- Micro Center suddenly has loads of stock of an Asus RTX 5090 GPU
- This card is stupidly expensive at 85% over MSRP, though, so rather than improved supply, this is likely more a reflection of that asking price
- That said, there’s some hope that RTX 5080 supply is actually improving a little, so we can keep our fingers crossed there
An Asus version of the Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU has been spotted piled high on the shelves of a major US retailer, which might make you think that perhaps the stock drought for the flagship is over – but I doubt that’s the case.
Nonetheless, it’s a novelty to see such a stack of Blackwell graphics cards on the shelves, and there are some more positive hints about RTX 5080 stock, too – which I’ll come back to later. All of which comes courtesy of a Reddit post that shared a photo of a bricks-and-mortar Micro Center store in Dallas (see below) which VideoCardz flagged up.
Microcenter Dallas got tons of 5090 Astral Liquid’s in today from r/nvidia
Of course, this isn’t likely a case of supply suddenly spiking, or Nvidia’s production lines spinning up for the Blackwell flagship – rather it’s (surely) a lack of demand, due to the extortionate price tag pinned on the Asus RTX 5090 board in question.
This is the Asus ROG Astral LC RTX 5090 OC Edition, which is admittedly the top-end offering from the graphics card maker – the LC refers to liquid cooling, and OC indicates it’s overclocked – but the price is still astronomical (or astral-nomical, perhaps, ahem) at $3,719.
That’s 85% more expensive than the (lofty) MSRP set by Nvidia, and it’s even almost 10% costlier than the asking price set by Asus on its own online store for this particular ROG Astral model – and that’s already outrageously high as it is.
Yes, it’s a top-end custom board, and yes, there will always be a premium to pay in that case, for the improvements to the card and cooling that’ll (hopefully) help you get a meaningfully better overclock – but the difference won’t be that much versus an entry-level RTX 5090, in all probability.
And to be forced to pay nearly double for that? Well, even PC gaming enthusiasts won’t do so, which is (doubtless) why all these RTX 5090 models are sat on shelves – and will probably remain so for some time, until Micro Center adjusts its pricing.
That will, of course, eventually happen when the clamor for RTX 5000 graphics cards starts to calm down, and demand doesn’t outweigh supply by such an immense factor.
Analysis: A glimmer of hope – but not for the RTX 5090
Okay, so is there any chance at all that the sudden appearance of a decent number of these flagship Blackwell graphics cards is a hopeful indication of improving stock levels? After all, that was rumored to happen for the RTX 5090 towards the end of March, where we are now. I can’t see it, frankly – whatever might be going on at that Micro Center store, if we look at the major online retailers in the US, RTX 5090 stock remains non-existent. For now, the flagship GPU is only obtainable in local stores.
However, the Reddit poster also notes that there are RTX 5080 GPUs in plentiful stock at that Micro Center – though we don’t see them, or what price they’re at. I’m guessing there won’t be any boards at MSRP level, though, but there is a glimmer of hope here in that at the time of writing, there are a couple of RTX 5080 models in stock for ordering online at Newegg.
Predictably, they aren’t anywhere near MSRP, so this isn’t cause for a true celebration yet – the cheapest model (of three boards available currently) is $1,360, which is the MSI Ventus 3X RTX 5080. That’s still 36% above the MSRP of $999, of course, but nonetheless, even seeing some stock available at all is a change for the better from what I typically discover when I check Blackwell availability.
I wouldn’t get carried away with this notion, but perhaps we are starting to turn a (slight) corner here – although clearly not with RTX 5090 stock, with some truly ridiculous price inflation still very much blighting the Blackwell flagship.
