ASUS webstore reveals huge disparity between direct and retail GPU pricing

ASUS’ RTX 5080 GPUs are surprisingly cheap on their official webstore

Yesterday, we did a rundown on the UK pricing of Nvidia’s RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 graphics cards. To say the least, a minority of graphics cards were sold at Nvidia’s “MSRP” price. After the launch, we noticed they were selling near MSRP Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs on their official webstore. Unfortunately, by the time we checked, these GPUs were sold out. Regardless, we did uncover some interesting information.

We found that ASUS’ RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 GPUs were sold at lower prices on the company’s webstore. ASUS’ webstore sells its products at the company’s official prices. This means that if prices are higher at retail, ASUS aren’t the ones pocketing the difference.

(ASUS’ GeForce RTX 5080 models on the ASUS Store)

ASUS RTX Pricing Madness

Yesterday, we found ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC graphics cards selling for as much as £1799.99. On ASUS’ webstore, this model was sold for £1354.99.

Similarly, we found retail listings for ASUS PRIME RTX 5080 OC GPUs for £1399.99. The ASUS webstore priced this GPU at £1139.99. Clearly there is a discrepancy between ASUS’ pricing and real-world retail pricing.

(ASUS’ GeForce RTX 5090 models on the ASUS Store)

We saw similar pricing discrepancies with ASUS’ RTX 5090 models. ASUS prices their ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 OC at £2,838.00, while retail listings for the GPU are as high as £3199.99. Sadly, ASUS’ webstore does not allow GPU pre-orders. Only a simple “notify me” option is available.

Nvidia’s RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 GPUs were in short supply at launch. Day-1 stock of graphics cards sold out within minutes, and pre-ordered GPUs may not arrive until March or April. Clearly, Nvidia didn’t have enough supply to meet demand. This has led many to call yesterday the RTX 50 series’ “Paper Launch”, as Nvidia’s new GPU is currently unavailable to purchase (at least without a lengthy pre-order).

You can join the discussion on ASUS’ RTX 5080/5090 pricing on the ASUS Store on the OC3D Forums.

Mark Campbell

Mark Campbell

A Northern Irish father, husband, and techie that works to turn tea and coffee into articles when he isn’t painting his extensive minis collection or using things to make other things.

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