It feels like every day we get a new price hike from some PC component manufacturer. If it’s not the RAMpocalypse causing chaos within the DDR5 market, it’s AMD and Intel quietly raising the prices of their CPUs. The storage industry isn’t safe either, with NAND flash prices soaring to unprecedented levels, and graphics cards are not immune to this crisis either.
AMD recently implemented a price increase to its Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards, and NVIDIA is now following suit. According to information received by Benchlife, NVIDIA has issued a price increase notice for GPU kits that it provides to its AIB partners. Moreover, this price increase will go beyond just the GDDR7-based Blackwell GPUs, and will now include older GDDR6-based graphics cards as well.
We know that NVIDIA provides its silicon to AIBs (add-in board partners) in the form of GPU kits, which usually include the GPU die as well as the associated VRAM. While there were rumors earlier this year that NVIDIA has instructed AIBs to source their own VRAM, that does not seem to be the case, at least right now. Currently, NVIDIA holds command over the VRAM it provides to the partners and is therefore implementing a new price increase for that kit.
The cause of this price increase, to absolutely no one’s surprise, is the global memory crisis. VRAM prices have been rising steadily just like the rest of the memory products, with GDDR7 being the most acutely affected memory type. We already covered a report that NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 50 SUPER series GPUs are ready, but they are on hold due to the ridiculously expensive GDDR7 memory that they use.
That price increase has already been passed down to consumers once, as NVIDIA previously raised the price of its RTX 5090 and 5090D V2 models earlier this year. Now, the price hike has expanded beyond just NVIDIA’s flagship and is now affecting all GDDR6 models as well.
What does that look like for the consumer? Well, NVIDIA has not confirmed any price increase for its graphics cards yet, but that is of little relevance since NVIDIA’s first-party graphics cards are hardly ever in stock anyway. Moreover, AIBs are left with the decision to either absorb the increased costs or raise their prices as well and pass the damage on to the consumer. I think we all have a pretty good idea of what they are going to choose.
Not to mention, building a graphics card requires more than just the GPU kit that NVIDIA provides, crucial as it may be. The costs of cooling systems, PCBs, and other relevant packaging materials are also gradually going up. Therefore, AIBs also have their hands tied in a way that they can’t effectively control.
Of course, this is just an insider leak at this point and not officially confirmed by NVIDIA or any board partners like ASUS or MSI, so we await the official confirmation from the first parties. However, it looks like there is no tangible benefit in waiting for GPU prices to come down any time soon. It may be better to just bite the bullet now and start gaming.
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[PC Hardware Specialist]
Usman Saleem brings 8+ years of comprehensive PC hardware expertise to the table. His journey in the tech world has involved in-depth tech analysis and insightful PC hardware reviews, perfecting over 6+ years of dedicated work. Usman’s commitment to staying authentic and relevant in the field is underscored by many professional certifications, including a recent one in Google IT Support Specialization.
8+ years of specialized PC hardware coverage
6+ years of in-depth PC hardware analysis and reviews
Lead PC hardware expert across multiple tech journalism platforms
Certified in Google IT Support Specialization
Get In Touch: usman@tech4gamers.com
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