Gamers Are Camping Out For GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs As MSI Issues Supply Warning
Anticipation is running high for the retail release of NVIDIA's newest flagship graphics card, the GeForce RTX 5090, but if history is any indication, cards could be hard to come by at MSRP. At least in the early going. We're already seeing signs of this playing out—gamers are camping out at a popular US retailer days ahead of the retail release in hopes of securing a next-gen card, while in separate (but related) news, MSI has gone on record saying initial supply of its custom models will be tight.
Starting with the latter, MSI has been answering user-submitted questions about what kind of supply to expect, according to screenshots shared by ITHome. Part of the reason could be that the retail launch, which is scheduled for January 30 for both the GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080, comes right around the time of the Chinese New Year.
Regardless of the role the Chinese New Year might (or might not) be having on the situation, MSI put gamers on notice that "the initial supply will indeed be tight," according to a translation of MSI's comments by Videocardz. The NVIDIA partner also said there is "not much" stock available, and that retail availability will be "quite limited." No wonder scalpers are already flooding eBay with listings as high as $7,000 for a flagship card that starts at $1,999.
Meanwhile, photos of camping tents outside of a Micro Center retail store in Tustin, California, are making the rounds, one of which appears on Reddit (embedded above). While there aren't very many tents seen in the photo, multiple individuals are inside each one, and they're all looking to a score a GPU in a few days.
"Hello everyone, I’m the guy that you guys are talking about in the second tent. And yes, we are buying it for our own use, no trades and no sells. We just don’t want to pay for that extra $ for a gaming card and yes we do have some times on our hands because we run a business. Good luck to everyone who are trying to get one," a user commented.
The GeForce RTX 5090 is a beastly card, there's no denying that. It's also debuting at a $400 premium over the launch price of the previous-generation GeForce RTX 4090. Given the supply situation and inevitable price hikes for both custom models and by marketplace sellers, it will be interesting to see exactly how much these cards end up fetching.
