The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 won’t be available for the general public until January 30, and it’s also notably cold since it’s the middle of winter in the US. Still, that didn’t stop some determined buyers from lining up and camping outside microcenters to wait for the RTX 5090 as though the interdependent PC component is a precious iPhone or PlayStation.
The news came all over social media, with some gamers and PC enthusiasts posting their camping ordeal in the middle of winter just to secure a spot for an RTX 5090, which many stores sell on a first-come, first-serve basis. Moreover, some stores have announced that stocks are “tight,” with certain supply inventories only reaching single-digit numbers, which might have triggered the camping rush and craze.
Some campers have even declared that they “lined up” for the RTX 5090 four days ahead, on January 26. Reddit user u/Temporary-Director46 was among the first to post about their craze, though the PC gamer wasn’t exactly in a snowy area.
The Reddit user also pressed that they’re not scalpers and they’re buying the powerful RTX cards for their own use. They simply don’t want to pay extra money for the low supply in case actual scalpers hold stocks and raise the prices.
For reference, the RTX 5090 is set to be sold at $2,000, making it one of the most expensive Nvidia gaming GPUs to date.
The Scalpers Are Way Ahead
Other campers haven’t commented yet on the matter or have explained their goal on social media. However, that didn’t stop some Reddit users from throwing in accusations that most of the people who camp outside for the RTX 5090 or the RTX 5080 are scalpers.
In a separate Reddit thread about the news, one of the highly upvoted comments was from u/Primedio saying:
Others have reported that even as early as now, there are already scalpers on eBay who have listed the RTX 5090 at $4,000– double the official MSRP from Nvidia. Some of the more brazen scalpers have listed up to $8,600 or even $10,000 for the RTX 5090 even though it hasn’t been out yet and stocks are not determined at the moment.
