According to reports, The actual transaction prices for RTX 5080s sold by major US retailers have comprehensively broken through the $2,000 (approximately RMB 13,322) threshold.
The lowest purchasable price for the RTX 5080 has risen from about $1,200 (approximately RMB 7,994) two months ago to $1,979.99 (approximately RMB 13,190), an increase of up to $800 (approximately RMB 5,329).
Data shows that new RTX 5080 products in Newegg's self-operated channels are either sold out or marked as arriving soon, Only third-party sellers are offering stock at $2,299 (approximately RMB 15,325), which is 130% higher than the official suggested retail price of $999 (approximately RMB 6,659).
Micro Center's lowest quote is $1,979.99 (approximately RMB 13,199) for the Gigabyte Windforce SFF OC and MSI Suprim Liquid SOC, but it is limited to offline pickup.
Best Buy lists the PNY Triple Fan OC at $1,999.99 (approximately RMB 13,332), currently the only option available for online ordering.
Price inversion phenomena have also appeared. Micro Center has priced the lower-positioned ASUS PRIME OC at $2,349.99 (approximately RMB 15,665), which is actually $270 (approximately RMB 1,800) more expensive than the high-end ROG Astral OC, indicating that the pricing system has detached from product hierarchy logic.
The domestic market is also seeing fierce price increases, forming a sharp contrast with the launch prices. The suggested retail price for the RTX 5080 China National Bank Edition was RMB 8,299, while non-reference models generally launched between RMB 8,999 and RMB 9,999. Today, however, the prices for ASUS and Gigabyte RTX 5080 16GB versions on JD.com have all exceeded RMB 22,000.
The root cause of the price increase lies in GDDR7 video memory. The RTX 5080 is equipped with 16GB of GDDR7, while DRAM manufacturers are shifting large-scale production capacity to the more profitable HBM, systematically compressing the supply of consumer-grade video memory.
SK Hynix confirmed to investors this week that the shortage of memory supply will continue until 2030. The rise in video memory costs is directly passed on to AIB board manufacturers and ultimately fully absorbed by the retail end.
Compounding factors cannot be ignored. The RTX 5090 has basically disappeared from US channels, with some quotes reaching as high as $5,599 (approximately RMB 37,323). High-end gamers who originally targeted the 5090 have been forced to downgrade to the 5080, further concentrating demand on this sub-flagship model.
Meanwhile, market rumors suggest that NVIDIA may replace the 16GB RTX 5080 with a 24GB version and take over the product position of the 5090. Expectations of discontinuing the 16GB version are accelerating the loss of control over channel prices. NVIDIA has not issued any public statement regarding this round of price increases.