Whether GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080 or now RTX 5070 Ti, the recommended retail prices are barely met.
When the GeForce RTX 30 series was released, NVIDIA hit the mark with an unbelievable performance/price ratio. Unfortunately, the launch came at a particularly troubled time, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, between disrupted logistics and exponential demand, it was virtually impossible to find these cards at the prices NVIDIA proudly advertised. Regardless of the model concerned, you had to pay 1.5 to 2 times more to obtain the precious card. Two years later, the release of the GeForce RTX 40 series didn't change things much, and if availability was better, it only concerned the most expensive cards, no longer at NVIDIA's recommended retail price (MSRP), which in the end only applied to Founders Edition cards, the models manufactured and sold by NVIDIA, but in very small quantities. Ordinary mortals had to turn to models from partner manufacturers, who offered very few MSRP versions.
Public prices announced at CES 2025© NVIDIA
Alas, alas again, there's every reason to believe that the GeForce RTX 40 series situation is now being repeated. On January 30, NVIDIA launched the first GeForce RTX 50 series models, the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. As always, NVIDIA has brought out some excellent Founders Editions of its own cards, which are indeed sold at MSRP. Well, sold, if you can call them that, because the quantities available were particularly large, and despite the very high price of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, they were snapped up in a matter of minutes. Potential buyers had little choice but to turn to partner models, but here again, very few cards were available at MSRP. Worse still, just a few days after the launch, the few models still available are far more expensive than MSRP, and the same is true of the prices expected for the first restocks in February.
MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G Gaming Trio OC Plus © MediaMarkt
Finally, and this is perhaps the hardest part for GeForce RTX 50 series enthusiasts, the move downmarket doesn't seem to be synonymous with a calmer situation. Indeed, while NVIDIA will not be distributing a Founders Edition version of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the first echoes of models designed by the American firm's partners suggest prices far, far from the MSRP. For example, Austrian retailer MediaMarkt is already mentioning an MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G Gaming Trio OC Plus priced at 1169 euros, well above the MSRP. In France, this same model is expected to cost 1149 euros, whereas the MSRP should put it at around 899 euros! Worse still, the MSI Vanguard would be even more expensive, at 1199 euros. Prices that make the RTX 5070 Ti more expensive than the RTX 5080! So, of course, there will undoubtedly be a few copies available at NVIDIA's recommended retail price, but all the evidence suggests that they will once again be extremely rare. It's hard to be a PC gamer in 2025.
