GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs Are Finally Available At MSRP But There's A Caveat
NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 is the most expensive gaming graphics card in history, and it's still one of the rarest to find in stock. With its significant specifications including a staggering 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM, it's been used for many other use cases, too (AI, content creation, and so forth). If you're looking for potentially positive news about pricing, however, a Reddit user by the name of Purrfection has shared an image of GeForce RTX 5090s in stock and at a surprising price.
The caveat is that it is in Finland, but I've personally seen the GeForce RTX 5090 pop up at my local Micro Center a bit more often than usual. Typically, there will be buyers already lined up during regular week days just for the slight chance that a shipment may come in with a couple of GeForce RTX 5090s.
While the original MSRP was $1,999 for the base model, custom variants by NVIDIA's hardware partners have been selling for well north of $3,000. This is at retail, mind you, and not scalper pricing as we saw with the GeForce RTX 30 series models. Even with such a high MSRP, the RTX 5090 will still sell for hundreds more on third party marketplaces. It is still a rarified GPU, even for 2nd hand transactions.
The NVIDIA Founders Edition version of the GeForce RTX 5090 sells for roughly the same price on the third party market as the other $3,000 plus versions. This is incredible considering it still technically is at a $1,999 MSRP, but supply and demand greatly distort the price. The RTX 5090 is in fact a sizable upgrade over the RTX 4090, with most averages landing in the 20% to 30% range depending on the game and resolution.
That's not the primary reason for its rarity, however. First, this GPU is also incredibly useful for AI and machine learning applications, with its robust hardware and Blackwell architecture. It's a much cheaper alternative for smaller businesses that cannot get their hands on the more expensive NVIDIA data center products, which are in even higher demand.
That's not the primary reason for its rarity, however. First, this GPU is also incredibly useful for AI and machine learning applications, with its robust hardware and Blackwell architecture. It's a much cheaper alternative for smaller businesses that cannot get their hands on the more expensive NVIDIA data center products, which are in even higher demand.
Secondly, while we can only speculate on availability, it is likely NVIDIA has its production focused on those same data center GPUs. They're much more profitable than GeForce gaming products on average (NVIDIA's data center division is its biggest earner these days, and it's not really close).
Anecdotally, my local Micro Center had only four GeForce RTX 5090s on launch day, compared to over 150 RTX 4090s. Is that high demand, or just incredibly short supply worldwide?
Anecdotally, my local Micro Center had only four GeForce RTX 5090s on launch day, compared to over 150 RTX 4090s. Is that high demand, or just incredibly short supply worldwide?
In any event, it's encouraging to see these retail listings in Finland. According to Videocardz, which crunched some numbers, the MSRP in Finland for the RTX 5090 is 2,339 Euro. Even after factoring in VAT, the converted pricing in US dollars is cheaper than what can be found at US retailers. The upshot to all this is that GPU pricing and availability could finally be trending in a positive direction. We shall see.
