Image : MSI
Even if you were able to find one, Nvidia’s latest graphics cards would not be cheap. It’s almost impossible to find one at the suggested retail price of Nvidia. MSI wants to ensure that it stays this way by increasing prices across the board.
VideoCardz.com noted MSI raised its OEM version’s price. “Base” RTX – 5070 Ti Shadow 3X (19459041) – from $750 to $819.99. This $70 increase means that there isn’t a card in MSI US’s store showing the base pricing that Nvidia advertised at the CES announcement 2025. The MSI RTX5090 is now $2,400, $400 more than MSRP, and the cheapest RTX5080 is now $1,140, instead of $1,000.
To tell the truth, these results haven’t changed much since early Feburary, according to the Internet ArchiveThere’s no cached site version that shows the $750 RTX5070 Ti. I can’t confirm independently that MSI increased the price of the cheapest 50 series card. All of this is academic since MSI’s US site doesn’t have a single card at any price.
A lot of factors are at play that drive these prices up. You have the normal relationship between Nvidia, OEM card manufacturers and the desire to splash adjectives all over their cards. They pretend that a shiny cooling system or a 5 percent increase in speed justifies the higher price. These cards are also hard to find due to the high demand from PC gamers and the AI sector. In the US, the Trump regime has imposed import tariffs. These are taxes that retailers and manufacturers tend to pass on to consumers in order to maintain their profit margins. The perfect storm is driving prices up.
VideoCardz claims that MSI has “become a scalper itself.” I wouldn’t say that — scalpers who are trying to sell hard-to-find items on the gray-market will usually aim for double their money immediately. It’s not new to offer a small number of cards for MSRP and then the vast majority of OEMs in these more expensive, lucrative configurations.
However, this doesn’t make it any easier to accept the escalating prices, especially when they come from a source as close as possible to the manufacturer. It gives AMD and Intel a chance to make their affordable graphics cards look even more appealing.
Michael Crideris a Staff Writer at PCWorld
Michael has been in technology journalism for 10 years, covering everything from Apple and ZTE. He is the resident keyboard nut at PCWorld, always testing out a new keyboard for a review. In his spare time he builds a mechanical board or expands his desktop “battlestation” . Michael has written for Android Police, Digital Trends Wired, Lifehacker and How-To Geek. He’s also covered live events like CES or Mobile World Congress. Michael lives in Pennsylvania and is always looking forward to the next kayaking trip.
