NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5080 GPU is rumored to see a huge price hike

There are rumors about the price of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 GPU and unfortunately it won’t be cheap if the pricing details are correct. Of course, NVIDIA’s top-end GPUs are never cheap and have been quite expensive for years. That being said, this new rumored price is a whole different ballgame when it comes to cost.

Compared to the RTX 4080, the RTX 5080, based on NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture, could cost significantly more money. This is according to a leaked list of graphics cards and their associated price tags from an Australian retailer. The retailer isn’t named for obvious reasons, but the person who obtained the information is a YouTube content creator named Vex (via Wccftech), who shows a screenshot of this price list.

If prices are right, the RTX 5080 will cost A$2,799. That equates to about $1,500, which is very high. For comparison, the RTX 4080 launched at a price of $1,199.99, a $300 price increase. That’s an absolutely crazy price for a graphics card, and if you live in Australia, start chickening out now. Because you may need every penny if you plan on buying one of these at the first launch.

The RTX 5080’s high price could be due to improved AI or ray tracing

It is worth noting that these prices cannot be confirmed. However, Vex believes the leaker is credible. Because the retail listing image looks like it was taken in a retail environment. Specifically, it involves recording the price list of these graphics cards on what is presumably an employee PC at the retail store.

It looks like the graphics cards listed are exclusively the ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. With that in mind, these prices, even if accurate, could be slightly different for different models of the RTX 5080. After speaking to the leaker, Vex presents a theory about the price increase. He was told that the retail store employees believe the price increase was due to NVIDIA making some improvements in AI and ray tracing. This is a theory that Vex shares.

NVIDIA has not released any official information about the cards. However, it is expected that NVIDIA will unveil the new GPU series at CES in January.

This particular GPU will come with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM

Aside from the name and price, the leak mentions that the ASUS Prime card will come with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM. There are no images of the actual card, but previous ASUS Prime GPUs feature a triple-fan design. So it’s possible that this new card has the same thing.

Retailers appear to have or have several models of this graphics card in stock. Unfortunately there is no further information about the cards. However, when NVIDIA announces the 50 Series at CES, it won’t take long to learn more. Most companies will likely announce their own cards at the same time. Another thing to consider is a possible defect. Back in November, NVIDIA announced that a GPU shortage was imminent.

In this case, this could lead to a price increase. So it’s possible that these prices are due to that.