Gigabyte increases its GPU prices by 20 to 40%: why your next graphics card will cost more

This is the kind of news that ruins a Saturday morning. Gigabyte has just sent a memo to its partner retailers to warn them: the prices of its GeForce RTX 5000 graphics cards are increasing. And not just a little.

Increases are discussed between 20 and 40% depending on the models. The RTX 5070 WINDFORCE which was listed around €599? Now count €749. The RTX 5080 AORUS Master? It goes from €1199 to almost €1600. The RTX 5070 Ti GAMING OC? From €799 to €999.

Gigabyte is not the first to move — but it is the first major AIB to formalize such drastic increases. The memo, which leaked through several retail sources, is dated August 5, 2026. The new prices apply to orders placed from August 12.

In concrete terms, if you were planning to upgrade your setup this summer, you will need to rethink the budget. Or the timing.

Three factors stacked up in 2026 to create this situation. None is sufficient alone, but combined, it hurts.

The first culprit is American trade policy. Tariffs imposed on electronic components from Taiwan and China — where the vast majority of graphics cards are manufactured and assembled — were maintained in 2026. We are talking about 32% on Taiwanese imports and up to 30% off on certain Chinese components.

Gigabyte is based in Taiwan. Its cards are assembled in China. Double trouble.

The second problem is GDDR7 memory. Samsung and SK Hynix — the two main manufacturers — have massively reoriented their production lines towards the HBM3E , the ultra-fast memory used in Nvidia's datacenter GPUs (H200, B100, GB200). Gaming memory takes a back seat.

The price of GDDR7 has risen by about 30% since January 2026. And since all RTX 5000s use GDDR7, the bill is directly reflected in the final price of each card.

The third factor is less spectacular but very real: logistics and raw material costs — copper, aluminum for heat sinks — have also increased. Nothing dramatic taken individually, but combined with the rest, it makes a significant delta on the factory price.

The question everyone is asking. And the answer is probably "soon".

MSI and ASUS have the same memory suppliers, the same pricing constraints, and factories in the same regions. ASUS has already discreetly raised some prices in the United States in May 2026 — between 10 and 15% on its TUF and STRIX models. MSI has not officially announced anything, but several French retailers report that B2B prices have already changed.

Zotac and PNY, who play more in the entry-level segment, could absorb some of the increase to maintain their pricing positioning. But absorbing +30% of costs when your margins are already thin is complicated. Mathematically, it doesn't hold up for long.

On the AMD side, the situation is a little different. RX 9070 XT and 9070 still use GDDR6 , significantly cheaper and more available than GDDR7. AMD has not announced a significant increase for now — which could become a massive argument against Nvidia by the end of the year.

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Let's do a quick calculation. In 2024, an RTX 4070 was priced at 600€ in stores. Its direct successor, the RTX 5070, starts at 549€ in Nvidia's MSRP - but rarely sells for less than 650€ with partners. With the Gigabyte increase, we're talking about 749€ for a WINDFORCE model , which is literally the entry-level tier for them.

749€ for a mid-range card. We are talking about prices that were those of the high-end two generations ago.

And the 5080? An AORUS Master at €1599, that's the price we paid for an RTX 3090 at launch in 2020. Except that the 3090 was the most expensive GPU in the gaming range at the time. Here, it's "just" a 5080.

The real problem is that salaries have not followed the same curve. The average budget for a gaming PC in France is around 1200-1500€ all inclusive. When the GPU alone eats up half of this budget, there is clearly an issue.

Honestly, there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

If you need a GPU now and find a model in stock at the pre-increase price — go for it. Prices will not decrease in the coming weeks. Retailers with stock purchased before August 12 will sell their units at the old rates, but once the stock is replenished, the new prices will apply.

If you can wait, the end of the year could bring improvements. Customs duties are being renegotiated between Washington and Taipei, GDDR7 production is expected to ramp up in volume in Q4 2026, and AMD could take advantage of the opportunity to be more aggressive on the prices of its RX 9000.

But "waiting" in tech is always a gamble. There's always something better in six months. The real question is: does your current GPU still hold up for what you play?

Another track: the second-hand market . The used RTX 4070 Ti Super and RTX 4080 Super can be found between 400 and 550€ on the French secondary market. Cards still very capable in 1440p, even in 4K for the 4080. And with the rise in new prices, used items may become an increasingly popular option.

The MSRP set by Nvidia concerns the Founders Edition sold directly. Partners like Gigabyte buy the GPU chip from Nvidia, then add their own PCB, heatsink, GDDR7 memory, and packaging. It is these components that costs have exploded on — not on the GPU die itself.

For now, yes. Nvidia sells its Founders Edition at a fixed price on its website. But availability in Europe is almost non-existent — drops last a few minutes. In reality, you buy a custom model, and that's where the increase hits.

More than ever. The RX 9070 XT are around 550-600€ in Europe and offer performance comparable to the RTX 5070 in pure rasterization. Ray tracing support lags behind Nvidia, but for 1440p gaming, it's more than enough. And as long as AMD uses GDDR6, its production costs remain more stable.

Difficult to say. If the US-Taiwan trade renegotiations are successful and GDDR7 production ramps up, we could see stabilization by late 2026 or early 2027. But a return to early 2026 prices seems unlikely in the short term. Manufacturers have become accustomed to higher margins — and once the price goes up, it rarely comes back down on its own.

It's a solid option. The used RTX 4070 Ti Super and 4080 Super can be found at decent prices on LeBonCoin and Hardware.fr forums. Check the condition of the heatsink, the remaining warranty, and if possible ask for a proof of purchase. But be careful: with the rise in new prices, the used market is also increasing — it's the law of supply and demand.