Want a 1,000W MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z priced at $5,090? You'll need to win a draw to buy it

[midian182]

WTF?! Think the memory crisis has pushed graphics card prices too high? Then you might want to avoid the MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z, a card many say is essentially an RTX 5090 Ti. It costs a comical (and apt) $5,090. It's also a limited edition that's pretty much sold out everywhere, so you'll need to enter a draw for a chance to buy this GPU.

Lightning is MSI's highest-end GPU series, with the Z suffix indicating the top-tier variant of the lineup, aimed at extreme overclockers and enthusiasts.

The RTX 5090 32G Lightning Z is the cream of the crop in that respect. Its "WTF" spec list includes two 12V-2x6 power connectors, a 3 oz copper PCB, a 40-phase VRM, and a carbon fibre backplate in the build.

The card also comes with a second "extreme" vBIOS that increases the power limit from the standard "OC" setting's 800W to 1,000W. There's even a 2,500W XOC BIOS that that owners must request from MSI and that voids the warranty when enabled. MSI recommends that users have at least a 1,600W PSU in their systems.

If that's not enough, MSI's monster also features an attached AIO liquid cooler and an 8-inch display panel, though our own Steve Walton wasn't too pleased with it being an LCD rather than OLED and the way it's recognized as a second monitor.

If you happen to be incredibly wealthy and want an RTX 5090 Lightning Z, buying one right now isn't as easy as handing over the $5,090.

The GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING Z has officially hit the shelves⚡️
With only 1,300 units available globally, this is the definition of "blink and you'll miss it" 😉
Move fast if you want to be one of the lucky few✨#LightningZ #Unboxing #WorldRecord pic.twitter.com/SwHCWRqEDW

– MSI Gaming (@msigaming) February 12, 2026

Only 1,300 of these limited-edition units have been made. They're already pretty much sold out, so getting hold of one is going to be even more difficult than usual.

A Taiwan retailer claims that 100 of the cards have been allocated to the country alone. However, MSI has confirmed there is a lottery draw for the opportunity to buy one – a scheme we saw in Japan when the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 first launched.

The draw is open to residents of the US only. If you are a lucky winner, remember that you can only buy one, so bad luck if you wanted to hand over $50,000+ for ten of these cards. The written version of Steve's HUB review will be on TechSpot soon.

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Want a 1,000W MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z priced at $5,090? You'll need to win a draw to buy it

 

[Hotdog1n]

Tbh I don’t even care about GPUs that are over 1,000 dollars or even 800 dollars. Because that’s just stupid pricing and I’d rather buy food and human necessities than a brick of a GPU. Heck even if I had millions I would still not buy a GPU over 1,000 dollars.

 

[noel24]

OK, this is official. PC gaming is dying within next few years. Majority of PC gamers plays on under $200 GPUs. This industry will just not survive. New past time hobby incoming...

 

[yRaz]

Tbh I don’t even care about GPUs that are over 1,000 dollars or even 800 dollars. Because that’s just stupid pricing and I’d rather buy food and human necessities than a brick of a GPU. Heck even if I had millions I would still not buy a GPU over 1,000 dollars.

Yeah, hardware market isn't even fun anymore. Everything is so outrageously priced that barely think about it anymore. Even entry level hardware can run you over $1000 these days. In the mid 2000s you could a whole computer for what a single stick of RAM costs now.

I have a 6700xt and it plays EvE and ESO at 4k120 just fine. Chasing performance costs too much these days, you can literally buy a car for the cost of a single GPU. I'm already maxing out my display and I don't really see any reason to upgrade. Usually I would upgrade every couple years because PC building is fun, but this stuff is getting out of hand.

 

[godrilla]

For that price you can buy an enthusiast high end PC via prebuilt 9800x3d /360mm rad, 5090, 32gig of ram at 6400 mhz and still have enough money for a 4k 240hz oled.

 

[Starfals]

OK, this is official. PC gaming is dying within next few years. Majority of PC gamers plays on under $200 GPUs. This industry will just not survive. New past time hobby incoming...

For sure, add the rising prices of games. They even talk about 80 and 90 bucks atm. Madness. DLC for small stuff 25-100 bucks... broken games for ages... DRM making you stutter in games... I can go on forever. Gaming as a whole is in a horrible place. Not just price of PC parts. I got 5080 and most games are a stutter fest. It feels like I got my old GTX 1070. I had the same stutters, but cus my CPU was i5-2500k from 2010. 7800X3D + 5080 feels like im using an old PC. Unreal Engine is horrible.

 

[VitalyT]

 

[airbornex]

At this point the GPU is just a space heater with HDMI ports. A 1,000W BIOS, optional 2,500W XOC mode, and a lottery to buy it feels less like gaming hardware and more like a science experiment for YouTubers chasing world records.

 

[Jeff Murray]

Lol. NVIDIA: "You should be grateful we let you spend $5100 on a year old overpriced GPU."

 

[Eldrach]

Well, price aside - they have been able to add a second 12pin connector, which means there shouldn't be any issues doing that going forward as well, to reduce fire hazard.

Pc hardware is very expensive now for the highest end computers, but I also saw quite alot of good deals before Christmas here in Norway. You could get a prebuilt with 7800x3d, 2tb nvme ssd, 32gb memory and a 9070xt for just under 2000 dollars or swap out the 9070xt with a 5070ti for an additional 200 dollars. ..And that setup can run everything just fine.

So - maybe the super high end is out of reach for most people, but there's still good options below it for "fairly high end"

 

[godrilla]

Lol. NVIDIA: "You should be grateful we let you spend $5100 on a year old overpriced GPU."

$2k x 1300 is $2.6 lemons, $5.1k x 1300 is $6.63 million USD guaranteed revenue.

Notice all tech media got one. Nvidia/MSI loves hyper marketing. Hardware Canucks even said they were offered to get paid which they declined.

Update it seems HC has the most realistic review I've seen in terms of problems, limitations and secondary screen issues.

 

[ZedRM]

I'm someone who has the money to buy things like this. I still say no thanks. More to the point, kiss my butt.

 

[Win7user]

Only, a jobless Gen Z, would purchase something like this. Lmao...