Trying To Score A GeForce RTX 5090? Check Your Local US Navy Exchange
If you're a PC gaming enthusiast and a fan of NVIDIA's GeForce GPUs, chances are you've dealt with hard-to-find items in the past. Even GPUs such as the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti were sparse during the first few months, which was dwarfed by the frenzy of the GPU shortages later on around 2021. The GeForce RTX 5090 is its own blend of hard-to-find coupled with ever-increasing pricing we've had to deal with. However, the U.S. Navy Exchange store may just have a Founders Edition at MSRP for you, if you look closely enough.
There are some diamonds in the rough when it comes to finding a reasonably priced RTX 5090. The U.S. Navy Exchange, or NEX, is selling Founder Edition GPUs such as the RTX 5070, RTX 5080, and yes, even the RTX 5090. Of course, the NEX store will only be open to you if you serve, which is fine by us. (Thank you for your service!)
There are some diamonds in the rough when it comes to finding a reasonably priced RTX 5090. The U.S. Navy Exchange, or NEX, is selling Founder Edition GPUs such as the RTX 5070, RTX 5080, and yes, even the RTX 5090. Of course, the NEX store will only be open to you if you serve, which is fine by us. (Thank you for your service!)
A poster on Reddit, Accomplished-Feed123, recently score a GeForce RTX 5090 FE like this for a cool $1,900. He used some promotions to save on the $1,999 MSRP, but that's still better pricing than you will be able to find for most RTX 5090 models. When checking retailers such as Micro Center, most models range closer to the $3,000 mark, which is far away from the baseline $1,999 MSRP for a Founders Edition model.
According to the user, he did have to look around closely as it wasn't clearly marked, but jumped on the chance to find this GPU at MSRP. The Founders Edition is typically available for most other people through Best Buy or NVIDIA, but it's extremely rare to get a drop. Third party market places will list these GPUs for over $2,600 on average—a sizable premium over the already hefty ask.
NVIDIA produces the Founders Edition model directly, so it can keep the margins as tight as need be compared to its board partners. The ASUS Astral GeForce RTX 5090 can retail for over $3,400, for example, making it significantly more expensive.
The demand for AI products and the existing tariff conditions have all played a part in these GPUs being difficult to get, and thus also increasing pricing. NVIDIA is busy on many fronts, which includes GeForce gaming GPUs, data center products, and even consoles such as the Nintendo Switch 2. If you're near a Navy Exchange store and eligible to shop there, you may just find one of the few MSRP RTX 5090s anywhere on the planet.
