RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 listed for $2,600 and $1,350 at Chinese retailer — leaked listing suggests Blackwell might see an eye-popping price hike, at least in China

Hardware sleuth wxnod recently shared an image at X, allegedly detailing the pricing of Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 at a Chinese retailer. The GPUs, per the image, are slated for Q1 2025, likely for the Chinese market but are expected to debut at Nvidia's keynote on January 6 next month. Going by the shared image, the RTX 5090 is listed for 18,999 Yuan ($2,600) with the RTX 5080 going for 9,999 Yuan ($1,350). We suggest readers practically marinate this leak in salt and skepticism since pricing is subject to change in the lead-up to any launch.

China generally employs a 13% VAT; thus, the prices mentioned in this leak, even if true, could deviate slightly from the US market. When adjusted for VAT, the pricing lands at $1,200 and $2,200, respectively, for the RTX 5080 and the RTX 5090, a 37% increase against the RTX 4090. Another approach is to compare the GPUs' launch MSRPs in China. The RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 debuted at 9,499 Yuan and 12,999 Yuan. When compared against the alleged pricing for Blackwell, this results in a 5% and a 46% price hike, respectively. We should mention that these GPUs may also be custom variants from AIB partners, which generally fetch a higher price tag.

Due to ongoing US sanctions, instead of the standard RTX 5090, Nvidia might debut the RTX 5090D in China. However, it is worth mentioning that the RTX 4090D and the RTX 4090, despite a few differences, carried a similar price at 12,999 Yuan ($1,800).

A few days ago, RTX 50-equipped pre-builts from Acer accidentally surfaced at a German retailer. Assuming those prices are accurate, the RTX 5090 system was 29% more expensive than a similarly-specced RTX 4090 pre-built. We've compiled a small table to showcase the price difference between 80 and 90-class GPUs across Nvidia's last three generations.

It is rumored that the RTX 5090 will employ Nvidia's flagship GB202 GPU die with 170-enabled SMs for a total of 21,760 CUDA cores. The Blackwell kingpin is expected to feature 32GB of GDDR7 memory, reportedly running at 28 Gbps speeds for 1,792 GB/s of bandwidth. Blackwell on desktop is anticipated to launch next month and the initial lineup allegedly features the RTX 5090, the RTX 5080, and the mainstream RTX 5070 series.