Nvidia RTX 5090 Falls 22% in Tokyo, Still 2x Its Low

Nvidia’s top gaming card, the GeForce RTX 5090, fell 22% at one Tokyo store this week. ITmedia reports that Dospara’s Akihabara main store cut the Palit RTX 5090 GameRock from ¥1,288,000, its restock price last week, to ¥999,800, a drop of ¥288,200 or 22.4% by our arithmetic.

Even after the cut, the card costs about 2x the RTX 5090’s all-time low. The Gazlog price tracker lists an all-time low of ¥498,000 and a lowest price of ¥1,048,000 on 14 November, about 2.1x; Dospara’s ¥999,800 card is about 2.0x. The ratios are our arithmetic.

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Two Directions in One Week

The cuts were not uniform. ITmedia says the MSI RTX 5090 32G VENTUS 3X OC, sold at the same ¥1,288,000, was cut to ¥1,048,000 at the same store, a cut of ¥240,000 or 18.6% by our arithmetic. The store told ITmedia one card sold after it announced the price on X, that it still has a fair amount of stock, and ITmedia says the cut does not appear to be a limited-time sale.

In the same week, ITmedia reports that ASUS Japan repriced several RTX 5090 models above ¥1.5 million. It says the ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC Edition sold for about ¥1.1 million until last week and now sells for over ¥1.5 million, a rise of at least 36% by our arithmetic. ITmedia says cards with the same GPU were selling in Akihabara at the same time with a price gap of more than ¥500,000.

RTX 5080: Down From the Peak, Above the Start

For the RTX 5080, Gazlog says the domestic lowest price rose from ¥267,700 on 13 October to ¥345,000 on 31 October, about 29% higher, after end of production of the 16GB version was reported and shops with stock fell from nine to three. It says the lowest price then fell to Dospara’s ¥299,800 on 13 November, about 13% lower, with stock back at eight shops.

That price is still about 12% above the 13 October level, by our arithmetic, and about 1.55x the RTX 5080’s all-time low of ¥193,410 on the Gazlog tracker. Gazlog says the average of each shop’s lowest RTX 5080 price fell from about ¥366,000 to about ¥344,000, and judges that sales slowed above ¥300,000, so shops holding stock are cutting prices.

Why Gazlog Expects Prices to Stay High

Gazlog says distributor shipment-price increases for the RTX 5080 in November, which cite memory price rises, are expected to show through December, and that memory prices remain high. It concludes that the room for cuts is limited and that a return to mid-October levels looks unlikely. Our earlier pieces on memory and storage driving 85% of a mainstream PC’s cost rise and on DRAM prices cover that memory squeeze.

For the RTX 5090, Gazlog says the average of each shop’s lowest price fell only about ¥60,000 since 3 November, so the cuts are limited to some shops. It reports that the GB202 GPU is said to be prioritised for the RTX PRO 5500 workstation card, where orders concentrate, even after Nvidia denied ending production; that board makers cannot newly order GB202; and that production is said to end with January to March 2027 output. Gazlog expects RTX 5090 sales above ¥1 million to continue.

Shops Report No Impact From the CEO Change

Wccftech, which reported the drop, says the prices fell the day after Nvidia’s leadership change, but also says “we couldn’t find any direct relation between the two”. ITmedia says some voices express concern that the change could alter the supply of consumer products, but that Akihabara PC parts shops see no impact so far; a veteran clerk described the mood on the sales floor as calm and said any change would come later. Our piece on Nvidia’s market value covers the market side of the week.

The Structural Read

As we read Gazlog, the RTX 5080 cut is a correction from a spike, not a return to normal: its lowest price is about 13% below the 31 October peak but about 12% above 13 October, by our arithmetic.

As we read it, the AI link is in the supply Gazlog describes: the GB202 GPU is said to be prioritised for the RTX PRO 5500 workstation card, and the RTX 5080 shipment-price rises cite memory, which our earlier pieces tie to AI demand.

Three Implications

FOR PC BUYERS IN JAPAN ITmedia reports a price gap of more than ¥500,000 between RTX 5090 cards on sale in Akihabara at the same time.

FOR BOARD MAKERS Gazlog reports that board makers cannot newly order the GB202 GPU and that production is said to end with January to March 2027 output.

FOR MEMORY-DRIVEN PRICES Gazlog says November distributor price increases for the RTX 5080 cite memory and are expected to show through December.

The Business Engineer Lens

This story maps onto the Business Engineer framework The AI Memory Chokepoint.

The framework says: “HBM growth is outpacing accelerator demand, making memory the rate-limiting factor in the AI scaling equation.”

As we read it, Gazlog’s note that RTX 5080 shipment-price rises cite memory shows the same constraint reaching consumer graphics cards; the framework does not discuss gaming cards or Japan.

What Is Not Established

The sources do not say why Dospara cut the two cards or why ASUS raised its prices, and ITmedia says it could not establish the intentions of makers or distributors. The GB202 allocation and the production end date are reported by Gazlog as things that are said, not confirmed by Nvidia. The prices are Japanese retail prices on the dates given and may already have changed.

Nvidia, Dospara and ASUS were not contacted for this piece.

The Bottom Line

A Tokyo store cut one RTX 5090 by 22%, to ¥999,800, in the same week ASUS Japan raised another above ¥1.5 million. Even after the cut, that card costs about 2x the RTX 5090’s all-time low on the Gazlog tracker, which points to memory costs for the RTX 5080 and GB202 supply for the RTX 5090 in expecting prices to stay high.