Sky-high third-party Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU prices prove we’re in the worst timeline
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Nvidia’s RTX 4080 graphics card comes out on November 16, and prices have surfaced from a major US retailer… but it doesn’t look like good news.
These are prices for third-party models, and the beefier variants were always expected to sell for a cut above Nvidia’s recommended price (MSRP), which is $1,199 in the US. But how far these cards are above the MSRP as they are now listed is a bit of an eye opener to say the least.
Tom’s hardware (opens in new tab) saw the offers Microcenter (opens in new tab)Indeed, some of the RTX 4080 graphics cards listed as “coming soon” have a suggested retail price. Namely a PNY Verto Epic-X, Asus TUF Gaming, Zotac Trinity and Gigabyte Eagle models, which is good to see (definitely a pat on the back for these particular variants).
There are a few other GPUs shown here in the $1,200 to $1,300 category, which is totally to be expected, and we’re not going to whine about that. However, some RTX 4080 graphics cards come with a $1,400 price tag, which will be a little harder to justify. Those are the MSI Suprim X and Zotac AMP Extreme.
But when we get to the most expensive destroyer of wallets, you’ll really sit up and pay attention: the Asus ROG Strix RTX 4080 card weighs in at $1,550. Ouch, ouch, ouch…
Analysis: How ridiculous can things get?
At this point, you might be thinking that if the ROG Strix costs $1,550, isn’t that an RTX 4080 that is more expensive than an RTX 4090? Well, not quite, but it’s really not that far off — the MSRP for the 4090 is $1,599.
And of course, instead of getting a tuned RTX 4080, you’re much better off shelling out an extra $50 to get the RTX 4090, which is a very different and much more powerful GPU. (Even in that most basic entry-level configuration, it still has a ton more cores, VRAM, and more).
Admittedly, there may be a caveat here that being able to run an RTX 4090 requires significant resources on the PC front in terms of a case large enough to fit the giant card, good enough cooling, a large and stable enough power supply, and so on (plus the cable controversy). But unless you’re short on that side of the equation, the RTX 4080’s high-end pricing makes little sense here.
However, GPU pricing that doesn’t make much sense or seem fair isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, and unfortunately it’s something we’ve grown accustomed to in recent memory. It remains to be seen how many RTX 4080 shares there will be and whether further price inflation is anything to worry about; although it’s hard to imagine it will get much worse without consumers dropping out en masse. Or maybe opt for AMD, with Team Red clearly targeting the RTX 4080 with its incoming RX 7900 XTX.