Those who have been patiently waiting for price drops are now completely out of options. In just the past month, the average price of consumer GPUs worldwide has risen by 15%, shattering expectations that older models would drop in price with the launch of new series.
According to the latest global GPU pricing tracking report from research firm TechSpot, the average price increase across the tracked GPU market reached 15% in the period ending in late August, with almost no products seeing price reductions.
Across all 10 global markets included in the tracking, excluding extreme outliers like the RTX 5090, the actual selling prices of remaining GPUs are on average 28% higher than the official MSRP. Almost all new releases have moved away from their initial launch pricing ranges.
Statistical data shows that NVIDIA GeForce GPUs saw an average price increase of 19% last month, while AMD Radeon GPUs increased by 11%, indicating a significantly lower overall price hike for the AMD camp.
The RTX 5090, with an official MSRP of $1,999, is now selling for around $5,000 (approximately 34,200 RMB) in the US market. This coincidentally matches a meme previously joked about by netizens regarding overlapping numbers. The premium over the official guide price is as high as 145%, with an average premium of 136% across the 10 covered global markets.
The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is currently the second most inflated consumer model. In the US market, its actual selling price is 70% higher than the official MSRP, with a global average premium of 53%. In contrast, the 8GB version of the same model has a global average premium of only 14%, highlighting that high-VRAM models are facing much greater price pressure than their lower-VRAM counterparts.
Among other mainstream models, the RTX 5070 Ti currently has a global average premium of 44%, and the RTX 5080's average premium has reached 38%. The price increases for mainstream mid-to-high-end products have far exceeded ordinary consumers' expectations.
On the AMD side, the RX 9060 XT 16GB currently has the highest premium among Radeon models, with a global average markup of 28%. The RX 9070's pricing is relatively stable, with only a 13% premium, making it one of the most reasonably priced mainstream models on the market. The global average premium for the RX 9070 XT is just 21%.
Intel's Arc B580 currently has a 25% premium, while the lower-tier B570 remains in a state of continuous tight supply, making it difficult to purchase at regular retail prices.
Industry experts generally believe that the core driver behind this collective GPU price hike is the large-scale allocation of global GDDR7 VRAM production capacity to AI computing hardware. This has continuously squeezed the supply available for consumer GPUs, directly pushing up end-user prices due to supply-demand imbalance.
TechSpot analysts also clearly stated in their report that under current market conditions, AMD Radeon GPUs offer significantly better value for money than NVIDIA GeForce products, making them a more practical choice for ordinary gamers.
This surge in GPU prices is a clear signal of AI computing demand spilling over into the consumer market. High-VRAM consumer GPUs will remain in short supply for a long time. Consumers waiting for significant price drops will likely be disappointed, while those with urgent needs should buy as needed rather than waiting for a nonexistent crash.