In China's graphics card market, price tags along the sales channel have begun changing on a matter of days. A price list for MSI products published by Wccftech on July 26, 2026 showed updated prices for all 23 models—from the GeForce RTX 5090 D v2 down to the RTX 3050—exceeding their previous prices, with increases ranging from 8.5% to 20.0% in yuan terms. Just three days after reports emerged that NVIDIA had raised prices on GPU kits including GDDR7 and GDDR6, sudden revisions surfaced in China's distribution pricing as well. However, MSI's table offers no breakdown of what drove the price hikes, so a direct causal link to the GPU kit pricing cannot be confirmed.
That said, it isn't the case that GPUs across the board in China rose more than 20%. The launch prices listed on NVIDIA's and AMD's official China pages remain unchanged, and even the gap between the cheapest store and another store on the same day is being counted as a "price increase." What's happening now isn't a wholesale revision of official prices, but rather a phase in which wholesalers and retailers holding inventory are raising their quoted prices in anticipation of their next restocking, widening the gaps between stores.
All 23 Products Up, 8.5% to 20.0%
The image Wccftech published as "MSI's official distribution prices as of July 25" lists the previous "前台价" (front-counter price) alongside the updated price. Calculating the 23 rows in the table in yuan, the smallest revision was an 8.5% increase for the RTX 5070 Gaming Trio OC, from 5,899 yuan to 6,399 yuan, while the largest was a 20.0% increase for the RTX 5080 Shadow 3X OC／Ventus, from 9,999 yuan to 11,999 yuan.
| MSI Product | Previous Price | Updated Price | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 5090 D v2 24GB Ventus 3X OC | 22,999 yuan | 25,999 yuan | 13.0% |
| RTX 5080 16GB Shadow 3X OC／Ventus | 9,999 yuan | 11,999 yuan | 20.0% |
| RTX 5070 Ti 16GB Shadow 3X OC | 7,699 yuan | 9,199 yuan | 19.5% |
| RTX 5070 12GB Ventus 3X OC | 5,499 yuan | 5,999 yuan | 9.1% |
| RTX 5060 Ti 16GB Shadow 2X OC Plus | 4,299 yuan | 4,699 yuan | 9.3% |
| RTX 5060 8GB Shadow 2X OC | 2,599 yuan | 2,999 yuan | 15.4% |
| RTX 5050 8GB Gaming OC | 2,599 yuan | 2,999 yuan | 15.4% |
| RTX 3050 6GB Ventus 2X E OC | 1,649 yuan | 1,899 yuan | 15.2% |
The price revisions aren't skewed toward flagship models alone. While the RTX 5090 D v2 rose by 3,000 yuan and the RTX 5080 by 2,000 yuan, the RTX 5060 and RTX 5050 also rose by 400 yuan, and the RTX 3050 by 250 yuan. In absolute terms, the increases are larger for higher-end products, but in percentage terms, even the mainstream 8GB price segment reached the mid-15% range.
The published table only records that MSI's quoted prices were updated. Although Wccftech frames this as a comparison to roughly a week earlier, the image itself carries no date or transaction volume, and there's no way to know how many units actually sold at that price. Still, because old and new prices for the same product are presented together, this makes the change easier to measure than a single snapshot of storefront pricing at one point in time.
What the "Up to 28.8%" Figure Actually Measures
The basis for Wccftech's claim that AMD Radeon prices rose 14.3% to 28.8% isn't the passage of time but the gap between retailers. The published table lists, after "historical lowest price," "same-day lowest price," and "China's suggested retail price," a series of prices from JD.com, Taobao, Pinduoduo, and other platforms. Each retailer column's percentage used the same-day lowest price as its denominator.
For example, for the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB, the same-day lowest price in the table was equivalent to $412, China's suggested retail price was equivalent to $428, and the JD.com price was equivalent to $531. The "28.8%" figure is the gap between $531 and $412; measured against the suggested retail price, it would be 24.1%. Moreover, the same-day lowest price was itself below the suggested retail price. Calling that 28.8% a "price increase in the Chinese market" substitutes a same-day spread between retailers for an increase over time.
The same pattern holds for the RX 9070 XT. Against the same-day lowest price of the equivalent of $708, JD.com's price of the equivalent of $826 is 16.6% higher, but measured against China's suggested retail price equivalent of $738, it's 11.9%. AMD's published China prices are 4,999 yuan for the RX 9070 XT, 4,499 yuan for the RX 9070, 2,899 yuan for the 16GB RX 9060 XT, and 2,499 yuan for the 8GB version. The figures change depending on which benchmark is chosen.
An image published as a "Colorful graphics card special pricing table" dated July 24 can likewise show the current price level, but it cannot measure the rate of increase, since it has no column for previous prices. Furthermore, NVIDIA's launch prices are baselines for standard specifications, and higher-tier models with large coolers or factory overclocking carry a premium from the outset. The gap between current prices and official launch prices cannot simply be treated as the amount of the current price hike.
Two Different Price Benchmarks: 1,400 Yuan vs. 400 Yuan
The difference due to memory capacity becomes clearer when comparing within the same product line. In Colorful's table, the iGame RTX 5060 Ti Ultra OC's 16GB version was priced at 5,250 yuan and the 8GB version at 3,850 yuan—a gap of 1,400 yuan, or 36.4%. The launch prices NVIDIA announced in April 2025 were 3,599 yuan for the 16GB version and 3,199 yuan for the 8GB version, a gap of 400 yuan, or 12.5%.
In Colorful's current pricing table, the premium for choosing the 16GB version is 1,000 yuan larger than the gap in NVIDIA's launch-time starting prices. However, this 1,000 yuan cannot be entirely attributed to additional GDDR7 costs. The 16GB and 8GB versions may differ in procurement timing and inventory levels, and the profit margins retailers set aren't disclosed either. In Colorful's current Ultra OC lineup, the price spread by capacity is significantly larger than NVIDIA's published launch price gap, but the breakdown remains unknown.
The impact of GDDR pricing tends to show up more clearly in products with larger capacities, since the total cost of memory components increases accordingly. On the other hand, in MSI's table, it wasn't always the 16GB versions that rose at the highest rate. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB Shadow rose 9.3%, while the 8GB RTX 5060 Shadow and RTX 5050 both rose 15.4%. The rate of price increase isn't determined by memory capacity alone; it reflects a combination of the gap between old inventory and next-round procurement costs, product-specific profit margins, and decisions made by sales channels.
GDDR Prices Rise Even When Demand Is Weak
Rising GDDR6 and GDDR7 prices aren't necessarily happening because demand for graphics cards is strong. TrendForce noted on July 3 that, due to weak notebook PC shipments and demand for the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell falling short of expectations, demand for graphics DRAM itself is being suppressed. Even so, memory manufacturers have shifted production capacity toward other flagship products, tightening the supply of GDDR6 and GDDR7, and prices are rising in line with overall DRAM price movements.
The firm forecasts that general-purpose DRAM contract prices for Q3 2026 will rise 13-18% quarter-over-quarter. While this figure isn't a specific GDDR quote, it indicates that this isn't a phase where suppliers are cutting prices to capture volume. The usual relationship—where weak demand leads to lower prices—is being disrupted by changes in production allocation.
Increasing supply in a short period is also difficult. On June 24, Micron indicated that tight supply-demand conditions for DRAM and NAND are expected to continue beyond 2027. Under its expansion plans, the ID1 fab in Idaho is expected to produce its first wafers by mid-2027, ID2 by late 2028, and substantial shipments from the existing fab in Taoyuan, Taiwan are also expected to begin around mid-2027. While this isn't a supply plan specific to GDDR, it shows that there is little capacity for immediately effective production increases across DRAM as a whole.
Actual Sales and Inventory Turnover Matter More Than Official Prices
On NVIDIA's official China page, launch prices are still listed as starting at 8,299 yuan for the RTX 5080, 6,299 yuan for the RTX 5070 Ti, and 4,599 yuan for the RTX 5070. The RTX 5060 Ti remains at 3,599 yuan for the 16GB version and 3,199 yuan for the 8GB version, the RTX 5060 at 2,499 yuan, and the GDDR6-equipped RTX 5050 starting at 2,099 yuan. AMD's official prices remain similarly unchanged.
Even if official prices don't change, buyers' burden won't decrease if there's no available stock to purchase. Conversely, even if retailers temporarily raise their price tags out of caution about their next restocking round, the price gap can narrow again once inventory is replenished. GPU kit price increases, AIC pricing tables, retailer quoted prices, and actual transaction prices all need to be tracked separately.
What should be watched from August onward is whether the transaction price for the same model at the same retailer holds steady once stock is replenished. If the 8.5-20.0% revisions seen across MSI's 23 products become entrenched in actual sales, and if NVIDIA and AMD end up revising their official prices as well, then it can be concluded that China's sudden price surge has moved beyond a short-term inventory adjustment and into a new price tier.