Taiwanese ecommerce platform PChome24h is selling Nvidia’s flagship RTX 5090 graphics card only as part of bundles that include as many as eight motherboards, entry-level GPUs, and other components, in a practice that mirrors the forced bundling tactics seen during the cryptocurrency mining boom.
The most extreme bundle pairs a single RTX 5090 with eight motherboards, two mid-range RTX 5060 GPUs, and additional components for a total price of approximately 241,290 New Taiwan dollars, or about $7,481. A separate bundle includes a Gigabyte X870E AORUS Master motherboard, two RTX 5060 cards, and three B850M Force motherboards for roughly $8,281.
The forced bundling reflects the ongoing severity of the RTX 5090 supply crunch, which has persisted since the card’s launch in January. Nvidia’s top-end consumer GPU, built on the Blackwell architecture with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, carries an official MSRP of $1,999 but has been nearly impossible to purchase at that price in most markets.
The situation has worsened in recent weeks as GPU prices surge across Asia. A Japanese distributor warned of 20% to 40% higher prices on Gigabyte graphics card orders starting this month, and Nvidia reportedly canceled a pre-price-change order from a customer who had secured an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 through the company’s marketplace.
Taiwan has been hit particularly hard, with scalper listings pushing RTX 5090 prices to as high as $9,100 on local platforms. The bundling strategy allows retailers to clear inventory of slower-moving components while maintaining high margins on the in-demand flagship card, effectively holding the GPU hostage behind mandatory附加 purchases.
The practice echoes the crypto mining era of 2021 and 2022, when retailers similarly bundled GPUs with unwanted peripherals to inflate prices and move stagnant stock. Industry observers say the current shortage is driven by a different set of factors, including high VRAM costs, tariff uncertainty, and production allocation toward data center chips over consumer products.
For PC builders, the bundling adds insult to injury on top of already elevated pricing. Analysts note that manufacturers like Samsung and SK Hynix are allocating the majority of their memory production to AI data center customers, where margins are significantly higher, leaving consumer GPU supply perpetually constrained.
Tom’s Hardware – Nvidia RTX 5090 ships in bizarre 8-motherboard bundle WCCFTech – Taiwanese retailer forces RTX 5090 into $7,481 bundle
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