The GPU market is in turmoil, and gamers are feeling the pinch. NVIDIA's highly anticipated 50 series RTX GPUs have launched to a chorus of complaints regarding inflated prices and scarce availability. More than a month after their reveal at CES 2025, many feel the new cards are a disappointment, with minimal performance gains over the previous 40 series, compounded by manufacturing issues and misleading marketing.
“The AIB model seems, for a lot of cards, like some weird middle man that purely exists to extract more value from the consumer, and doesn't offer valid differentiation for the price increase,” says Alex Battaglia of Digital Foundry. This sentiment reflects the frustration many consumers are feeling.
The Problem with Pricing
Remember the good old days when you could snag a new GPU at its suggested retail price? Those days seem long gone. The current situation echoes the challenges faced during the pandemic, where high demand and limited supply led to rampant price gouging. Now, instead of scalpers profiting, NVIDIA's partners, known as AIBs (Add-in Board partners) like ASUS, Gigabyte, XFX, and Zotac, appear to be taking advantage of the market.
NVIDIA's website may list the RTX 5070 Ti starting at $749, but good luck finding one at that price. Retailers like Newegg are listing the card for $799 and upwards, with some models reaching as high as $920. This makes the 5070 Ti a much less appealing value proposition.
AIBs and the Lack of Differentiation
The AIB model is under scrutiny. While these partners were once known for offering differentiated products with unique features like enhanced cooling or overclocking, modern AIB GPUs are largely the same. You might see a slight performance boost from a model with better cooling, but the core functionality remains identical. The result? Wildly varying prices for essentially the same product.
It's not just about the price either. Even if you're willing to shell out the extra cash, finding a 50 series GPU in stock is a challenge in itself. This scarcity further fuels the price inflation, creating a vicious cycle that leaves gamers empty-handed and frustrated.
Can AMD Save the Day?
NVIDIA's current solution is a lottery system, offering a select few US customers the chance to purchase a 5090 or 5080 directly from the company. However, this does little to address the broader issue of inflated prices and limited availability. The hope lies with AMD, whose new $549 Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT cards could put pressure on NVIDIA to lower prices. But even then, AMD must be able to maintain stock and MSRP to truly impact the market.
One of NVIDIA's latest offerings, the RTX 5070, is being reviewed as only a marginal upgrade from the RTX 4070. While it offers solid 1440p performance and decent 4K gaming with DLSS, its limited 12GB of VRAM and minimal performance gains make it a less compelling choice for current RTX 4070 owners. The RTX 5070 Ti, if it can be found at a reasonable price, may be a better long-term investment.
Ultimately, the GPU market needs a fundamental shift. Relying on AI upscaling and limited VRAM feels like a band-aid solution. Unless the industry addresses the underlying issues of pricing, availability, and AIB practices, gamers can expect to face similar challenges with each new GPU generation.
Pricing for this generation's GPUs will normalize eventually, but unless there's a fundamental change to how the industry does business, you can bet all of this will happen again. Just because the industry has always done things this way doesn't mean we should settle for business as usual — especially as the status quo gets worse every launch cycle.