AMD's RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards have finally reached reasonable pricing, as German retailers report that these GPUs are now selling below MSRP. In Germany, the European MSRP for Radeon RX 9070 cards is €629, including 19% VAT. For its bigger sibling, the Radeon RX 9070 XT, the European MSRP is listed at €689, also including the sales tax. However, according to multiple listings from German online retailers, both cards are trading below their European MSRP pricing, marking the first occurrence since the memory shortage fiasco began, which took a toll on the gaming community. The cheapest Radeon RX 9070 non-XT model is listed at €539.00 in the form of the ASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 OC SKU, while the cheapest Radeon RX 9070 XT model is listed at €640 for the ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Challenger GPU. Do note that this is not the first time that these GPUs are priced below MSRP in Germany, but just the first time since the memory shortages started.

Interestingly, this price drop in Germany is not consistent with the markets in the United States, where GPU pricing for the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT still ranges around $810-$820 for the non-XT SKU and about $880-$890 for the Radeon RX 9070 XT model. This represents a large premium in the U.S. market, considering that the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics cards have MSRPs of $549 and $599, respectively. Perhaps a fresh supply of GPUs has hit the German market, causing supply to overwhelm demand and significantly pushing prices down. In the U.S., that is not the case, where prices remain high and on an upward trajectory, according to PCPartPicker. In contrast, the German market is experiencing some of the lowest pricing in recent months, finally giving gamers a break.

A savvy DIY-er has acquired an AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D desktop processor one week in advance of the official January 29 launch day. This triumph was shared with the PC Master Race (PCMR) community. Earlier today, the lucky owner's subreddit thread gained extra attention due to prominent PC news outlet coverage of the embargo-busting purchase. The buyer—dobum—did not go into great detail when describing their major scoring of the should-not-be-out-yet desktop microprocessor product. Apparently a "local reseller" listed available stock at some point this week, and dobum seized the moment: "(they) made a mistake...and I managed to get one out of curiosity...(it will replace) a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which goes into another PC."

They mentioned paying 450 Swiss Francs (likely including VAT) for the upgrade, reflecting similar price tags tracked by VideoCardz—when examining pre-launch conditions across Europe. dobum's own currency conversion—to USD—shows an additional $71 tacked on top of Team Red's MSRP ($499). Their post did not include a breakdown of possible delivery charges, or a customary Value Added Tax charge. Photographic evidence did not provide a look at the product's OPN, so it is not clear whether dobum picked up a boxed retail or tray OEM unit. In a follow-up reply, they stated that their newly updated PC system had booted up with the "latest MSI BIOS (from December)." A commenter, kronoseedlc, added their own findings—in the form of screenshots (see CPU-Z grab below) accompanying a story about attempts to get their own early Ryzen 7 9850X3D sample to surpass 5700 MHz on some sort of MSI MPG CARBON WIFI mainboard.

European PC hardware retailers are readying themselves with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti partner models, ahead of the GPU's freshly scheduled launch on February 20. Tech news sites and industry watchdogs have already sniffed out preliminary pricing; courtesy of accidental listings of MSI custom card designs in France and Austria. We are more than a week away from GeForce RTX 5070 Ti release day, so speculative price points are subject to change. The Austrian arm of MediaMarkt was quick to correct matters after an accidental leak, and proceeded to remove an MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GAMING TRIO OC PLUS product page from its webstore. VideoCardz managed to preserve fundamental details, prior to MediaMarkt AT's de-listing of the offending item. The card's alleged €1169 asking price has raised Central European eyebrows—factoring in the region's customary VAT, we are looking at an approximate 32% increase over NVIDIA's baseline MSRP (€884). It should be noted that a Founders Edition does not exist in Team Green's upper-mid "Blackwell" GPU segment.

MSI's price point for its GeForce RTX 5070 Ti VENTUS 3X OC PLUS card is expected to reside closer to Team Green's recommendation, but this barebones offering sits within the company's "entry-level" product tier. The manufacturer's GAMING TRIO OC PLUS range tends to slot right into middle of product hierarchies—provisioned RGB lighting, larger heatsinks and miscellaneous fancy features often demand an upcharge at retail. Tomasz Gawroński (aka GawroskiT) happened upon additional MSI listings in France; an unnamed e-tailer has priced the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GAMING TRIO OC PLUS at €1149 (€20 cheaper than MediaMarkt AT). The upper crust MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti VANGUARD SOC LIMITED EDITION model demands that French customers part way with €1199, for the pleasure of ownership.

European buyers are facing a baseline MSRP of €1109 for the upcoming GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER graphics card family, thanks to extra sales taxes affecting purchases in the region's various countries. North American customers are set to "enjoy" a more reasonable entry point of $999 come January 31, including various custom options from NVIDIA's board partners—ZOTAC lead the charge with their non-overclocked offerings matching Team Green's Founders Edition MSRP. A small selection of brave retailers have already delivered GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER graphics cards to customers, while others have simply gone live with their asking prices.

Germany's Notebooksbilliger (translation: cheaper laptops) online store has produced product pages for all sorts of custom GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER cards—prices start off at NVIDIA's €1109 baseline, and ramp up to a maximum of €1379 for the fanciest option (ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 SUPER OC). A VideoCardz report focuses mostly on the cheapest products listed by Notebooksbilliger.de. Five non-overclocked custom designs sits at the bottom of the webshop's RTX 4080 SUPER pricing pile: ASUS TUF GAMING, GIGABYTE SUPER WINDFORCE, SUPER WINDFORCE V2, Inno3D X3 and ZOTAC's Trinity Black Edition. At the time of writing, Notebooksbilliger's customers cannot pre-order any of the listed GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER cards—the full checkout process could be unlocked early next week, a few days ahead of the official January 31 launch day.

EK, the premium water-cooling gear manufacturer, is launching a new distro plate for the Lian Li O11D XL chassis. The distro has a built-in EK-Quantum Lumen screen, a 7" IPS monitor that can be seen from the front of the case. It is designed to provide advanced water cooling with the latest 3rd-generation SATA-powered D5 pump, removing the need for additional 4-pin Molex cables. The Reflection² series distribution plates are EK-Matrix7 compliant.

The EK-Quantum Reflection² PC-O11D XL D5 PWM D-RGB - Screen Edition is a custom water-cooling reservoir, routing, and pump solution that seamlessly fits into the front of the case showing off a beautiful 7" IPS screen with an aluminum frame. This waterway is also equipped with six innovative push-in ports that come with female G1/4" threaded adapters. The idea is that users can easily assemble the whole radiator + fittings + tubing combo and use these push-in adapters to simply slide it into the distribution plate. The bottom radiator is mounted via a special metal bracket.

Antec Inc., leading provider of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself market, broadens its Gold series with three models offering 650 W, 750 W or 850 W. The 80 PLUS GOLD rating and modular cabling make the Neo Eco Gold Modular a great and affordable choice to Antec's range of industry-leading power supplies. They are now commercially available from 109 € (suggested retail price including VAT).

The brand-new NeoECO Gold Modular series was born ready for the best DIY-PC experience, and it also serves exceptional performance and outstanding stability. Featuring 100% full modular design and 80 PLUS Gold certification, the NeoECO Gold Modular series keeps the PC hardware installation convenient and clean. It provides highly efficient power to your system and reduces your electricity bills.

European Union residents are now looking at paying even more tax - in even more products - than before. Following changes to the EU tax policy, all products imported from outside that special political, economic and frontier union will be subject to the appropriate tax according to its nature. Until now, imports of value (or should we say declared value) lower than €22 were free from the bureaucratic and economic burden of taxation; however, that situation is about to change come July 1st.

Following abuses to that €22 declared value exemption, all imported products from July 1st 2021 will be subject to customs processing and taxation. The decision follows years of abuse, with customers and businesses declaring false, lower values for products so as to try and skirt any additional taxation. Of course, this creates a lopsided, uphill battle for EU-based manufacturers and distributors, who have to collect the appropriate tax upon all sales - whilst businesses outside the EU enjoyed more competitive pricing due to the absence of tax for the final customer. That is what this change aims to fight against. A shame for users and businesses that did follow the rules, who now face more higher pricing for small acquisitions at the expense of those who employed these tax evasion practices.