Nvidia appears to be raising the price of the RTX 30-series Founders Edition reference graphics cards by as much as 6% in the EU, with a similar price increase coming to the UK.
News of the price increases originally appeared on the StockDrops Discord server, according to VideoCardz, but it looks like the price hike has been at least partially confirmed by Nvidia Germany itself. It now lists the Founders Edition graphics cards at the higher Euro price points indicated in the StockDrops post.
The average price increase on the Founders Edition cards is about 5.53%, with the RTX 3090 seeing the greatest price hike of 100 EUR, a 6.45% jump. The RTX 3060 Ti saw the lowest increase of 20 EUR, which is about 4.77% greater than its original MSRP.
The StockDrops post indicates that the RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition will see a £20 increase from £529 to £549, which is a roughly 3.7% hike on UK MSRP for that card. There aren't any other UK prices included in the post, but if the UK info is as solid as the EU price info appears to be, the UK might not see as large a price hike as the EU appears to be getting hit with.
There's no word yet on whether any of Nvidia's board partners also intend to raise the prices on their versions of the same graphics cards.
Analysis: well, it's still cheaper than online profiteers
While it's unfortunate to see Nvidia raising the prices of its Founders Edition RTX 30-series cards, it's not unexpected. Inflation is a real issue globally thanks to various supply chain issues like the silicon chip shortages.
A price increase is a price increase though, and that means that customers are going to have to pay more than they did when the cards launched.
The best graphics cards have been nearly impossible to find, recently. So, when the stock issues ease up in the months ahead (hopefully), the first chance most people will have to buy Nvidia's latest RTX cards will be above their original MSRP. This genuinely sucks.
Still, even the increased MSRP on the Founders Edition RTX 30-series cards is far short of what scalpers have been charging online for them. So while the prices are higher than they were, it'll still be better than paying the outrageous premiums online profiteers have been charging.
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