Would you pay up to $1,999 for one of these custom RTX 4090 cards?

What just happened? PC gamers with deep pockets who want the best hardware as soon it launches will have October 12 down in their diaries. That's when the first of Nvidia's RTX 4000 series, the RTX 4090, arrives. In preparation, Newegg has listed several third-party cards, which range in price from Nvidia's suggested $1,599 MSRP right up to $1,999.

Newegg has ten RTX 4090 cards listed, including models from MSI, Gigabyte, and Asus. The prices start at $1,599 for the Gigabyte Windforce and reach $1,999 for the Asus ROG OC Edition.

One of the cards, the $1,749 MSI Suprim, has an AIO hybrid cooling solution in the form of a 240mm radiator and a pair of Silent Gale P12 120m fans. The most expensive of the bunch, Asus' factory-overclocked, triple-fan ROG OC, recommends a 1,000W PSU---Nvidia recommends a minimum 850W for its upcoming flagship.

None of these cards are cheap, of course, and many consumers are less willing to make big purchases during this period of spiking inflation and the rising cost of living. It'll also be interesting to see what happens with the scalpers; will people be happy to pay even more for the RTX 4090, especially when the, admittedly less-powerful, high-end Ampere cards have seen their prices fall so much?

Some people are looking to boycott the Lovelace cards over their high costs and (probably) the RTX 4080 12GB/RTX 4070 controversy. You could always try winning one.

Now that Ethereum has switched from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, we're not going to see cryptominers bulk buy the RTX 4090 cards, something that was a huge problem for this generation when crypto prices hit an all-time high.

October 12 is also when Intel finally launches its Arc A770 graphics card. It starts at just $329, and team blue says the Alchemist entry will offer performance somewhere between the RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti. That's a far cry from the RTX 4090, which is so fast that Blizzard had to increase Overwatch 2's frames-per-second cap; it can push the upcoming game to above 500fps at native 1440p, but then the RTX 4090 is five times more expensive than the Arc A770.