Massive GeForce RTX 5090 Price Hike Rumor Resurfaces As Launch Day Looms
Some of the most prominent leakers on the web appear to be at odds over how much NVIDIA's beastly next-gen GeForce RTX 5090 will cost when it supplants the GeForce RTX 4090 as the flagship GPU for gaming. The rumor that refuses to die suggests the 5090 is going to introduce a big price hike—up to a $2,499 MSRP!—but will it really cost that much?
Only NVIDIA knows for sure, and perhaps some of its closest hardware partners. NVIDIA has been known to throw last-minute curve balls, though, so even its add-in board (AIB) partners may not be fully in the know. It's important to keep that in mind when digesting the latest pricing rumors. It's also within the realm of possibility that the NVIDIA machine is working behind the scenes to facilitate these rumors (or not shut them down), so that the actual launch day pricing comes as pleasant surprise.
We're not saying that's the case, mind you, but hey, what's a Friday without a juicy conspiracy theory? That aside, the original pricing rumor manifested last month when Moore's Law Is Dead cited one of his "best sources" who was allegedly "briefed by NVIDIA" as saying the GeForce RTX 5090 will carry an MSRP of somewhere in the range of $1,999 to $2,499.
For reference, the GeForce RTX 4090 debuted at $1,599, so if that information is accurate, NVIDIA's next flagship GPU will end up costing $400 to $900 more than the current generation model at launch.
It was also suggested that the GeForce RTX 5080 will end up costing $1,199 to $1,499, and the GeForce RTX 5070 landing in the $599 to $699 range.
Here's where things get interesting. As we covered at the time, X/Twitter user @kopite7kimi called the pricing rumor "totally fake" in regards to the GeForce RTX 5090. He added, "I don't believe there will be a significant price increase for RTX 5090."
Now a month later, Chiphell forum user and notable leaker wjm47196 has resurfaced the pricing rumor, putting it out there that the 5090 will be priced from $1,999 to $2,499 and feature GDDR7 memory. "I can't afford it anymore," the user stated (via Google Translate).
We have no doubt that the GeForce RTX 5090 will employ GDDR7 memory chips, and previous leaks and rumors have it pegged as being a monster GPU with a big uplift in memory bandwidth. But will that translate to a big cost increase as well, to the tune of 33% to 67%? We can only wait to find out, as even some of the most notable leakers are at direct odds with one another.
Not everything is a complete mystery, though. Corsair has seemingly confirmed that NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce GPUs based on Blackwell will continue to use the 12V-2x6 power connector (which is a revised version of the 12VHPWR connector), and that upcoming models "could demand even more power than current models."
