Asus $3,700 RTX 5090 cards arrive at Micro Center store, sell out straight away

[midian182]

WTF?! With the current demand for graphics cards combined with the low stock levels, it seems people will pay almost anything for an RTX 5000-series GPU. There appears to be no limit to what consumers will accept, as illustrated by the $3,719 Asus RTX 5090 cards that came into stock at Micro Center but were sold out just hours later.

Third-party manufacturers have been pushing the prices of their Blackwell cards higher and higher recently, making a mockery of Nvidia's MSRPs.

Earlier this month, Asus, which is already well-known for its expensive models, raised the prices of its RTX 5090 and AMD RX 9070 cards. The cost of a ROG Astra LC (Liquid Cooled) RTX 5090 was raised to $3,409 on the company's online store.

That amount of money is quite ridiculous, more so when you consider the RTX 5090's $1,999 MSRP.

A redditor called pagusas posted an image of a display at Micro Center Dallas filled with RTX 5090 Astral LC cards, explaining that "tons" had arrived that day. It initially seemed that with a selling price of $3,720, people just weren't willing to pay that much money. One commentator confirmed that the cards were also in stock at Houston Micro Center at the same price.

Pagusas writes that there were also "tons" of RTX 5080s in stock at Dallas Micro Center.

Microcenter Dallas got tons of 5090 Astral Liquid's in today
byu/pagusas innvidia

However, a quick search of the stock levels at the Dallas and Houston stores shows all the cards are now sold out. The only RTX 5090 GPU at Dallas is inside a $4,899 laptop, while Houston also has a $5,499 pre-built PC with one of the cards. It's a similar situation with the RTX 5080s.

Despite coming close to $4,000 at the store, the RTX 5090 Astral LC is still obviously more expensive on eBay. The auction site's listings range from around $4,300 to a ridiculous $6,250. It's these prices, and the fact some people must be buying them from resellers, that are exacerbating the problem, making the cards all the more appealing to scalpers.

Asus isn't the only company guilty of pushing up the prices of its Blackwell cards. MSI did the same thing earlier this year, adding hundreds of dollars to the prices in some cases.

Earlier this week, Zotac joined the others in hiking its RTX 5090 prices, with two of its models increasing a whopping $500. The company no longer lists any cards at MSRP, either.

While companies are quick to point at tariffs on Chinese imports, increased manufacturing costs, and other reasons out of their control for why the cards are so expensive, many argue they are charging these prices simply because they know people will pay them.

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Asus $3,700 RTX 5090 cards arrive at Micro Center store, sell out straight away

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

Ahem... Gamers Are Refusing the Sky-High RTX 5090 GPU Prices, Leaving Shelves Full of $4,000 GPUs

And photo is the same. So who I should trust more? :/

 

[Baldrickalpha1]

Ahem... Gamers Are Refusing the Sky-High RTX 5090 GPU Prices, Leaving Shelves Full of $4,000 GPUs

And photo is the same. So who I should trust more? :/

Nice find. Even if gamers are swithering at this price, surely price per watt/frame/every other metric means other options are better anyway until we see normalcy... *if* we ever see normalcy

 

[Achaios]

I think it's not the Whales at this point who are buying. The Whales already bought their 5090 a couple of months ago. They paid $5K and were done with it.

Unfortunately I think the ppl who are buying now are almost exclusively either Scalpers or professionals/corporate employees who are buying specifically the 5090's to run AI on them. We are talking about really deep pockets here. A Whale will buy a single 5090 and another for his friend but these ppl I am talking about are buying 5090's and 5080's from the Scalpers by the dozens.

It's either this or some ppl have found a way to mine some crypto-coin again and we don't know about it yet.

 

[Kotters]

Ahem... Gamers Are Refusing the Sky-High RTX 5090 GPU Prices, Leaving Shelves Full of $4,000 GPUs

And photo is the same. So who I should trust more? :/

Did not read the article

 

[Lew Zealand]

Ahem... Gamers Are Refusing the Sky-High RTX 5090 GPU Prices, Leaving Shelves Full of $4,000 GPUs

And photo is the same. So who I should trust more? :/

That story is almost a day old now. From this story, published 45 min ago:

However, a quick search of the stock levels at the Dallas and Houston stores shows all the cards are now sold out.

It's very easy for both stories to be true.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

The 3 water cooled 5090s at my Micro Center, yesterday, sold by end of day or by opening of the store today because they are no longer in stock.

That means 3 different people came through, and after taxes, dropped $4k on a 5090.

 

[yRaz]

I think it's not the Whales at this point who are buying. The Whales already bought their 5090 a couple of months ago. They paid $5K and were done with it.

Unfortunately I think the ppl who are buying now are almost exclusively either Scalpers or professionals/corporate employees who are buying specifically the 5090's to run AI on them. We are talking about really deep pockets here. A Whale will buy a single 5090 and another for his friend but these ppl I am talking about are buying 5090's and 5080's from the Scalpers by the dozens.

It's either this or some ppl have found a way to mine some crypto-coin again and we don't know about it yet.

There are estimates that less than 5000 5090s were released world wide. There are a lot more than 5000 whales in the world.

 

[mgilbert]

A fool and his money are soon parted... and it winds up in the bank accounts of NGreedia... What's really hard to comprehend is how the *****s that buy these cards fail to realize that something better will be available in a year or two.

 

[Subset6]

Oh, there's a limit, you're not going to sell one of these for north of 10K+

 

[noel24]

According to Wikipedia, quoting two banks, there is over 20 million millionaires in the North America. Most probably hold Their value in real estate, but if Your home is worth millions of dollars, You probably make a good living. And if any of those have children, They are probably also not complain about level of living. So, yeah, get used to being shafted by nVidia and other companies. They bet Their money on the rich.

 

[Loadedaxe]

A fool and his money are soon parted... and it winds up in the bank accounts of NGreedia... What's really hard to comprehend is how the *****s that buy these cards fail to realize that something better will be available in a year or two.

I agree with your statement, fools will be fools, however, Nvidia isnt profiting here Asus is.

 

[Dr Roboto]

... Unfortunately I think the ppl who are buying now are almost exclusively either Scalpers or professionals/corporate employees who are buying specifically the 5090's to run AI on them...

^ This.

As a person who works in robotics and AI R&D, there are a lot of companies (big and small) that want/need 5090's for professional AI workloads. That could be image-based or language-based AI, both need GPUs. I know, because I was just looking the other day. A few grand is nothing to projects that cost millions of dollars per year. Hardware is cheap for these kind of S&T projects, labor is expensive. If a $5k GPU (maybe even 3 or 4) reduces training time, then it will pay for itself within months or weeks.

The fundamental problem is that gaming GPUs are also the same GPUs used for AI training. Was it genius, luck, or something else? I don't know, but Nvidia now has a strangle hold because they are dual purpose. Gamers lead the way for decades, but now gamers are getting the shaft. Sucks.

 

[wpontius]

What a load of steaming bull muffins the tariffs did not double the prices of these cards, pure greed!!

 

[NotYourITguy]

What a load of steaming bull muffins the tariffs did not double the prices of these cards, pure greed!!

And exactly zero intelligent people are saying they did. Low supply high demand. Nothing more to it.

 

[brucek]

I learned recently that it is possible to spend $638,000 to purchase two mattresses (using money stolen from Netflix no less - see the Carl Rinsch indictment).

So I guess $3,700 for a graphics card will sound good to at least some people.

 

[BogdanR]

There are estimates that less than 5000 5090s were released world wide. There are a lot more than 5000 whales in the world.

Green whales. A newly evolved species!

 

[Alex1105]

It will be really fun when they will try to sell them in a year or two at half price, be like..."I bought the card with 3800$, it surely deserves half that" and potential buyer..."umm, sorry it's listed @msrp of bla bla, you get half, any more on it or you frame it and keep it as a poster"

 

[Eldrach]

It will be really fun when they will try to sell them in a year or two at half price, be like..."I bought the card with 3800$, it surely deserves half that" and potential buyer..."umm, sorry it's listed @msrp of bla bla, you get half, any more on it or you frame it and keep it as a poster"

Well - I got offered more for my 4090 than I paid for it 2,5 years ago.

 

[yRaz]

Well - I got offered more for my 4090 than I paid for it 2,5 years ago.

While that's a good thing, what would you replace it with?

As much as I like to hate on Nvidia in recent years, the 4090 is a fantastic card and still holds its own against the 5090. unless you see 4x frame gen worth the trouble of upgrading, just keep enjoying it

 

[Achaios]

There are estimates that less than 5000 5090s were released world wide. There are a lot more than 5000 whales in the world.

I have actually seen Scalper posts originating in major US metropolitan areas listing 5080's and 5090's by the dozens on Craigslist & similar.

No paypal, no electronic means of payment, cash only.

All have sold.

Who is buying? Certainly not whales. Whales already got their gpus couple of months ago and they are going cyberpunk at max FPS as we speak.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

People have money to burn. But companies know if you don't buy it others will. Just like muscle cars in those days where people squeeze out every bit of power they can find and look for more even when there is no more.

 

[Aus spot]

According to Wikipedia, quoting two banks, there is over 20 million millionaires in the North America. Most probably hold Their value in real estate, but if Your home is worth millions of dollars, You probably make a good living.

That’s an uninformed comment.

Many people hold great wealth in run down houses worth a million just for the land. Many are old people who are scraping by living in the same house for many decades.

By your estimation, I am a millionaire, but I’m rocking a 4 generation old computer because I can’t afford to upgrade.

Lets see what the next generation holds for the majority of people hoping to upgrade.

 

[StupidPeopleSuk]

"Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here everyday...
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play"...

"Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here everyday....
You learn to live like an animal, in the jungle where we play"... GnR

It will continue to be this way as long as there are people stupid enough to pay those ridiculous prices....

 

[noel24]

That’s an uninformed comment.

Many people hold great wealth in run down houses worth a million just for the land. Many are old people who are scraping by living in the same house for many decades.

By your estimation, I am a millionaire, but I’m rocking a 4 generation old computer because I can’t afford to upgrade.

Lets see what the next generation holds for the majority of people hoping to upgrade.

Well, that's a problem with wealth perception today. You live in a rich country, like USA, with average wage of $85K and if You, figuratively, live on a street, begging, scraping $10K a year, cash, for Your daily dose of recreational drugs, and You still making more than Me, in Eastern part of EU, making $20K gross, $12K after taxes, 8hrs per day, paying mortage, going to work on bicycle in summer, because It's cheaper. I could probably afford RTX5090, but I would have to resign from something else in My life. Consumerism induced in Us by corporations is worse than drug addiction. Destroys lifes, make young people avoid setting up a family. World today is an awful place.
And When I read those news about corporations, not paying taxes, trying to squize a dollar from gullible people, that this new toy will make them succesfull, I think We deserve to eventually fall under communistic rule of China. That's How it started in Russia in 1917. Promises to the poor. You had a taste on January 6th, but this time rage was masterfully pointed at the "opposition". Western World is going down like Roman Empire, just like 100 times faster. Probaly because of revolution in technology.

By the way, I rock 5-6 generation old i7-9700K, still GPU limited. Only I paid arm and leg and assumed It to be a at least 5 year investement.

Sell Your land, move to Mexico, have a life.
Good day to You, Sir.