Yesterday, Nvidia's RTX 50-series lineup finally hit shelves—at least the few hundred Nvidia produced. Since almost no one has been able to get their hands on a Blackwell GPU, Newegg reports that its RTX 50 inventory sold out in just 20 minutes. You'd be lucky to see a single listing, as it didn't take five minutes for most of the stock to be wiped out.
Our reviews of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 left much to be desired from these GPUs. The reason behind these almost instant sellouts is the limited availability, as foreseen in early supply-chain rumors. Even Nvidia admitted to a constrained supply, suggesting "stock-outs may happen."
Newegg presented several new statistics from the RTX 50 launch, the most interesting of which is that all available units were snapped up in just 20 minutes. But our question is, "How many RTX 5090s were available at Newegg?"
For context, Micro Center reportedly received just 233 RTX 5090s in the U.S. Take this number with a pinch of salt. Still, it underlines the limited availability from Nvidia's end. Even Taiwan, with a population of 23.42 million, was reportedly allotted 84 RTX 5090s, which is an absurdly low amount given that this is a very high-profile launch from Nvidia.
Newegg has promised more inventory as AIBs and Nvidia supply more units. If you wish to receive real-time stock updates, Newegg suggests following their social media accounts. One way to secure an RTX 50 series GPU without resorting to scalpers is getting a pre-built system. A few of Newegg's in-house ABS (Advanced Battlestations) pre-built PCs equipped with Blackwell GPUs are in stock. However, remember that you'd be paying for the entire system, not just the GPU, slapped on with a markup, as if you were to build a similar setup yourself.
Blackwell's data center and gaming counterparts likely employ the same 4N wafers from TSMC. Hence, each RTX 5090/5080 produced eats into Nvidia's available supply for what could've been a B100/B200 AI accelerator. There is no word on when supply will improve, but you likely aren't missing much since the RTX 5090 is around 25% faster than the RTX 4090 for a 25% higher MSRP.
