NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs, particularly the higher-end variants, won't be available at MSRPs even after launch, as Team Green has apparently left AIB margins pretty slim.
Not Only Would NVIDIA's RTX 50 GPUs Come With Low Inventory Levels, But Slim AIB Margins Will Further Fuel Up Prices
Well, it would be a surprise if consumers got their hands on an RTX Blackwell GPU at MSRP since not only are inventory levels too low, but according to Chiphell, NVIDIA's profit margin for AIB partners is very low, which will make custom models retail way above Team Green's proposed MSRPs. To top it all, NVIDIA's Founders Edition is basically "100% out of stock", since the units produced are claimed to be too low to cater to the demand. In summary, the RTX 50 release is indeed a mess for the supply chain.
While the Chiphell thread talks about the GeForce RTX 5080 in particular, we expect the same situation for other models, notably the higher-end ones. Not only is NVIDIA said to come into the markets with the lowest inventory levels, but now, since AIB partners would need to squeeze in more profits, the pricing for custom variants will shoot up, and it will be a shocker if someone manages to get an SKU at MSRP. While NVIDIA did bring in the performance with RTX 50, if an average consumer couldn't even get SKUs at MSRPs, what's the point of "pitching" the perf/$ value of the GPUs?
The thread further claims that the situation is consistent with the GeForce RTX 5090D, and the "low demand, high price" fiasco is attributed to the use of GDDR7 memory, which has significantly raised the BoM (Bill of Materials). We recently reported on how the RTX 50 series will have limited retail availability, which means only selected sources will have access to the initial batch, further limiting the scope of availability of the upcoming GPUs.
With this point in mind, AMD's RX 9070 series GPUs could be a better option since they are expected to see higher inventory levels at launch. If NVIDIA doesn't manage to focus on improving availability after the official launch, consumers might find AMD's RDNA 4 as the choice, mainly since it is said to come with an impressive price-to-performance ratio. But, we will have to wait and see for now.
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