RTX 5090 Hits €6,499 in France as AMD and NVIDIA GPU Prices Surge

The latest weekly French retail GPU price tracker published by French hardware outlet Cowcotland on October 17, 2026, paints a sobering picture for Windows PC builders and hardware enthusiasts. Covering the seven-day stretch from October 9 to October 16, 2026, alongside a multi-month historical ledger running back to August 14 and a long-term trend chart stretching back to March 2025, the data tracks 16 discrete graphics card models across AMD Radeon, NVIDIA GeForce, and Intel Arc lines.

The headline grabber? NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 jumped another €500 in a single week, landing at a jaw-dropping €6,499.90. Even more telling for everyday PC gamers, out of the 16 tracked GPU tiers, seven climbed in price, nine stood completely still, and zero got cheaper. Let's break down the exact numbers, examine the bizarre pricing inversions currently plaguing mid-range cards, and figure out what this means if you're trying to upgrade a Windows gaming or workstation rig right now.

The October 9 to October 16 Price Snapshot: Zero Relief in Sight​

To understand what is happening on the virtual shelves, it helps to understand what Cowcotland's weekly tracker measures. The publication compiles listed retail prices in euros through its French price-comparison tracking series, logging a recurring weekly snapshot of specific GPU tiers. While these figures represent monitored French retail listings rather than official manufacturer suggested retail prices (MSRPs), global transaction averages, or verified in-stock volume across every European merchant, they serve as a consistent barometer for where street pricing is headed.

Here is the complete breakdown of all 16 tracked graphics cards between October 9 and October 16, 2026:

Section Summary: Across the 16 monitored GPUs, buyers saw seven price hikes—five from NVIDIA and two from AMD—and nine unchanged listings. Not a single card dropped in price between October 9 and October 16.

NVIDIA's Escalation: A €6,500 Flagship and a Rebounding Mid-Range​

If your eyes immediately darted to the bottom of that table and stayed there in disbelief, you aren't alone. At €6,499.90, the listed price of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 in this French retail snapshot now rivals the cost of a decent used hatchback, a high-end enterprise server rack, or four complete top-shelf gaming PCs from just a few years ago.

What makes the RTX 5090's trajectory so remarkable is how sustained the climb has been in the tracker's historical records. Looking at Cowcotland's multi-month price-history chart—which plots tracked prices from roughly March 14, 2025, through mid-October 2026—the RTX 5090 started out near the €3,800 mark in early 2025 before settling down into a much more palatable €2,100 to €2,400 range during mid-2025. Throughout 2026, however, that line on the chart points relentlessly skyward.

The weekly historical table covering August 14 to October 16, 2026, captures the final stages of that vertical climb in granular detail:

• August 14, 2026: €4,499.90
• September 18, 2026: €5,699.90
• October 2 & October 9, 2026: €5,999.90
• October 16, 2026: €6,499.90

In the span of just nine weeks, the tracked price for NVIDIA's halo card surged by €2,000.

Unfortunately for builders aiming at more grounded budgets, the upward pressure isn't confined to the ultra-enthusiast stratosphere. Every single NVIDIA card that moved this week moved upward. The RTX 5080 tacked on another €50 to hit €1,549.90, building on a €50 increase from the prior week (when it rose from €1,449.90 on October 2 to €1,499.90 on October 9).

Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 Ti staged a frustrating whiplash recovery. In the prior week's report (October 2 to October 9), the RTX 5070 Ti had actually offered buyers a rare glimmer of hope, dropping €190 from €1,299.90 down to €1,109.90. Between October 9 and October 16, it clawed back €133 of that discount, landing at €1,242.90—nearly €243 higher than its €999.90 listing back on August 14. Even the mainstream RTX 5060 (€479.90, up €6) and RTX 5070 (€808.90, up €14) nudged higher, leaving only the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB flat at a still-hefty €774.90.

Section Summary: NVIDIA's lineup saw increases across five of its six tracked models, led by a €500 single-week jump on the RTX 5090 (now up €2,000 since mid-August) and a €133 rebound on the RTX 5070 Ti.

AMD's Pricing Upside-Down: When Hierarchy Stops Making Sense​

Over in the red corner, AMD only logged two price increases between October 9 and October 16, while seven of its nine tracked models remained frozen in place. On paper, that sounds like relative stability. In practice, a closer look at the numbers reveals a retail pricing structure that has completely lost the plot.

The biggest proportional jump of the entire week belongs to the Radeon RX 7800 XT. After sitting at €749.90 on October 9, the RX 7800 XT surged by €150—a 20% single-week spike—to land back at €899.90 on October 16. Meanwhile, the newer-generation Radeon RX 9070 climbed €30 from €719.90 to €749.90, continuing a steady march upward from €649.90 on August 14 and €699.90 on October 2.

When you lay AMD's October 16 tracked prices side by side, the internal hierarchy turns into a brain teaser:

• Radeon RX 7600 XT: €712.90
• Radeon RX 9070: €749.90
• Radeon RX 9070 XT: €849.90
• Radeon RX 7800 XT: €899.90
• Radeon RX 7900 XT: €899.90
• Radeon RX 7700 XT: €999.90

Look closely at those last four lines. Why is the tracked price for an older-generation RX 7700 XT sitting at €999.90—a full €100 more expensive than the higher-tier RX 7800 XT (€899.90) and RX 7900 XT (€899.90), and €150 more expensive than the newer RX 9070 XT (€849.90)? And why is an entry-to-mid-tier RX 7600 XT listed at €712.90, just €37 shy of an RX 9070?

From an IT and retail supply-chain perspective—synthesizing general industry knowledge on how automated price trackers and e-commerce algorithms interact—these bizarre inversions almost always happen when older or transitional GPU SKUs begin drying up in standard distribution channels. Price comparison engines typically scrape the lowest available listing for a given model across participating merchants. When mainstream retail stock of a card like the RX 7700 XT or RX 7600 XT runs low, the only remaining listings are often third-party marketplace sellers or automated dynamic-pricing bots that jack up prices as inventory approaches zero. Nobody in their right mind should pay €999.90 for an RX 7700 XT when an RX 7900 XT or RX 9070 XT is sitting on the same chart for €100 to €150 less, yet the listing persists on the board.

Section Summary: While most AMD prices held steady this week, a €150 (20%) jump on the RX 7800 XT and lingering inflation on older RDNA 3 listings have created glaring price inversions, leaving the RX 7700 XT listed €100 above the RX 7800 XT and RX 7900 XT.

Intel's Quiet Corner: The Arc B580 Holds the Sub-€350 Line​

Amidst the chaos in the AMD and NVIDIA camps, Intel's lone representative in the tracker—the Arc B580—looks like an oasis of sanity. The Arc B580 held steady at €349.90 between October 9 and October 16, making it the least expensive graphics card in the entire 16-model roundup, €30 below AMD's entry-level Radeon RX 7600 (€379.90) and €130 below NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 (€479.90).

Looking back at the ten-week historical table from August 14 to October 16, the Arc B580 hasn't been completely immune to turbulence. It started at €349.90 on August 14, climbed to €402.90 by late September, and then dropped back to €349.90 on October 2, where it remained through October 16. Still, for budget-conscious Windows builders who just need a modern display and gaming adapter without taking out a second mortgage, €349.90 is currently the only sub-€350 seat left in the theater.

Section Summary: Intel's Arc B580 remained unchanged at €349.90 for the second consecutive week after retreating from an early-October spike of €469.90, keeping its spot as the most affordable card in the tracker.

What Is Driving the Volatility, and How Should PC Builders Respond?​

Naturally, when a flagship GPU hits €6,500 and mid-range cards jump 12% to 20% in a week, the first question any Windows enthusiast asks is: Why?

It is important to separate what the data proves from industry speculation. Cowcotland's charts document what the listed prices are, not the underlying supply-chain invoices or retailer margins causing them. In its earlier October 10 report, Cowcotland pointed to ongoing tensions in the memory market—specifically surrounding GDDR graphics memory—as a cloud hanging over GPU pricing, and an August 2026 report noted earlier warnings from board manufacturer PC Partner regarding potential second-half 2026 cost increases and availability pressures. However, the pricing charts themselves do not prove whether a specific weekly jump—like the RTX 5090's €500 leap or the RX 7800 XT's €150 bounce—stems from memory contract rates, wafer allocation shifts toward enterprise AI accelerators, currency fluctuations, or simple retail stock depletion on specific SKUs.

Regardless of the boardroom mechanics behind the scenes, Windows users planning a build or upgrade this autumn have to navigate the market as it actually exists. If you are shopping for a GPU right now, a few practical rules will save your wallet from unnecessary punishment:

• Ignore Model Numbers; Shop Strictly by Price-to-Tier Ratios: As the French retail tracker vividly demonstrates, model numbers no longer guarantee a logical price ladder. When an RX 7700 XT is listed at €999.90 while an RX 7900 XT and an RX 9070 XT sit at €899.90 and €849.90 respectively, blindly buying the card you researched six months ago can cost you more money for less hardware. Always cross-check the price of the tier above and the generation beside your target card before clicking checkout.
• Watch Multi-Week Windows, Not Single-Day Listings: The ten-week historical table proves that mid-range and upper-mid-range cards are experiencing sharp week-to-week oscillations rather than smooth, uniform curves. The RTX 5070 Ti moved from €1,299.90 (October 2) to €1,109.90 (October 9) to €1,242.90 (October 16); the Arc B580 swung from €469.90 (October 2) back to €349.90 (October 9 and 16). Setting price alerts and waiting out a one- or two-week inventory spike can easily save €100 to €190.
• Verify Seller Identity and Stock Depth: Because price-comparison snapshots capture lowest available listings at a fixed moment in time, a sudden €150 or €500 jump often signals that regular retail stock at major distributors just sold out, leaving only overpriced marketplace listings visible. If a card suddenly spikes 15% or 20% in a single week, hold off until standard retail batches replenish.

For those of us who have spent decades building, tweaking, and troubleshooting Windows PCs, watching a consumer GeForce card cross the €6,500 threshold feels surreal. Whether you are nursing along an older GPU in our hardware forums or hunting for a sensible mid-range upgrade, patience and a sharp eye on the weekly spreadsheets remain your best defense against a market that has temporarily forgotten the meaning of gravity.

Correction (October 17, 2026): Fixed the weekly price-change tally — seven of the 16 tracked GPUs rose in price (five NVIDIA, two AMD) and nine were unchanged, not six and ten as originally stated. Also corrected the Arc B580 history: it peaked at €402.90 in late September and returned to €349.90 on October 2 (not €469.90 on October 2), and the RX 7800 XT's €899.90 reading dates to October 16, not October 2. Figures verified against Cowcotland's tracker series.