clock speed. The vendor is offering this version of the GPU at the standard price. It is also marketing several special edition versions of the RTX 5070 Ti and prices well above the MSRP. These include the RTX 5070 Ti 16G Shadow 3X at $820 and the RTX 5070 Ti 16G Vanguard SoC, formerly at $1,000.
Wccftech noted that the price of the RTX 5080 Founders Edition was the same as the price-inflated custom RTX 5070 Ti from MSI, while the latter GPU is less powerful, giving it a lower value differential. This is likely what caused alarm among enthusiasts. Especially since MSI’s base model saw a price increase without any spec customizations.
Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 Ti isn’t the only Nvidia graphics card seeing price increases amid high demand and limited availability. The RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 have been available since January and have similarly been difficult for consumers to access, likely due to scalpers inflating the market.
Nvidia announced the RTX 5080 at $1,000 and the RTX 5090 at $2,000 respectively; however, MSI is offering the RTX 5080 Ventus 3X for $1,140 on the low end and the RTX 5080 Suprim Liqud SoC for $1,500 on the high-end. Similarly, the vendor is offering the RTX 5090 Ventus 3X for $2,400 on the low end and the RTX 5090 Suprim Liqud SoC for $2,800 on the high end.
Additional vendor challenges
On top of the tricky pricing practices, vendors have also recently dealt with some quality assurance issues with some of the latest GPUs. Though some customers have gotten a hold of 50-series graphics cards, the components have experienced some hardware issues. Recent reports have uncovered a unique functionality problem, where the GPU may not have as many ROPs (Raster Operations Pipeline unit) as it should to sufficiently render images in 3D post-processing. The issue has mainly affected the RTX 5090 graphics chip but also the RTX 5090 / 5090D and 5070 Ti GPUs.
While it appears to be affecting a small number of units, those following the issue noted GPUs from vendors including Zotac brand, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Palit, and Nvidia experienced issues. Nvidia has addressed the issue in a statement, however, it is ultimately up to the respective vendors to handle the issue in-house and offer consumers servicing options. Component issues surfacing and having to be addressed are commonplace but at the same time official vendors are attempting to drive up prices seems suspicious.
Consumer preference
The RTX 50-series rollout may have been filled with many challenges. However, consumers have remained loyal to the RTX brand as a whole with older and less expensive Nvidia GPU models especially gaining traction. A recent Steam Hardware and Software Survey has indicated that users of the platform are holding strong with predecessor components, with the RTX 4060 being the most favored graphics card among users on the platform. Available since June 2023, the graphics card sells for between $300 and $350. It’s not only priced well but also readily available. Other top options for Steam users include the RTX 3060 and the RTX 4060 Ti.
As Nvidia looks to retire legacy functions, such as PhysX on 32-bit CUDA for newer graphics cards, enthusiasts have made the effort to pair older graphics cards such as the RTX 3050 with newer GPUs, such as RTX 5090 that don’t have the capability. Pundits have noted the newer components are far too expensive for them to have less capability than prior models. However, Nvidia and its partners are likely hoping consumers will overlook such aspects and shell out more dollars.
