The NVIDIA RTX 5090 is not even officially available yet, and already some tech enthusiasts are camping in front of Micro Center locations in the USA to make sure they can grab one of the coveted models first.
What happened? According to a post in the unofficial Reddit thread of the largest tech store in the United States, Micro Center, buyers have positioned themselves in front of the store three days before the official launch of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 (via Reddit). The photo shows tents, sleeping bags, and camping gear.
Such scenes have mainly been observed during the iPhone releases of the 2010s or the rare releases of new gaming consoles every 5 to 7 years. This time, it is the RTX 5090 and 5080 that everyone wants.
The latest RTX models, set to be released on January 30, 2025, are the flagship models of NVIDIA’s new generation of graphics cards.
Camping for Days for the New Flagship
Why is the demand so high? Many buyers are camping for days because the RTX 5090 will only be available in limited quantities – particularly in the first batch. Those who come too late may miss out.
Adding to this is the well-known problem with so-called scalpers. Scalpers often grab large quantities of the highly sought-after hardware just to resell it later at inflated prices. This was already a known issue with the RTX 4090 (via Golem.de).
According to early reports (via TomsHardware), the RTX-50 series may face similar problems as previous GPU generations. Scalpers are already asking for two to three times the official retail price for the RTX 5090 and offering “slots” for purchase.
This means that they allegedly secured guaranteed access to the RTX 5090 on launch day and are now reselling those spots. Additionally, there are early indications that custom models of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 are being offered at prices far above the MSRP in some countries.
Could scalpers dominate the queues? However, it is unclear whether those pitching their tents in front of the stores are not scalpers themselves. These concerns have been repeatedly expressed in the Reddit post, such as by the user DinosaurAlert. The worry that not only genuine tech fans are standing in line is justified. The prices of the new graphics card exceed several thousand euros and fluctuate based on supply and demand.
The NVIDIA RTX 5090 will be NVIDIA’s most powerful graphics card to date and is expected to deliver significantly more performance, faster memory, and new AI-powered technologies optimized for smooth gaming in 4K and demanding applications like ray tracing. Everything you need to know about the fastest NVIDIA graphics card of 2025 is here: MeinMMO presents all the important information about the RTX 5000
