The memory shortage finally reached your shopping cart. graphics card vram now runs over 80% of a…
the memory shortage finally reached your shopping cart. graphics card vram now runs over 80% of a gpu's bill of materials, pushing an rtx 5090 past $5k, and nvidia cut consumer rtx 50-series output 30-40% this year to feed ai.
hbm eats everything.
Context
Graphics memory has become the main cost driver for high-end cards. Trade reports say Nvidia raised RTX 5090 board prices to partners in May on GDDR7 costs, and a September price tracker puts US street prices at roughly three times launch.
Reports also say Nvidia cut RTX 50-series production in the first half of 2026 because memory was scarce, as the same memory goes into AI accelerators.
The 80% share of bill of materials appears in one August report on European price data. It is a secondary estimate and no cost breakdown from Nvidia or a teardown was found, so it is unsupported here, not refuted.
The cut is reported as 'up to 40%' in the first half. The 30-40% range and 'this year' are not matched exactly in the sources read.
The 5k price: one December 2025 article says 'toward 5,000' and an August report cites European prices above 4,250 euros. Street prices vary by region.
'HBM eats everything' is the author's opinion. The 5090 uses GDDR7, not HBM.
Related work
- VideoCardz: Nvidia raises RTX 5090 board prices, May 14 ↗Partner price hike tied to GDDR7 cost.
- TweakTown on the 5090 price hike ↗Reports a 300 dollar increase for board partners.
- ai.rs: RTX 5090 prices, Sep 14 ↗Price multiple and production-cut report.
Watch next
- Look for a teardown or analyst bill-of-materials breakdown to test the 80% share.
Sources
- VideoCardz, May 14, 2026videocardz.com
- TweakTowntweaktown.com
- ai.rs, Sep 14, 2026ai.rs
- BuySellRam, May 17, 2026buysellram.com
Provenance
The note above is reproduced unedited from the original post, first published on Threads on 9 October 2026 at 17:17 IST. Sources are the papers and datasets the note draws on.
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