ChinaThe factory secretly buys them from abroad The RTX 5090 has also been modified to a turbo design, to be used exclusively for AIGraphics CardEveryone has known for a long time that this is happening, but no one expected that even the lower-end RTX 50 series would be no exception.
Nowadays, in Chinese retail stores, it’s not just RTX 5090…even the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and even the RTX 5060 Ti have seen “Turbo” versions released. Although these models aren’t banned in China, the fact that they’ve been modified into “Turbo” versions suggests that China’s AI Demand for this is so huge that Chinese factories might end up buying up supplies abroad, indirectly causing shortages in other countries.
Image source: VideoCardz
Even the entry-level RTX 50 series in China has been rebranded as “Turbine” to target the AI market—no wonder graphics cards are getting harder and harder to find these days.
According to a report by the foreign media outlet Videocardz, sales pages for several RTX 50 series Turbo graphics cards have recently begun appearing on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao, covering nearly all models with the exception of a few with low VRAM.
In addition to the RTX 5090, which has been on the market for some time, it has also been confirmed that three models have been redesigned with a turbo-style configuration: the “GeForce RTX 5080,” “GeForce RTX 5070 Ti,” and “GeForce RTX 5060 Ti.” All three graphics cards are equipped with 16 GB of GDDR7 video memory.
Of course, the prices are quite different from the original ones, especially for the RTX 5090:
- GeForce RTX 5090 (32GB): 28,999 RMB (approximately 130,000 TWD)
- GeForce RTX 5090D (32GB): 26,999 RMB (approximately 120,000 TWD)
- GeForce RTX 5090D V2 (24GB): 23,999 RMB (approximately 110,000 TWD)
- GeForce RTX 5080 (16GB): 8,988 RMB (approximately 40,000 TWD)
- GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (16GB): 7,699 RMB (approximately 35,000 TWD)
- GeForce RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): 3,999 RMB (approximately 18,000 TWD)
Image source: VideoCardz
The RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5060 Ti are selling at a premium of roughly NT$5,000 to NT$10,000—not as extreme as the RTX 5090. I suspect this is because supply is still ample at the moment. However, if sales continue to be strong, prices will almost certainly rise further—and that will also signal that the RTX 50 series is becoming hard to find in other countries as well.
The emergence of this wave of mid-to-low-end turbocharged RTX 50 series graphics cards also indicates that demand for high-memory-capacity GPUs in the Chinese AI market continues to grow rapidly. The good news is that the U.S. has approved the sale of the H200 to China, which may help curb demand for the turbocharged RTX 50 series graphics cards to some extent.
Some people might wonder why the AI market has a particular need for turbo-style graphics cards. That’s because, for AI computing, thermal efficiency and density are what matter most—not a flashy design.
Image source: VideoCardz
Graphics cards that are typically 3 to 4 slots wide not only take up space but also vent hot air directly into the case, which is not ideal for AI users who need to fit a large number of GPUs into a single case.
The advantage of turbo-style graphics cards lies in:
- Exhausts hot air directly from the rear of the chassis
- The graphics cards are all the same thickness, making them easy to install in tight spaces
- Better suited for server and AI rack environments
Image source: VideoCardz
Source: KOCPC Chinese