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 and surpassing $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.
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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 to enthusiasts.
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 $1140 on the low end and the RTX 5080 Suprim Liqud SoC for $1500 on the high-end. Similarly, the vendor is offering the RTX 5090 Ventus 3X for $2400 on the low end and the RTX 5090 Suprim Liqud SoC for $2800 on the high end.
