Nvidia's RTX 50 Debut Was a Paper Launch, Stock Not Expected for Months

Yahoo

31-01-2025

Nvidia's RTX 5090 might be the fastest graphics card in the world, but good luck finding one to buy. Despite all the hype at CES and a flurry of reviews of the new 50-series graphics cards (including the disappointing 5080), day-one buyers were further let down to find the cards out of stock almost before they'd gone on sale. Some retailers had just a handful of cards in stock, while others suggested more won't arrive until April or even May.
Gamers have been concerned since before the debut of these new cards that their stock numbers would be tight around launch, and Nvidia released a statement confirming as such—though promised more shipments were coming. However, when Jan. 30 rolled around, and the long lines of campers outside major stores were given a chance to buy, many found there just wasn't the stock available.
Reddit has been keeping track of the number of RTX 5090s and 5080s at Micro Center stores around the US, and the absolute best the entire chain had was 67 5090s and 199 5080s in Tustin, California—but that was an outlier. The next best was Columbus, Ohio, which had just 12 5090s and 80 5080s. Most Micro Centers, even major stores like their Yonkers, New York location, had to make do with just four or five 5090s and a few 10s of the 5080s, with some stores not even getting a single 5090 to dole out to waiting customers.
The YouTube tech channel GamersNexus reported on the shortages, suggesting that a major system builder they'd spoken to had been allocated just a single RTX 5090. Other major custom gaming PC builders were given only a handful, all of which sold out almost immediately.
RTX 50 cards have been sold out almost instantly, even with inflated prices. Credit: Newegg
The UK retailer Scan (via the Verge) even suggested that it wouldn't be seeing any new stock of RTX 5090s until April or May. Considering Nvidia reportedly halted production of the RTX 4090 toward the end of 2024 to—ostensibly—ramp up production of the RTX 5090, it begs the question of why such little stock was available for the launch.
This extreme lack of stock has sent prices for the new cards skyrocketing. Third-party cards are debuting at 50% higher than the suggested retail price, while the second-hand market is already awash with pre-order cards or promised retail versions as and when they're available. We found an RTX 5090 auction that's at over $5,000 on eBay.
The shortage is driving up the cost of older cards, too. Where you could have bought an RTX 4090 for around $1,600 at the end of 2024, today those same cards are going for close to $2,500 on Ebay.
Part of the reason that the cards are sold out everywhere is because of scalpers and bots used to buy up stock faster than humans can click on the buttons. Some have started to fight back against that by listing these cards in ways to trick bots without snaring human buyers, like this picture of an RTX 5090 that's going for over $1,000.