While Nvidia’s RTX 50-series graphics cards weren’t the zaniest devices at CES 2025, they stole the show with their promised groundbreaking performance breakthroughs. The RTX 5070, in particular, made headlines as a card that can supposedly rival an RTX 4090 for just $549. We later learned it uses DLSS 4’s AI-powered multi frame generation to achieve that in supported titles, but that’s a welcome compromise for those who can’t find room in their budget for the beefier 4K-ready GPUs — including the $999.99 RTX 5080 and the $1,999.99 RTX 5090.
Those premium cards are capable of greater raw performance, however. In our RTX 5080 review, we found it’s only about 15 percent faster than the RTX 4080 it’s replacing. Meanwhile, the benchmarks we ran for our RTX 5090 review averaged 28 percent better frame rates compared to the RTX 4090 for 4K games running at their highest settings with no frame generation help. That’s still impressive given the Founder’s Edition is considerably smaller than the 4090, so much so it will fit inside a small form factor PC case. No matter which you’re after, you’ll be exceedingly satisfied if you’re upgrading from an RTX 30-series card or older.
Nvidia’s forewarned scarcity that soured past GPU launches struck as predicted, with pretty much all of the early 5080 and 5090 stock being claimed within 10 minutes of dropping. There’s no telling what type of cadence we’ll see for stock replenishments from here on out, but if you let us guide you on where to try purchasing one online, there’s still hope you’ll secure one soon (or, at least, sometime this year).
Tips to increase your chances
If you’re lucky enough to stumble across a buy opportunity, it’s typically faster to use a desktop or a laptop to click around and input whatever information you need. If you can, use a computer with an ethernet connection to ensure nothing interferes with your network. Bonus points if you use an ultrawide or multiple monitors to view several browser windows at once.
Some retailers may implement a wait queue. You can use your smartphone, tablet, or another secondary device to try and get a faster queue time. It can also serve as a failsafe between refreshes if one of the sites slows to a crawl on your desktop. That said, your smartphone should only be a last result to using a PC, as you don’t want to waste time juggling multiple tabs and apps or tapping away at tiny input fields.
The last thing you’ll want to be doing when new stock arrives is fiddling with passwords and a deluge of confirmation emails. Make sure you have an account with each retailer that’s carrying the graphics cards.
If possible, you’ll also want to add your shipping and billing details in advance. This way, you’ll only have to worry about adding the GPU to your cart and completing the final checkout steps.
Best Buy and B&H Photo allow you to sign up to be notified when the GPUs become available. B&H Photo actually requires you to sign up in advance if you want to order one. Be sure to sign up for alerts on each variant of the 5080 or 5090 that you’re planning to buy.
You shouldn’t rely solely on email notifications for stock alerts, as they’re often delayed and you risk missing your chance. Be sure to load up tabs for each retailer and give them a quick each day, and then practice hitting that refresh button as fast as humanely possible.
Social media can be a great way to get an early scoop on anticipated restocks. Follow Nvidia and join its forums, and do the same for each retailer’s social media accounts in anticipation of potential stock alerts. It’s also a good idea to follow reputable deal hunters like Wario64.
Where to preorder the Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090
As of writing, Best Buy is the only third-party retailer with listings for the Founders Editions of the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. Nvidia will sell them, too, but we never even saw its listings appear. That said, there are multiple options from a variety of manufacturers across all retailers, including MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Zotac, and more. They’ll cost a bit more than the Founder’s Edition and don’t have the size advantages in most cases, however.
$1000
Nvidia’s RTX 5080 is the successor to the RTX 4080. It includes DLSS 4 Multi Frame Gen, which greatly improves frame rates at both 1440p and 4K resolutions.
$2000
The Nvidia RTX 5090 is the most power Blackwell GPU among the 50-series launch cards. The card supports DLSS 4 with a massive 21,760 CUDA cores and 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM, but draws up to 575W of power.
Best Buy is the only retailer listing the Founders Edition versions of the Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. It’s also selling several third-party cards; however, the big box retailer is completely out of stock as of writing.
Eventually, a range of laptops and pre-built desktop PCs using the GPUs will become available. One telling sign that Best Buy might be preparing a restock is the option to be notified about new arrivals, but none of its listings have such an option as of now. You’ll want to be proactive and keep checking the site listings each day.
Purchasing a 50-series graphics card from Best Buy does require you to create an account. If you’re lucky enough to add one to your cart, you’ll be added to a queue while the system verifies your account and confirms your unit. If successful, you’ll have 10 minutes to complete the checkout process.
Newegg currently lists a comprehensive selection of third-party 50-series graphics cards, though all are out of stock as of writing. That being said, you can still purchase some prebuilt desktop PCs with RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 cards, with some showing shipping estimates ranging from early to late February.
There are multiple listings for customized versions of both the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 from third-party OEMs such as MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, and more. Some come factory overclocked, and most have unique shroud designs with three cooling fans — including a few with integrated liquid cooling. Many of them are much bigger than the Founder’s Edition cards, but Gigabyte has some compact options. You’ll want to make note of their dimensions and plan your build accordingly.
B&H Photo is also listing a number of those third-party RTX 5080 and 5090 cards starting at $999.99 and $1,999.99, respectively. It’s also selling prebuilt desktops. The retailer requires you to join a waitlist, however, and purchase opportunities will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis exclusively for those who sign up to receive the stock alerts. It’s worth noting that B&H Photo once showed February availability for some cards, so you’ll want to sign up for any that you might be interested in and keep a close watch on your inbox over the weeks to come.
Micro Center has confirmed that its initial run of RTX 50-series cards will only be available at physical retail locations, and that it will only sell third-party models. Stores opened at 9AM ET nationwide on launch day but quickly sold out.
Micro Center says it’s planning regular restocks. You can check online listings here to see if your local store happens to have any in stock. Even if they’re showing as sold out, it may be worth calling your local store to confirm. The retailer is currently limiting purchases to one unit per customer.
Nvidia also said it would sell Founders Edition cards directly through its online store, but neither the RTX 5080 nor the RTX 5090 were available as of writing. You will find a number of third-party cards listed there, but most will redirect you to authorized retailers like Newegg and Micro Center. You’ll need to keep checking back for the latest stock updates, as there’s no way to sign up for notifications.
Amazon and other retailers
Amazon and Adorama have historically carried the newest GPUs at or close to launch, though neither has individual GPU listings as of writing. Adorama currently lists a number of prebuilt desktops with RTX 5090 cards; however, none are currently available for purchase.
Update, January 30th: Updated to reflect current availability for the RTX 50-series cards at several retailers.
