Is the RTX 5080 too expensive? I have analyzed the price of its predecessors for 10 years, from the GTX 980 to the RTX 4080. Taking into account monetary erosion, there are surprises

Nvidia, one of the world leaders in graphics cards, plans to launch its next generation of GPU (Graphic Power Unit) this Thursday, January 30 at exactly 3 p.m. ! Of course, the last few weeks have been rich in information, rumors and indiscretions on the subject.

But there is one piece of information in particular that is getting people talking: the price of the RTX 5080.

This graphics card in particular is under the gaze of everyone given its positioning in the range at Nvidia.

Traditionally, from the Californian manufacturer, graphics cards are classified by power in this order: RTX XX60 / XX70 / XX80 / XX90. The higher the number, the higher the power.

Concerning the RTX 5080, it is located under the most powerful card of the generation, the RTX 5090. It is therefore particularly sought after for its power and its more accessible side.

For this 2025 vintage, it is announced at €1,179 including tax in its so-called MSRP price (manufacturer suggested retail price).

Is it too expensive? We asked ourselves the question.

The evolution of GPU prices at Nvidia

We have therefore listed the launch prices of the different graphics cards from Nvidia. Below you will find the details in the table as well as a graph showing this price evolution.

First of all, what we can quickly see is that there is a big difference between the GPUs released between 2014 and 2018 and those released after this date.

On the one hand, we have prices which remain below the €900 mark which then soar from the RTX 4080 where they exceed €1400.

As part of this study, you will see that there are two curves, the first which brings together the net launch prices and a second which takes into account inflation as well as monetary erosion. This last notion is to be compared to what we call inflation. This means that the prices displayed in red are the prices of the time recalculated with current inflation.

For example, if the GTX 980 were released today with the current economy, you would pay €637 for it (and not €542 like in 2014).

Small clarification which is still crucial: These are the launch prices and not the average prices found on the market. This fundamental difference explains in particular the fact that when the RTX 3080 was released, it was extremely difficult to find it at its launch price.

On this aspect, we can see that Nvidia, rather than maintaining the trend it had in 2018 by offering a price lower than €900, preferred to opt for the optics of following market prices. Which explains the increase in +93,54% between the RTX 3080 and the RTX 4080.

In any case, in 10 years, for a graphics card at an identical position in its range, the price has soared by more than 117%! That’s a price multiplied by 2.17!

A price to be seen through the real context

As mentioned above, we based ourselves on the prices offered at launch by the manufacturer, Nvidia. This means that they must be nuanced with the context which accompanied the launch of these different graphics cards.

Thus, we cannot talk about the jump in the price of the RTX 3080 without talking about the COVID context. This period was marked by a shortage and a general surge in prices for PC components. At the same time when confinements followed one another, the PlayStation 5, like graphics cards, suffered the full force of the slowdown in chip and semiconductor production factories. Coupled with a sharp increase in demand, prices literally exploded during this period.

In 2025, there will no longer be a shortage, but the sector has not emerged from this trying economic moment without damage. And this is reflected in Nvidia’s commercial policy.

To this, it is necessary to add the notion of monetary erosion. This concept can be defined as the loss of purchasing power of money due to rising prices.

This is frequently observed when the availability of a good remains equal, but the demand for this good increases. In the idea of ​​the law of supply and demand, the price of this same good will increase.

In a globalized, interdependent and financial economy, many factors are at play that can cause a widespread increase in prices and thus cause inflation.

This means that the evolution of graphics card prices must be seen through this spectrum.

Ultimately, is the RTX 5080 too expensive?

With inflation which has returned to a more tolerable stage (according to INSEE – the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) and a shortage which is finally far behind us, we can legitimately ask the question about the pricing of the RTX 5080 from Nvidia.

Displayed at a price including tax of €1179, it should be remembered that this is a manufacturer’s price and that this can quickly vary depending on the reseller, the graphics card is not as accessible as its predecessors from the 2010s.

But is it too expensive? No. On paper, for the moment, it displays a significant power gap with the RTX 4080. Between power gain, VR gaming and use of AI, the RTX 5080 is really at the top of the range, much more than the versions from 2014-2018.