The suggested end of NVIDIA's
Open Price Program (OPP) has seemingly caused a first set of ripples—affecting very recent buyers of custom GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards. Since the emergence of initial reports late last week, unfortunate feedback has been shared across online PC hardware communities. Angered individuals have expressed their frustration following the purchase of ASUS and Zotac products; with plenty of vitriol directed at the latter's alleged late January practices. The conclusion of OPP has deep ramifications for Team Green's add-in-card (AIC) partners, as they continue to struggle during a
major computer memory supply crisis , compounded by supposedly
reduced GPU die shipments . The program's reported end effectively cuts off subsidization from up on high, leading to an expectation of AICs passing costs onto mainstream customers. A particular "PC Gaming subreddit" thread placed multiple spotlights on the official North American Zotac webstore. The author tracked freshly adjusted RTX 5090 price tags reaching as much as $2999, and an RTX 5080 model's pricing settling at $1249, from a previous $999.
In general, approximate 20-22% hikes were observed later on in the week. Several commenters have described receiving order cancellation emails from Zotac's customer service department, not long after buying various custom GeForce RTX 50-series SKUs. Screenshot evidence shows a common excuse, with cancellations and (eventual) refunds being issued: "due to a system error that affected the processing of your purchase." In a separate thread, on the buildapcsales subreddit, a formerly (during a Micro Center sale) $749 Zotac GeForce 5070 Ti 16 GB model was showcased as becoming a much steeper $949 prospect. On that note, one lucky individual stated that they managed to acquire a PNY GeForce 5070 Ti card at MSRP ($749), just a day before the implementation of +$200 hikes. Replies indicate Walmart and Newegg's present-day cancellations of "Blackwell" gaming graphics card orders. At the time of writing, Zotac's North American webstore is not accessible, due to it being down for maintenance.
