It's hard to believe Nvidia first announced the RTX 5090 at last year's CES for just $1,999. Even keeping in mind the fact that MSRP is often just a guideline, prices have still surged astronomically thanks to the AI rush. A brand-new RTX 5090 now costs $5,000 in North America, and more across other parts of the world. That's a 2.5x increase in less than two years, and the same fate follows the rest of the RTX 50-series family as well.
Currently, the cheapest RTX 5090 in the States is the Zotac Solid OC listed for $4,999 at Newegg. It does come with a $60 game and a $145 power supply, but you're still paying $5,000 for a card that cost less than half as much ($2,250) exactly one year ago. A more desirable variant such as the ROG Astral 4X OC is now going for $6,000 while it could be had for $3,360 from various retailers last year. An almost 2x jump in the span of twelve months, and a 3x jump compared to MSRP, though this is a novelty model.
Taking a look at European pricing, the most affordable RTX 5090 in Germany is the MSI Gaming Trio OC variant at 4,850 Euros, or ~$5,620. According to Geizhals, this card was listed for 2,249 Euros ($2,600) a year ago, so more than twice as expensive. Hell, it was 800 Euros ($927) cheaper just last month! The ROG Astral 4X OC model is selling for 5,300 Euros ($6,143) right now while it cost 2,870 Euros ($3,326) the same time last year — once again, almost twice as much.
Other desirable RTX 50-series GPUs such as the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and the RTX 5060 have all seen price hikes, too. After the 5090, it's the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB that has suffered the most with a 77% increase in price ($761 currently) compared to MSRP ($429). The RTX 5080 is 55% more expensive ($1,549 currently) than its MSRP ($999), while both the RTX 5060 ($299 to $448 currently) and RTX 5070 Ti ($749 to $1,119 currently) are now listed for about 50% more than what they launched at.
The least affected card throughout this fiasco is Nvidia's base model: the RTX 5050. But even then, it has seen a 20% price hike, going from a $249 MSRP to $299 current availability. The RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, which people usually write off for its 16GB cousin, is still 32% more expensive now at $500; it launched at $380. Across the entire Blackwell family, the average price increase is about 60% or 1.6x higher compared to MSRP.
Like SSDs and RAM, GPU prices are being squeezed by dwindling supply of vital components that are being diverted to enterprise customers, fuelling massive AI buildouts. RAM prices have increased by 500% in the last 12 months, and SSDs aren't much better. The overall price crunch is making DIY PC building increasingly less viable.