• The Asus ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 suggestions the scales at $3,409
• Another RTX 5090 and 5080 fashions additionally command a hefty premium over MSRP
• Inventory of those GPUs stays vanishingly skinny anyway

Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs are off to a shaky begin, not simply due to the truth that these new Blackwell graphics playing cards aren’t available for purchase – they offered out instantly, roughly – but additionally as a consequence of pricing on third-party boards.

Wccftech has been scanning pricing throughout the Asus and MSI Blackwell ranges, and the findings will probably scare, if not terrify, players on the market who’re mulling a high-end GPU buy.

When inventory does come again in – there are smatterings of stay pre-orders right here and there proper now, however not a lot else, though you’ll want to keep watch over our guides on the place to purchase the RTX 5090 and in addition the RTX 5080 GPU – worth tags are trying severely steep.

The crown for essentially the most eye-watering worth of all is awarded to the Asus ROG Astral LC RTX 5090, a behemoth of a flagship that admittedly pulls out all of the proverbial stops (the ‘LC’ refers back to the integrated liquid cooling system), however it’ll set you again $3,409 within the US at the moment on the graphics card maker’s personal retailer.

Even the most cost effective RTX 5090 GPU that Asus at the moment sells, the TUF Gaming mannequin, is a weighty $2,749, which is over a 3rd dearer than the MSRP as set by Nvidia (and the asking worth for its Founders Version). Bear in mind, that is the bottom mannequin from Asus, you possibly can’t go any decrease.

No less than with the RTX 5080, there’s an Asus mannequin on the MSRP of $999 on its internet retailer, the Prime mannequin – in order that’s one thing. If you would like the TUF Gaming mannequin of the RTX 5080, although, it will set you again $1,484, fairly a hefty hike for a variant that isn’t a top-end card. (The ROG Astral, air cooled, RTX 5080 touches $1,649, all costs appropriate on the time of writing).

MSI does considerably higher at conserving a lid on pricing, however there are some tough to swallow worth tags nonetheless. There aren’t any RTX 5080 fashions at MSRP on MSI’s US retailer, and the most cost effective is the Ventus 3X at $1,139, though that’s not an enormous soar. The highest-end RTX 5080 Suprim Liquid SOC is pitched decrease than the Asus ROG Astral, although, at $1,499.

MSI’s RTX 5090 graphics playing cards kick off with the Ventus 3X which is at $2,379 on its retailer, extra fairly priced than the baseline flagship from Asus, however nonetheless a 20% hike (nearly) over the MSRP. In the event you’re trying on the RTX 5090 Suprim Liquid SOC, although, this graphics card is an eye-watering $2,789 on the MSI retailer.

Evaluation: Okay, so a liquid-cooled flagship was by no means going to be low-cost, however…

Earlier than the brand new Blackwell graphics playing cards emerged, the prediction was that they could possibly be priced significantly larger than the MSRPs. And that has certainly broadly come true, though a part of the issue right here is that third-party board makers appear to have inflated costs even additional after all of the clamor and inventory shortages across the RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs.

For example on the highest-end, the talked about Asus ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 is the priciest of all Blackwell GPUs at $3,409. Nevertheless, it was introduced at $3,100 (on Reddit, and triggered fairly a stir at that worth), so someway, there’s been one other $300 heaped on prime of the already exorbitant asking worth.

I’m not impressed with these sorts of shenanigans because it’s dangerous sufficient that inventory is stupidly tough to pay money for, and scalpers are inflicting enormous worth inflation by reselling RTX 5080 and 5090 graphics playing cards, with out the precise board makers themselves deciding to try to push even more durable for earnings.

Is that this simply market dynamics – a mirrored image of skinny provide and large demand? Properly, sure, it’s to an extent, and probably pricing will calm down finally anyway, should you may be affected person. (Certainly, there are nonetheless some massive query marks over how lengthy we could be ready for pricing to even out to a extra acceptable degree total).

In the meantime, it’s clearly true that asking costs stay one thing of a moot level seeing as there are hardly any RTX 5090 or 5080 graphics playing cards on the market in any respect, whether or not at really helpful pricing, or third-party pricing.

• Nvidia’s RTX 5080 has dethroned AMD’s RX 7900 XTX on the similar worth – however good luck discovering one
• Can’t purchase an Nvidia RTX 5080 or 5090 GPU as a consequence of inventory shortages? In the event you had been hoping GeForce Now may present a superb different, we’ve received some dangerous information
• Nvidia releases stats that show DLSS and Body Technology are right here to remain – sorry, offended players