ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Nvidia RTX 5090 will see the biggest price increase of $500.
- The RTX 5050 will see an annoying but manageable $30-50 increase.
- Graphics cards made by AMD and Intel won’t follow suit – yet.
As the AI-driven global memory shortage rages on, Nvidia is notifying users that its RTX 50 series of graphics cards will see yet another significant price hike this week.
Nvidia ratchets up GPU prices
In August, Nvidia gave gamers and content creators fair warning that the company’s entire line of RTX 50 Series GPUs would get price increases of up to a 15%. The flagship 5090 is getting the highest: a nearly $500 increase on an already eye-watering $6,000 price tag at Best Buy. The lower-end 5050 and 5060 will get much more modest, if still grumble-worthy, $50-60 bumps, which puts the squeeze on consumers already caught between market hype and failed expectations.
Earlier iterations of the brand’s graphics cards, like the RTX 40 and RTX 30 series, won’t be directly affected by this decision. However, don’t be surprised if you see some resellers take advantage of the situation by adding their own price increases or snapping up stock to sell at a markup on the second-hand market.
AMD and Intel won’t be affected – yet
Intel and AMD have been quiet about the possibility of a price hike on their own graphics cards, and neither company plans any immediate changes in response to Nvidia’s decision. Not yet, anyway. As companies like Nvidia continue to snap up the raw resources needed to manufacture AI chips and pledge their GPUs and motherboards to future AI data centers rather than the consumer market, it’s likely both companies will eventually follow suit with their own hefty increases.
