Custom versions of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, a new high-end GPU for gamers and creators based on the “Blackwell” architecture that advertises 10,752 CUDA Cores, 16 GB of GDDR7 memory, and support for DLSS 4 and its Multi Frame Generation technology, will be very difficult—or maybe even impossible—to find at the $999 MSRP that NVIDIA has set for the GPU and its Founders Edition (i.e., reference design) model, according to a tip out of the Chip Hell forums that suggests NVIDIA is happy to continue undercutting its major partners, which would include the likes of ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI.
“This time Huang’s crazy leeks have already hit the manufacturers,” reads a machine translation of the post from wjm47196, which is dated on January 24. “Just like the 30 series, the basic version is 100% out of stock. Last time it was mining, but the price of chips + video memory is actually normal.”
“This time Huang left the manufacturers with a very, very low gross profit,” it continues. “Making the basic version according to MSRP is equivalent to charity. It is consistent with what EVGA revealed when it withdrew. Huang: You just make a PCB and a heat sink. Why do you make so much money? Wait and buy it.”
EVGA, whose most recent product announcement appears to have been from February 2024, left NVIDIA and the graphics card market in September 2022 for what the company had described as “disrespectful treatment” from green team, alleging a series of problems that included undercutting and a lack of freedom in being able to set their own prices.
“EVGA is committed to our customers and will continue to offer sales and support on the current line-up,” the company said in a statement at the time. “EVGA would like to say thank you to our great community for the many years of support and enthusiasm for EVGA graphics cards.”
“The GeForce RTX 5080 is up to twice the speed of the GeForce RTX 4080 in games, thanks to the Blackwell architecture and DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation,” NVIDIA says of its new $999 GPU. “With new 5th gen Tensor Cores, 4th gen RT Cores, and 16GB of GDDR7 memory providing up to 960 GB/sec of total memory bandwidth (a 34% increase compared to the GeForce RTX 4080’s 717 GB/sec), the GeForce RTX 5080 delivers a massive leap in performance for gamers and creators.”