Nvidia's Verified Priority Access (VPA) is a lottery program for Founder's Edition cards that the company launched in 2022 for RTX 40-series GPUs. It returned in 2025 for RTX 50-series GPUs, and although you can still sign up for the program online, Nvidia has seemingly shifted to offering MSRP GPUs during live events. Last month, the company did something similar at QuakeCon in Austin, Texas .
Over the past month, we've seen a sharp rise in the price of Nvidia's highest-end graphics cards in our GPU price tracker , with the $1,999 RTX 5090 now regularly listed for above $5,000 . The RTX 5090 has been a particular flashpoint due to its plentiful 32GB of GDDR7 memory, making it ideal not only for flagship gaming performance but also (relatively) low-cost local AI inference.
Hello PAX West! VPA IRL is here! Come find me if your looking for a GeForce RTX 5090, 5080 or 5070 AT MSRP! While they last 😁 pic.twitter.com/PLsUhFWxZM September 4, 2026
Earlier this month, however, we saw increases as large as 39% in median list price for RTX 50-series GPUs, following a series of reports about regional price increases outside of the U.S. The increases hit the middle of Nvidia's Blackwell stack the hardest, with the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB jumping by 29% and RTX 5070 jumping by 36%.
The RTX 5090 has continued to rise in price, even after the hike we saw early last month. At the time, the median price was $4,699.99, but now, you'll spend at least $5,000 on a GPU online. Deals, if you can call them that, are available on the RTX 5090 if you have a Micro Center nearby, with models going down as low as $4,200.
Nvidia sells RTX 50-series GPUs at MSRP during QuakeCon 2026
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/nvidia-returns-to-selling-founders-edition-rtx-50-series-gpus-at-msrp-in-person-at-pax-west-verified-priority-access-has-rtx-5090-rtx-5080-and-rtx-5070-at-list-price#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.