RTX 5090 graphics card shortage begins

The RTX 5090, Nvidia's most powerful graphics card for gamers, has become extremely hard to find since early October, despite its high price in some regions.

Leak claims production halt

On October 10, a leaked report suggested that Nvidia would stop making the RTX 5090 to reserve its GB202 chip for more profitable professional cards. This led to the card being removed from Nvidia's American store.

Nvidia denies discontinuation

On October 16, Jeff Fisher, a senior vice president at Nvidia, denied that the RTX 5090 would be discontinued. However, he admitted that the supply chain was struggling to keep up with demand.

Chinese factories modify RTX 5090 cards

Images shared by Hong Kong-based media HKEPC showed Chinese factories disassembling RTX 5090 cards. Workers removed the GB202 chip and GDDR7 memory, then reassembled them onto custom cards designed for AI servers.

Modified cards undergo testing

According to TweakTown, the modified cards were subjected to stress tests like FurMark and 3DMark before being repackaged and sold. These altered cards are much cheaper than the professional RTX Pro 6000 model.

High demand drives price and conversion

The RTX 5090 offers a powerful chip and 32 GB of memory for less than the professional RTX Pro 6000, which costs around $16,000. Modified cards are sold for between $8,500 and almost $10,000 on secondary markets.

Export restrictions complicate sales

The RTX 5090 is subject to U.S. export restrictions to China. TweakTown suggests that buyers are purchasing the cards in bulk worldwide before modifying them locally to avoid these restrictions.

Nvidia takes no action against conversions

Nvidia has not announced any measures to stop the conversion of RTX 5090 cards into modified versions, despite the widespread practice.